SOLAR: The Florida state House passes a bill to allow utility companies to pay customers with rooftop solar a lower rate for their power, which critics say will strangle the growing but still fragile industry. (Florida Politics, Canary Media)

CLIMATE: A new federal report finds nearly a third of the hazardous chemical facilities in the U.S. are at risk from climate-driven weather events, with 30% of them concentrated in the Southeast. (NPR)

PIPELINES:
• U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin complains about the failed Atlantic Coast Pipeline and stalled Mountain Valley Pipeline as he prepares to meet with federal regulators about new, stricter pipeline guidelines. (Bluefield Daily Telegraph; E&E News, subscription)
• Chesapeake Utilities’ pipeline subsidiary seeks approval to build an 11.5-mile pipeline to a barrier island in Florida. (VeroNews.com)

COAL:
• West Virginia lawmakers kill a bill to strip authority from coal mine inspectors. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• Two former safety directors at Kentucky coal mines are sentenced to six months of probation on a federal charge of rigging dust monitoring in underground mines. (Associated Press)

NUCLEAR:
• A Seattle-based company that makes nuclear reactors announces it will build a factory in eastern Tennessee. (WBIR)
• U.S. senators from Texas and New Mexico introduce legislation to prohibit federal funding for private interim nuclear waste storage sites. (Associated Press)
• The newest reactor at a Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear plant in Alabama completes a record-long run of 690 consecutive days of power production before shutting down for refueling and maintenance. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

POLITICS:
• U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin calls for an increase in U.S. fossil fuel production to allow the country to ban Russian imports, while saying he’s open to passing domestic climate spending. (Parkersburg News and Sentinel, E&E News)
• U.S. Secretary Jennifer Granholm visits a Kentucky solar farm and factory to discuss energy issues. (Spectrum News)

UTILITIES: A Mississippi regulator spats with the Tennessee Valley Authority over whether the electric utility will provide power to growers of medical marijuana. (WCBI)

OIL & GAS: A development company acquires land in Texas for green hydrogen and a solar-powered refinery with carbon capture. (news release, Energy Capital)

BIOFUELS: Boeing plans to deliver 2 million gallons of aviation fuel made from agricultural waste products to its fuel farms in South Carolina and Washington. (Daily Herald)

COMMENTARY:
• West Virginia should increase production of natural gas for export to help decrease Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas, writes a radio talk show host. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• Kentucky should support more clean energy opportunities to lower power bills currently rising due to geopolitical events, writes the president of a community development group. (Lexington Herald-Leader)

Mason has worked as a journalist since 2001, covering Appalachian communities and the issues that affect them. He compiles the Southeast Energy News digest. Mason previously worked as a wildlife biologist before moving into journalism by freelancing at Coast Weekly in Monterey, California, before taking an internship in 2001 at High Country News. He wrote for the Enterprise Mountaineer in western North Carolina and the Roanoke Times in western Virginia before going freelance in 2012. His work has appeared in Southerly, Daily Yonder, Mother Jones, Huffington Post, WVPB’s Inside Appalachia and elsewhere. Mason was born and raised in Clifton Forge, Virginia, and now lives with his family and a small herd of goats in Floyd County, Virginia.