EFFICIENCY: Virginia Beach releases a trio of clever, humor-laden and award-winning videos designed to nudge municipal workers in the state’s largest city to be mindful of their energy consumption. (Energy News Network)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Ford and Rivian drop plans to collaborate on making electric vehicles. (The Verge)
• Tennessee appoints two new members to a board overseeing the megasite where Ford will build a massive electric vehicle and battery complex. (Associated Press)
• Electric vehicle maker Rivian requests Virginia agency approval to open three facilities that include a dealership and service center. (Richmond BizSense)

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE:
• Black communities in North Carolina organize to resist biomass, industrial farms and other polluting industries encroaching on low-income neighborhoods. (Charlotte Post)
• New Orleans residents who live in a neighborhood built atop a toxic landfill wait for word of whether the city will be able to use federal infrastructure funding to buy them out. (NOLA.com)

OIL & GAS:
• Documents show Miami reversed plans to ban natural gas hookups after a local gas utility called the policy “problematic for our industry” and suggested alternative language. (Miami Herald)
• Texas oil exploration and production marked six straight months of job gains in October, but still has 17% fewer drilling and extraction workers than before the pandemic began. (Houston Chronicle)
• An Arkansas city council discusses CenterPoint Energy’s sale of its distribution assets in Arkansas, Oklahoma and a Texas county to another company. (El Dorado News-Times)

COAL: A study finds West Virginia has the highest levels of selenium in the country, with the toxic chemical appearing in the food chain in proportion to the extent of coal mining activity nearby. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

GRID:
• An analysis by Texas’ grid operator finds electricity outages could occur if the state experiences a cold snap that forces many power plants offline during high demand. (Texas Tribune)
• Louisiana regulators delay a vote on a proposal to withdraw from the regional electric grid operator. (Greater Baton Rouge Business Report)

POLITICS:
• The winter storm that knocked out power across Texas and government’s response to it overshadow the state’s emerging 2022 primary elections. (Texas Tribune)
• U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Dallas announces her retirement after four years leading the House science committee that included hearings spotlighting climate change. (Dallas Morning News)

OVERSIGHT: A 2021 West Virginia law that required the state to develop a new methodology to value oil and natural gas properties creates confusion and consternation among local tax officials. (Inter-Mountain)

TRANSITION: Community leaders in four southern West Virginia counties meet to talk about outdoor recreation, remote work and workforce development as pathways to replace the fading coal industry. (Beckley Register-Herald)

PIPELINES: The purchase of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline’s largest share by a Texas company with a spotty safety record fuels concern among environmentalists and pipeline experts. (Inside Climate News)

COMMENTARY: A plan by Energy’s Mississippi subsidiary to grow renewables from 1% of its portfolio now to 33% in five years is notable for its ambition and its support from elected officials, writes an editorial board. (Delta Democrat-Times)

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.