OIL & GAS: A report paid for by the Texas Oil & Gas Association blames February’s widespread outages on electricity generators while largely absolving natural gas operators who saw their production drop by nearly half. (Austin American-Statesman)

ALSO:
• Texas gas company Kinder Morgan emerged with a $1 billion windfall from the February storm outages that saw wins for other natural gas companies and huge losses for power producers and utilities. (Dallas Morning News)
• Nacero announces it will build a massive Texas facility that will incorporate carbon capture and sequestration to make lower-carbon gasoline from natural gas. (KOSA, Midland Reporter-Telegram)

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UTILITIES: South Carolina lawmakers pass a bill to replace the board and impose other reforms on troubled state-owned utility Santee Cooper instead of selling it outright. (Post and Courier)

COAL: West Virginia regulators approve a 1,085-acre surface mine despite worries about health and geological impacts from steep slope mining. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

PIPELINES: Mississippi regulators approve gas line expansions for a new lumber company and 90 other houses and businesses along the route. (WTVA)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: An electric vehicle battery maker building plants in Georgia predicts a coming shortage of a key supply due to rising demand. (E&E News, subscription)

EMISSIONS:
• As the Appalachian Basin is identified as the largest source of methane nationally, a White House task force identifies $38 billion in existing federal money to shift the region from fossil fuels. (E&E News, subscription)
• Louisiana regulators approve a clean-air permit for a proposed renewable diesel plant in the Port of Greater Baton Rouge. (The Advocate)
• Florida lawmakers pass legislation to address the effects of climate change on the state’s infrastructure, but experts say they’ve failed to address underlying causes like greenhouse gas emissions. (WUFT)
• A study by a clean energy group finds reductions in carbon emissions from Southeastern utilities will slow over the next decade, hindering them from reaching longer-term carbon-reduction goals. (Albany Herald)

SOLAR:
• Disney World announces two new 75 MW solar arrays, including one in the shape of Mickey Mouse, marking the fourth facilities developed to support the park since 2016. (HuffPost)
• Florida planners recommend approving a 50 MW solar array during a rehearing of the previously approved project held because more nearby property owners had to be notified, though the Sierra Club and NAACP oppose the facility. (Gainesville Sun)
• A 15 MW solar farm built in 2015 to power Elon University can’t send all of its power there because it’s blocked by two North Carolina laws. (Elon News Network)

POLITICS: U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia leads a Republican effort to push a $568 billion infrastructure proposal that includes no tax increases or focus on clean energy. (Parkersburg News & Sentinel, NPR)

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CLIMATE: Two coastal North Carolina communities will receive federal funding and aid from resilience organizations to harden their infrastructure against climate change and adopt renewable energy sources. (CleanTechnica)

COMMENTARY:
• Texas’ grid operator uses jargon that obscures communication with the public and makes it hard for journalists to understand what’s happening, writes a columnist. (Dallas Morning News)
• Railroads should be supported as a climate-friendly way to move freight across land, as they can be three to four times more fuel efficient than highways, write a Tennessee state senator and rail association leader. (Knoxville News-Sentinel)
• The now-canceled Atlantic Coast Pipeline should let go of its easements on land it no longer needs, writes an editorial board. (Daily Progress)

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Mason Adams

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.