OIL & GAS: Emerging quarterly reports show companies that maintained access to gas and power through February’s winter storm and outages stand to reap billions of dollars in profits due to skyrocketing prices, though some may never collect on sales due to litigation. (Reuters)

ALSO:
• Sempra Energy says it will likely delay a decision whether to build a proposed liquid natural gas facility near a coastal Texas city until next year. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• The CEO of the American Petroleum Institute tours Louisiana to rally the oil and gas industry against President Joe Biden’s offshore drilling ban and other policies it sees as detrimental to fossil fuels. (The Advocate)
• Five congressmembers from Florida urge the Interior Department to deny oil drilling permits in Big Cypress National Preserve. (Naples Daily News)
• Six of 10 participants in a town hall say they’re concerned about West Virginia regulators’ issuance of a permit for a $350 million natural gas-to-methanol facility. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

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SOLAR:
• Virginia petroleum distributor Tiger Fuel buys a solar development business and adds rooftop panels to its chain of convenience stores and gas stations. (Energy News Network)
• Farmers and residents push back against a growing number of solar farm proposals in central Texas. (KWTX)

RENEWABLES: A renewable energy company announces two solar facilities and a wind project for Texas with combined capacity of nearly 1,200 MW. (Houston Chronicle)

UTILITIES:
• West Virginia utilities have spent nearly $1 billion since 2012 to reduce power outages, yet interruptions still grow longer and more frequent. (NBC News)
• An economic analyst tells South Carolina regulators that Duke Energy could save $7.2 billion over 15 years by closing its coal plants, replacing them with clean energy and avoiding natural gas plants. (Charlotte Business Journal)
• Florida regulators approve a rate increase for Duke Energy to cover the cost of grid improvements and retiring its coal plants earlier than expected. (Tampa Bay Times)

PIPELINES: A judge sentences two tree-sitters who defied a court order to block the Mountain Valley Pipeline in western Virginia to a day in jail for every day they spent in the tree, while a second judge adds civil fines and $141,386 for the cost of their extraction. (Roanoke Times)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Florida town considers more electric vehicle chargers as demand grows and condominium associations see more requests to place them in parking areas. (Longboat Observer)  

COAL:
• Coal production in northern Appalachia jumps 15% from last quarter and 12% from a year ago, but still is down 4.7% against the five-year average. (S&P Global)
• A West Virginia clinic visits the state’s coal mines between shifts to vaccinate coal miners against COVID-19. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

CLIMATE: Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam commends a newly formed group that aims to help businesses and nonprofits collect energy data and form plans to reduce their carbon footprint by at least 30%. (Daily Progress)

GRID:
• With less than a month remaining in Texas’ legislative session, experts worry lawmakers haven’t done enough to reform and shore up grid problems that were exposed in February’s storm and resulting outages. (Spectrum News)
• As summer looms, Texas’ grid operator lays out three extreme risk scenarios based on 2011’s hot and dry weather. (KHOU)
• Appalachian Power proposes rebuilding 15 miles of transmission lines in West Virginia. (WSAZ)

COMMENTARY:
• A Louisiana lawmaker touts carbon-capture technology as a way to preserve oil and gas jobs while fighting climate change and preserving coastline. (Daily Advertiser)
• Business leaders call for Texas to maintain its support for renewable energy development. (Rio Grande Guardian)

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.