PIPELINES: Gasoline shortages across the Southeast began to ease as the Colonial Pipeline returns to service, although some gas stations remain dry. (Reuters, AL.com)

ALSO:
• The effects of the Colonial Pipeline hack and shutdown seem likely to reverberate for weeks, spilling into President Joe Biden’s agenda, policy responses and a more aggressive approach to ransomware attackers. (E&E News, subscription)
• The Colonial Pipeline tried to hire for two security leadership positions in the weeks before a cyberattack halted its operations. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will speak about pipeline cybersecurity at one House committee hearing this week, while another committee will mark up and vote on the “Pipeline Security Act.” (E&E News, subscription)
• Oklahoma landowners say the Midship Pipeline offered prices for land far below market value and that contractors building the pipeline left a mess that has caused problems since 2019. (The Oklahoman)

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UTILITIES: FERC asks for more information from Southeastern utilities who want to form a regional energy trading market. (E&E News, subscription)

OIL & GAS:
Oil and gas companies emerge from the pandemic focused largely on paying down debt and boosting returns instead of drilling new wells and boosting production, a sign they’ll play a smaller economic role in coming years. (Houston Chronicle)

EMISSIONS: West Virginia’s carbon intensity ranked second highest in the country in 2018, with coal-fired plants accounting for 91% of its electricity generation versus 23% nationally, and carbon emissions decreasing less than 14% since 1990. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

COAL: West Virginia officials and residents express concerns after Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power said they may close the Mitchell coal-fired plant in 2028 rather than ensure it complies with federal wastewater guidelines. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

GRID: San Antonio residents and realtors respond to the disparities in power reliability revealed during outages after February’s winter storm. (San Antonio Report)

SOLAR:
• Florida Power & Light Company completes construction on a 74.5 MW solar energy center — its fifth in DeSoto County. (The Arcadian)
• West Virginia solar advocates predict a new state law authorizing power purchase agreements will open the door for more large-scale solar power projects in the state. (WBOY)
• North Carolina regulators approve a 5 MW solar project that Duke Energy will build on a retired landfill. (Solar Power World)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Electric vehicle charger manufacturer Heliox announces it will build its North American headquarters in Georgia. (WGCL)

NUCLEAR: Arguments begin in a court case involving the Tennessee Valley Authority’s withdrawal from a plan to sell the unfinished Bellefonte nuclear plant to a Chattanooga company. (WHNT)

OVERSIGHT: The Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy prepares for a name change to the Virginia Department of Energy in October to reflect coal’s decline and a greater in renewables. (Kingsport Times News)

COMMENTARY:
• An editorial board lauds Colorado for establishing a state office to help the state’s coal counties build a new economy, while Virginia has not followed suit. (Roanoke Times)
• Texas must reform its electricity supply chain to ensure natural gas facilities can operate during emergencies by mapping and designating critical load facilities, writes the president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association. (Dallas Morning News)
• Texas should require winterization and other measures to avoid a repeat of the “full-scale energy market dysfunction” seen in February, writes the chief executive of Vistra Corp. (Dallas Morning News)
• “Incredibly cheap energy” from solar farms and advances in storage technology make measures to fight climate change more affordable than ever, writes a climate scientist. (Gainesville Sun)

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.