ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is expected to announce today that electric vehicle maker Rivian will build a $5 billion factory east of Atlanta. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

ALSO: A Texas private equity firm invests $20 million in another Texas company to build two battery recycling plants and potentially more as it plans to bring its technology to a broader market. (Dallas Morning News)

PIPELINES:
• Having attained a Virginia board’s approval for a permit to cross waterways, the Mountain Valley Pipeline now awaits a similar decision in West Virginia as it seeks to complete construction in 2022. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• Only about half of the pipeline capacity in the U.S. is currently being used, as companies built during a production boom, especially around the Permian Basin, but sunk amid the pandemic. (Reuters)
• A Houston oil company and two subsidiaries are indicted for a crude oil spill off California’s shore that prosecutors say was caused in part by a failure to properly respond when alarms signaled a pipeline rupture. (ABC News)

GRID: Texas regulators prepare the next round of recommendations for the state’s energy market that would address energy efficiency standards and available power resources in times of need, among other concerns raised after February’s winter storm. (KVUE, KDFW)

SOLAR:
• Two companies announce the completion of 100 MW, 80 MW and 107 MW solar farms in Georgia that will power a Facebook data center. (Walton Tribune)
• A Tennessee county planning board votes 2-1 to recommend approval of an 80-acre solar farm despite opposition that included a petition signed by more than 60 people. (Greeneville Sun)

UTILITIES: San Antonio’s city council splits on whether to raise municipal electric rates to update its internal information technology, hire employees and meet power demands during a time of inflation and pandemic recovery. (San Antonio Express-News)

OIL & GAS: An industry tycoon gives $50 million to Oklahoma State University to establish an institute devoted to oil and gas training. (OilPrice.com)

CARBON CAPTURE: Researchers at the University of Texas partner with Honeywell to scale a new carbon capture technology to power utilities and steel, cement and other hard-to-abate heavy industries. (S&P Global)

NUCLEAR: A federal inspector who pleaded guilty this week to falsifying safety inspection reports at a Virginia nuclear plant confesses he “allowed days or even weeks to pass without entering” the plant. (WAVY)

COAL ASH: Alabama residents prepare to voice concerns at a public meeting today about Alabama Power’s proposal to cap coal ash in place at a retired power plant. (WIAT)

POLITICS: U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia is developing a reputation as “President Manchin” because of how he’s flexed his power, including to protect his home state’s fossil fuel industries, as the decisive vote for Democrats’ agenda. (Washington Post)

COMMENTARY: Developers pitching the 83-mile Chickahominy Pipeline in Virginia express a commitment to “integrity,” “responsibility” and “respecting the land and all persons” but so far have demonstrated none of those things, writes a Virginia resident. (Virginia Mercury)

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.