EMISSIONS: A Virginia company plans to use carbon capture technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from at least two of four liquefied natural gas export terminals it wants to build in Louisiana. (The Advocate)

ALSO:
• San Antonio’s Valero Energy spends hundreds of millions of dollars on carbon capture projects and renewable diesel with the goal of reducing its emissions by 63 percent by 2025, including offsets. (San Antonio Express-News)

UTILITIES:
• Atlanta-based Southern Co.’s CEO says meeting a 2035 decarbonization deadline could entail closing all of its coal-fired power plants. (E&E News, subscription)
• Environmental groups ask the Tennessee Valley Authority’s internal watchdog to investigate whether the utility misused ratepayer money by funding a group that lobbies against tighter climate regulations. (Associated Press)
• The nominee to lead troubled state-owned South Carolina utility Santee Cooper names rebuilding trust a top priority in a screening hearing. (The Post and Courier)
• Georgia Power announces a new chair, president and CEO will begin next week. (Atlanta Business Journal)

COAL: West Virginia leads fifteen Republican state treasurers threatening to terminate contracts with banks if they pull back from fossil fuel lending in an effort to decarbonize their portfolios. (Axios)

OIL & GAS: 
• Kinder Morgan is still supplying bottled water to Texans along the route of the new Permian Highway Pipeline after spilling tens of thousands of gallons of drilling fluid last year. (Houston Chronicle)
• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may list the lesser prairie chicken as endangered in Texas and New Mexico, potentially leading to drilling restrictions in the Permian Basin. (Washington Post)

BIOMASS: North Carolina residents and environmental justice advocates criticize state leaders for incentivizing the wood pellet industry to settle in some of the state’s poorest communities, polluting air and water. (Associated Press, WRAL)

PIPELINES: Thousands of gas stations across the Southeast still grapple with supply issues stemming from the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack ahead of Memorial Day weekend. (WABE)

SOLAR:
• Kentucky regulators approve a 188 MW solar farm that will sell power to Amazon. (Renewables Now)
• A citizen committee works with planners and elected officials to determine solar energy guidelines in a western Virginia county. (WHSV)
• Duke Energy begins construction on the 22.6 MW Speedway Solar power plant, which will provide energy for a power purchase agreement. (news release)

GRID:
• Grid regulators warn of an “elevated risk” for a Texas summer power shortage that could stem from an extreme low-wind, high-heat weather scenario. (KENS)
• Texas lawmakers still haven’t passed a bill to reform the state’s grid operator, while the operator’s advisory committee works through more than 100 issues related to February’s winter storm. (San Antonio Business Journal, S&P Global)
• American Electric Power rebuilds 28 miles of a Texas transmission line to improve its reliability. (Power Engineering)

POLITICS: Virginia Democrats mail out an attack on mega-donor Michael Bills, who supports candidates who don’t take money from Dominion Energy, because his group is now backing challengers to Democratic incumbents. (Richmond Times-Dispatch, Virginia Mercury)

COMMENTARY:
• Dominion Energy’s decision to pull out of PJM’s regional capacity market raises questions about reliability and cost that can’t be answered without a public process, writes an editorial board. (Virginian Pilot)
• A West Virginia columnist counters state officials who claim that transitioning from fossil fuels is unfeasible, will cost jobs and will create unsustainable energy prices. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

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.