COAL: Georgia Power has spent years pushing an elaborate argument for why it should be allowed to store coal ash in existing ponds despite the risk to surrounding communities’ water supplies, newly reported documents show. (ProPublica)

ALSO:
• Alabama Power will pay a $75,000 fine and stop burning coal in a unit at a power plant after state regulators found hydrochloric acid emissions were higher than legal limits. (AL.com)
• Striking coal miners blame the involvement of private-equity firms for changing collective-bargaining obligations at an Alabama coal company during its bankruptcy. (New York Magazine)

GRID:
• Texas’ grid manager warns that staffing shortages could cause it to miss future grid reliability deadlines ahead of winter 2023, and state regulators respond by suggesting it hire contractors. (KXAN)
• Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and American Electric Power announce the utility will invest $100 million to develop a transmission control center in Shreveport. (Natchitoches Times)
• A Texas environmental group warns that the state’s power grid is vulnerable to cold weather events after state lawmakers failed to effectively push the natural gas industry to winterize its facilities. (Laredo Morning Times)

SOLAR:
• Rooftop solar advocates say Florida Power & Light’s push to change Florida’s net-metering rules would cripple the state’s burgeoning solar industry. (CNN)
• A Louisiana researcher studies photosynthesis with the goal of building an artificial leaf that can more effectively generate solar energy. (WGMB)

STORAGE: Duke Energy Florida launches a pilot program in which residential customers can register their home batteries, which Duke will then use during times of peak demand with the expectation of reducing energy costs for participants. (Solar Power World)

WIND: Just before leaving office, former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam entered Virginia into an agreement with Denmark to share knowledge and resources about their offshore wind efforts. (Virginian-Pilot)

GAS & OIL: Mexico’s government buys a Texas oil refinery to decrease its reliance on exports, but critics say the move would cut back on the country’s climate pledges. (New York Times)

CLIMATE: Republican governors in Florida, South Carolina and elsewhere move to address wildfires, flooding and severe storms without ever acknowledging the root cause of climate change. (Wall Street Journal, subscription)

BIOGAS: The EPA notifies North Carolina civil rights groups that it will investigate whether state regulators discriminated against communities of color when they approved four applications to convert hog waste into fuel at nearby farms. (Food & Environment Reporting Network)

COMMENTARY:
• Florida Power & Light responds to criticism of its push to change Florida’s net-metering rules by arguing that forcing it to buy rooftop solar at retail prices results in a surcharge for its customers. (Tampa Bay Times)
• Florida should not change its net-metering rules to undermine rooftop solar because doing so would disincentivize clean energy while costing jobs, write two members of the League of Women Voters of Florida. (Citrus County Chronicle)
• Hurricane Katrina pushed Louisiana officials to recognize the imminent danger to its coastal ecosystems and the related need to reduce carbon emissions, which now should be reflected in its choice of elected leaders, writes a columnist. (NOLA.com)

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.