PIPELINES: The conservation director for the nonprofit Wild Virginia discusses why protesters have stuck with their effort to shut down the Mountain Valley Pipeline ahead of a state board’s vote on a critical permit. (Energy News Network)

POLITICS: Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin pledges to use executive action to withdraw Virginia from a regional carbon market less than a week after the state netted $228 million from completing its first full cycle of quarterly carbon auctions. (Richmond Times-Dispatch, Virginia Mercury)

COAL:
• Coal workers diverge from other unions supporting President Biden’s climate agenda over concerns that clean energy jobs likely represent a major drop in pay. (New York Times)
• A federal judge rules West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s coal companies must pay $2.5 million for environmental violations and clean-up at sites in Alabama and Tennessee. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

OIL & GAS: Southeastern utilities are retiring coal but say they need to add natural gas to ensure reliability, frustrating environmentalists and illustrating a larger challenge to decarbonization. (E&E News)

UTILITIES:
• The municipal utility in Jackson, Tennessee, signs a 20-year power purchase agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority after nearly two years evaluating potential alternative suppliers. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• Florida regulators approve an $810 million rate hike for Florida Power & Light, representing nearly $7 a month for customers who use 1,000 kW. (WFLA)

WIND: A libertarian think tank works to build opposition to offshore wind farms in beach communities, including in Virginia and North Carolina. (The Intercept)

SOLAR:
• A West Virginia county commission votes to support a 50 MW solar farm proposed in a larger plan to build five utility-scale solar energy projects in the state. (The Review)
• Mississippi regulators set a hearing for a 100 MW solar project, and approve a $75 million rate hike for Mississippi Power to pay for storm damage. (Greenwood Commonwealth)

GRID: Texas regulators and the oil and gas industry assure state residents that the state’s power grid is ready for winter. (Texas Tribune)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• A Florida county transit board votes to spend $80 million to buy 60 electric buses over the next five years. (WFLA)
• A Florida transportation official tells lawmakers the state will receive $16.7 billion for transportation projects from the federal infrastructure bill, including $40 million a year to develop electric vehicle charging stations and expand Amtrak rail services. (News Service of Florida)
• Virginia Tech announces three new electric vehicle charging stations on campus. (news release)

CLIMATE:
• Kentucky’s three largest bourbon makers pledge to reach net-zero carbon emission in coming decades. (WFPL)
• The federal government invests $815,000 in nearly 800 renewable energy projects to make rural Florida communities more resilient against climate change. (WTSP)

HYDROPOWER: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers uses a “poiree needle system” at a dam on an Arkansas river to begin to fix a leak that has resulted in low water levels. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

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.