OIL & GAS: A federal judge throws out 1.7 million acres of oil and gas leases auctioned off last year because the Biden administration relied on a flawed Trump-era analysis of the climate change impact of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. (Washington Post, NPR)

ALSO:
• High natural gas prices seem likely to trigger construction of liquified natural gas projects by Venture Global and Tellurian in Louisiana and Cheniere Energy in Texas. (Reuters)
• A Georgia city’s housing authority uses a company’s approach to supplier competition and procurement timing to reduce its natural gas costs by 15%, or about $191,000 over a 5-year contract term. (American City and County)

UTILITIES:
• NextEra’s CEO says the company investigated a subsidiary Florida Power & Light after news reports of its involvement in a dark money scheme, but found no evidence of wrongdoing. (Tampa Bay Times)
• A judge orders the Tennessee Valley Authority to hand over documents detailing the environmental impact and other details of its proposal to supply Memphis and more than 140 other local power companies with electricity. (Commercial Appeal)
• South Carolina’s state-owned utility will pay two top executives nearly $197,000 in bonuses because they met most of their performance goals before their employment contracts lapsed earlier this month. (Post and Courier)
• San Antonio’s municipal utility appeals a court decision that dismissed its suit against Texas’ grid manager in the wake of last year’s winter storm. (San Antonio Report)

SOLAR:
• Mississippi regulators approve a 100 MW solar farm that will sell power to local utilities. (DeSoto Times-Tribune)
• An energy company announces construction on a 345 MW solar plant near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (news release)
• A 30 MW solar farm begins operation in Arkansas. (KNWA)
• Appalachian Power asks West Virginia regulators to approve cost recovery for a 50 MW solar farm in West Virginia, a 204 MW wind farm in Illinois, and 150 MW and 5 MW solar farms in Virginia. (news release)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A North Carolina city approves incentives for construction of a battery module assembly plant by electric vehicle maker Arrival. (Charlotte Business Journal)

POLITICS: The West Virginia Senate passes legislation to restrict state banking contracts with any firm that boycotts fossil fuels. (Parkersburg News and Sentinel)

EMISSIONS: A new report finds Texas officials have failed to adequately monitor and regulate toxic emissions of hydrogen sulfide from so-called “sour wells.” (Texas Public Radio)

COAL: Growing international demand for steel-making coal could benefit railroads used to ship it to export terminals. (Trains)

LABOR: A growing interest in American labor and cooperation with other unions is helping Alabama coal miners sustain a strike that began last April. (NPR)

COMMENTARY: Growing tensions in Europe have encouraged the Biden administration to turn to domestic fossil fuel producers in ways that might benefit Louisiana natural gas producers, writes an editorial board. (The Advocate)

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.