PIPELINES:
• North Carolina’s environmental agency files a complaint to force Colonial Pipeline to clean up an at least 1.2 million gallon gasoline spill discovered last summer. (news release, WITN)
• Mountain Valley Pipeline officials tell investors that construction is nearing its end after more than three years of delays and a near doubling of its cost, but it still lacks key state and federal permits to cross water bodies. (Roanoke Times, Charleston Gazette-Mail)

COAL ASH: Tennessee investigators will present a report to a grand jury from their criminal investigation of the Tennessee Valley Authority and a contractor related to the 2008 Kingston coal ash spill and its subsequent cleanup. (Tennessean)

EMISSIONS:
• Republicans respond negatively to President Joe Biden’s sweeping new plan to reduce methane emissions in Oklahoma and Texas. (KTUL,, Texas Tribune)
• West Virginia’s attorney general prepares arguments for the U.S. Supreme Court on why it should limit federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. (Parkersburg News and Sentinel)

HYDROGEN: While Louisiana considers hydrogen as a way to decarbonize its industrial sector, a study found it might lead to even more greenhouse gas emissions than natural gas, raising questions about its role in the clean energy transition. (NOLA.com)

SOLAR:
• A Kentucky county government asks its board of adjustment to reconsider permitting a solar farm it previously denied because the decision will affect some forthcoming large-scale economic development projects. (WPDS)
• A Kentucky county prepares for a significant solar buildout as large companies building in the area seek more renewable options. (News-Enterprise)

WIND: The Tennessee Valley Authority plans to remove three turbines at a Tennessee wind farm because they’ve reached the end of their lives, while 15 remaining wind turbines will continue to operate. (WBIR)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Charleston, South Carolina, begins to convert the city’s vehicle fleet to electric models, but advocates say it needs to focus more on building out charging stations. (Charleston City Paper)

COAL: A coal company presents its tax payment to a Kentucky county with an oversized check and news that it’s looking to hire up to 60 additional miners as global coal demand increases. (The Messenger)

GRID:
• Texas’ grid operator approves 2.6 GW of natural gas-fired, battery storage, solar and wind generation capacity for commercial operation in October. (S&P Global)
• Residents of a Virginia neighborhood express concerns over low-hanging power lines after a worker was electrocuted while working on a roof. (WRIC)

CLIMATE: Virginia Beach voters approve a referendum to allow the city to issue up to $567 million in bonds to accelerate a flood protection program in response to rising seas. (Virginia Mercury)

ACTIVISM: The director of the Arkansas Sierra Club leaves to become a policy director for Audubon Delta, which works across Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

COMMENTARY:
• President Biden’s goal of developing 30,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030 presents Texas an opportunity to create new job options for oil and gas workers and benefit its coastal cities, writes an editorial board. (Houston Chronicle)
• Congressional Democrats’ failure to pass infrastructure legislation that includes provisions for clean energy development contributed to statewide defeats in Virginia last night, writes a columnist. (Washington Post)

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.