UTILITIES: New Orleans’ city council president promises to launch an investigation of Entergy after the utility’s antiquated transmission and power delivery system collapsed during Hurricane Ida. (NOLA.com)

ALSO:
• Oklahoma regulators gather top utility officials to discuss whether the state will have enough access to natural gas supplies for a coming winter the Farmers’ Almanac predicts will be the “season of shivers.” (Stillwater News Press)
• Piedmont Natural Gas officials reach an agreement with customer groups and North Carolina’s utility consumer advocate to raise rates and complete construction of a liquefied natural gas storage facility. (WUNC)

SOLAR:
• An actor with New Orleans roots who was previously pushing a solar energy facility for his neighborhood says Hurricane Ida showed why the project is needed. (NOLA.com)
• A Mississippi regulator approves a 96 MW solar facility set for completion by 2022. (WHLT)
• Dominion Energy Virginia’s president says a planned 50 MW solar farm in the coalfields is “a groundbreaking model” for how to use surface mine sites, which he said are well-suited for solar energy projects. (Bristol Herald-Courier)
• The cancellation of a solar farm in Virginia demonstrates the challenges for renewables in the mountainous western part of the state, where only two of approximately 60 state permits for utility-scale solar projects have been issued. (Franklin News-Post)

OIL & GAS:
• Offshore oil and gas producers take stock after Hurricane Nicholas, while more than 43% of oil production and about half of natural gas production in the Gulf remains offline after Ida. (Houston Chronicle)
• Most of Louisiana’s nine refineries closed by Ida have already reopened, while oil production is slower to restart. (Greater Baton Rouge Business Report)
• Congress’ $3.5 trillion budget package includes provisions to prohibit new oil and gas leases in federal waters, including much of the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico. (States Newsroom)

GRID: The former president and CEO of Texas’ grid manager says predictive maintenance, battery storage and other technology could help lessen the effects of hurricanes and storms on the grid. (S&P Global)

CLIMATE: Climate change and warming waters affect North Carolina’s commercial fisheries, with effects that trickle down and place a burden on the state’s most economically vulnerable coastal residents. (Carolina Public Press)

COAL:
• Dominion Energy says it will operate a southwestern Virginia coal plant it opened in 2012 until 2045, when it will be shuttered due to the state’s sweeping 2020 clean energy law. (Bristol Herald-Courier)
• The United Mine Workers of America faces an uncertain future as it notches wins for workers and retirees but sees little room for growth amid the country’s shift from coal to cleaner power. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

STORAGE: Hyundai partners with two Texas companies to test whether spent electric vehicle batteries can be reused as energy storage systems. (Korea Herald)

COMMENTARY: Southern West Virginia’s economic future depends on finding new ways to incorporate metallurgical coal and its byproducts into advanced products, writes the director of a regional development authority. (Exponent-Telegram)

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Mason Adams

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.