WIND: NextEra Energy closes on a deal to acquire and replace a wind energy project in Oklahoma whose previous owner was sanctioned for safety violations. (Okahoman)

PIPELINE: Federal officials investigate a pipeline spill in Georgia; Kinder Morgan says it has repaired the leak but cleanup continues. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, WABE)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Rivian’s planned $5 billion electric vehicle plant in Georgia becomes a wedge issue in the Republican primary for governor. (Washington Post)

NUCLEAR: An environmental group expresses concerns about the U.S. Energy Department’s plans to use a Tennessee landfill to dispose of low-level nuclear waste. (Oak Ridger)

EMISSIONS:
• Louisiana and Texas residents speak out against a proposed Louisiana methanol plant they fear will release greenhouse gasses and other pollutants. (KPLC)
• West Virginia lawmakers advance a bill to establish standards and practices for carbon capture and storage. (WV News)

OIL & GAS:
• Duke Energy plans to close a small South Carolina gas unit at the end of the month, more than eight years ahead of schedule. (Charlotte Business Journal, subscription)
• A Virginia legislative committee cuts part of a bill that would prohibit local governments from banning or restricting use of natural gas, leaving a requirement that natural gas providers provide three years of notice before discontinuing service. (Virginia Mercury)

GRID:
• Florida Power & Light moves forward with a project to extend high voltage power transmission lines an additional 45 miles between two northern Florida substations. (Northwest Florida Daily News)
• Florida Power & Light writes in its annual report that it has improved grid reliability for former Gulf Power customers by 58% since 2019. (NorthEscambia.com)

UTILITIES:
• The Tennessee Valley Authority and Oak Ridge National Laboratory sign an agreement to collaborate on decarbonization technology that includes carbon capture, hydrogen, electric vehicle charging, storage and nuclear. (Associated Press)
• Florida phone scammers spoof Duke Energy and other utilities to trick 175 people out of about $135,000. (WFTS)

CLIMATE: A Miami-area county works to combat rising seas with construction of a new seawall and an additional $200 million in new stormwater infrastructure. (WFOR)

COAL:
• West Virginia coal miners wear bright yellow uniforms on the state’s House floor to protest a bill to remove enforcement authority from mine inspectors and weaken other safety rules. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• West Virginia lawmakers consider legislation to create a state-funded insurance company that the coal industry doesn’t want, while looking to cut unemployment benefits for workers such as those who will lose their jobs when a coking plant closes this summer. (Mountain State Spotlight)

COMMENTARY:
• A columnist applauds a Texas school district for voting to deny a tax break for a planned 120 MW solar farm after listening to a coalition of residents who opposed it. (San Antonio Express-News)
• A waste management company threatens the health of Virginia Black and Indigenous communities while greenwashing its own record, write two researchers. (Virginia Mercury)

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.