PIPELINES: North Carolina regulators reject a permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline Southgate extension, citing concerns about the main project and saying it could cause “unnecessary water quality impacts.” (NC Policy Watch)

TRANSPORTATION: Advocates are counting on federal legislation to relieve a bottleneck in Virginia’s rail system, allowing for construction of a new bridge to accommodate expanded passenger rail service. (Energy News Network)

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COAL ASH: Duke Energy is preparing to argue before North Carolina regulators that it needs an $8-9 billion return on coal ash cleanup or its finances and credit will be at risk. (Utility Dive)

RENEWABLES: Facebook plans to build an $800 million data center powered by renewable energy in Gallatin, Tennessee, that is expected to employ about 100 people. (WBIR)

SOLAR:
• A solar cooperative launches in Hillsborough County, Florida, to help Tampa-area residents afford to go solar. (WFLA)
• Catholic churches in Virginia are leading the transition to solar with the help of a company that installs solar on parishes across the country. (National Catholic Reporter)

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OIL & GAS:
A Louisiana journalist discusses what could happen next with lawsuits by several parishes against oil and gas companies for coastal damage. (WNNO)
The Republican nominee for the agency that regulates Texas’s oil and gas industry is involved in a controversy over an oil field waste facility. (Houston Chronicle)

COMMENTARY:
• A clean energy group outlines where North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper stands on clean energy legislation. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)
• The move to a clean economy is essential, but fossil fuel workers and the communities that depend on them shouldn’t be left behind, an environmental group says. (Environmental Defense Fund)

Lyndsey Gilpin is a freelance journalist based in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. She compiles the Southeast Energy News daily email digest. Lyndsey is the publisher of Southerly, a weekly newsletter about ecology, justice, and culture in the American South. She is on the board of directors for the Society of Environmental Journalists.