OIL & GAS: Oil and gas companies expect it will be more difficult to do business on federal land or obtain permits for pipeline projects under President-elect Biden. (Bloomberg)

ALSO:
• Louisiana oil and gas workers worry what Biden’s administration will mean for their jobs as it seeks to “transition” from the fuels. (WWL-TV Channel 4, WAFB)
• A Houston political science professor expects the Biden administration will show “some pretty hard love” for Texas energy companies but ultimately push them in ways they’ve already been moving anyway. (Houstonia)
• The 1,100 workers at Shell’s Convent oil refinery ponder their future as the plant moves toward shutdown and closure. (The Advocate)
• Federal regulators hand down an $80,100 fine over violations found after a 2018 fire at a Louisiana natural gas terminal. (E&E News)

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NUCLEAR: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issues notices of violation and more than $900,000 in fines to the Tennessee Valley Authority for a 2015 outage in which operators did not follow procedures or document their actions. (Chattanoogan)

SOLAR:
• A largely rural Virginia county grapples with the pros and cons of a proposed $200 million, 149 MW solar farm. (Culpeper Star-Exponent)
• A student team at Appalachian State University in North Carolina prepares for a solar-car endurance race next summer from Missouri to New Mexico. (The Appalachian)

UTILITIES:
• Kentucky Power asks state regulators for a rate increase and a decrease in credit rates for rooftop solar customers. (WFPL)
• Florida Power & Light prepares for Tropical Storm Eta as it gathers strength amid an unprecedented year for hurricanes. (Boca Raton Tribune)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Texas reporter roadtrips 20 hours from Dallas to Austin to Houston and back to Dallas to test an electric car. (KENS 5)

TRANSPORTATION: A transit agency in Little Rock, Arkansas, will buy eight compressed natural gas buses in 2021 to replace diesel vehicles as it cuts its budget to accommodate a decrease in ridership and funding. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

CLIMATE: Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards will meet with a climate team tasked with finding ways for the state to reach net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. (The Advocate)

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COAL ASH: American Electric Power announces it will install new ash handling systems or lined ash ponds at three West Virginia power plants. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

TRANSITION: The acceleration of wind- and solar-powered “green hydrogen” may accelerate the decline of shale gas and even nuclear power. (CleanTechnica)

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.