ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Electric vehicle maker Canoo announces it will build its company headquarters, an R&D center and a production facility for small package delivery vehicles in northwestern Arkansas. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

ALSO:
• Rivian, the electric vehicle company scouting Southeastern states to build a factory, is now the third most valuable carmaker in the world despite its lack of revenue so far. (Savannah Morning News, CNN Business)
• Five Virginia localities will buy electric school buses after receiving grants from Appalachian Power. (Roanoke Times)

COAL: An 80 MW power plant in West Virginia that buys coal gob from Sen. Joe Manchin’s company fights to stay open with a new plan to sell power for cryptocurrency mining and coal ash for concrete. (E&E News)

GRID:
• Federal regulators release a final report on February’s Winter Storm Uri that recommends electric grids strengthen winterization rules and better coordinate with the natural gas industry to prevent future blackouts. (KTRK, Reuters)
• A clean energy company announces it has delivered power into the Texas grid generated by new technology that derives zero-emissions electricity from natural gas. (Reuters)

OVERSIGHT: New Orleans residents call on EPA Administrator Michael Regan to reject carbon capture as a climate solution, increase air monitoring of heavy industry and launch a civil rights investigation into the 85-mile chemical corridor known as “Cancer Alley.” (NOLA.com)

SOLAR:
• Entergy asks Louisiana regulators to approve four new solar farms totalling 475 MW across three parishes. (KPLC)
• A North Carolina nonprofit releases a study finding the state ranks third nationally for solar development over the past decade, and 10th for renewable energy development. (Carteret County News-Times)
• The University of Arkansas Hope Texarkana begins a solar energy technology certificate program. (Texarkana Gazette)

CLIMATE:
• Armadillos increasingly appear in North Carolina and Virginia as climate change expands their range northward. (Guardian, Cardinal News)
• Five years of aggressive tree planting by a metro Florida county results in a canopy that’s “not significantly changed,” according to a new study. (WLRN)
• A journalist explains how fossil fuel advocates embed climate skepticism in K-12 education, beginning with the leader of an Arkansas oil and natural gas trade organization pitching to middle schoolers. (Slate)

POLITICS: Virginia Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin has expressed skepticism about Virginia’s clean energy law, but a Democrat-controlled Senate, Republican legislators who favor the law and broad public support will limit his ability to overturn it. (Canary Media)

COMMENTARY:
• Alabama communities face air pollution from outdated coal-fired plants but can embrace policy changes to advance climate, racial, and economic justice, write two leaders of a state nonprofit. (Energy News Network)
• An editorial board calls on West Virginia lawmakers to shift their focus from campaigns and charter schools to recruiting automakers to build battery factories. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• A Memphis-area news anchor complains about a $2 million raise for the CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority and suggests it’s fueling a local desire to break with the TVA. (WATN)

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.