HURRICANE IDA: Hurricane Ida swamps Louisiana and Mississippi, stranding residents in floodwaters and knocking out power that could take weeks to restore. (Associated Press)

ALSO:
• The storm hits the Gulf Coast oil and gas industry, with 75% of Louisiana refining and nearly 95% of offshore oil production still offline on Monday, and flooding and outages delaying damage assessment. (S&P Global, Reuters)
• Some pipeline operators shut down in response to Ida, including the gasoline-shipping Colonial Pipeline, although experts say they don’t anticipate a gas shortage. (Reuters, Charlotte Observer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• The Gulf Coast’s petrochemical industry takes stock after the storm, warning that power outages could delay restarts even if production facilities escaped damage. (S&P Global)

WIND:
• Wind power sets a growth record in 2020, adding nearly 17,000 MW on land and accounting for 42% of all new power capacity in 2020. (Tribune News Service/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
• Duke Energy launches operations at a 182 MW wind farm in Texas. (T&D World)
• A contractor tells a jury he lied to get an investment for a failed Arkansas wind farm and split the money with the CEO instead. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
• A viral video shows a train in Texas smashing into an 18-wheeler struggling to carry a wind turbine blade over railroad tracks. (WEAR)

GRID: Texas wholesale power seller Griddy reaches a settlement with Texas that will save customers from paying outstanding, sky-high electric bills they received after February’s winter storm. (ABC News, CBS News)

PIPELINES: Three protestors are convicted and fined for chaining themselves to a junked car fortified with concrete and steel to block the Mountain Valley Pipeline. (Roanoke Times)

SOLAR:
• Gulf Power builds a 75 MW solar power system in Florida. (NorthEscambia.com)
• An Arkansas planning board approves a permit for a 2.8 MW solar farm with 7 MW of battery energy storage. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

NUCLEAR: Federal regulators identify electrical issues at Georgia Power’s nuclear Plant Vogtle that will require increased oversight, and which officials say could delay construction even further. (Utility Dive)

BIOGAS: Environmentalists call on federal and North Carolina regulators to ensure stringent rules are in place to protect minority neighborhoods from hog-to-gas operations, such as a joint venture between Smithfield Foods and Dominion Energy recently fast-tracked under the state farm bill. (Inside Climate News)

WILDFIRE: Western states look to Florida, which leads the country in controlled burns, and the Southeast for information and best practices as they seek to contain increasingly catastrophic wildfires. (NPR)

UTILITIES: Eastern Tennessee ratepayers are expected to see higher power bills in September due mostly to expectations for increased natural gas prices, even though the Tennessee Valley Authority is about to cut wholesale electric rates. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Georgia Power expands electric vehicle infrastructure in a state that’s already home to 30,000 EVs and 930 public charging stations. (Daily Energy Insider)

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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.