JOBS: About 6,800 clean energy workers filed for unemployment last month in North Carolina, the second-most in the country, as the coronavirus pandemic takes a toll on the industry. Texas lost 4,200 clean energy jobs. (ReNews.biz, E&E News, San Antonio Business Journal, subscription)

NUCLEAR: Georgia Power cuts about a fifth of its Plant Vogtle workforce, nearly 2,000 workers, as COVID-19 spreads among employees. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

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POLICY: Environmental advocates and experts look ahead to what Southern states may be next to pass major clean energy legislation after Virginia. (InsideClimate News)

SOLAR: A University of Arkansas professor receives a $3.6 million grant from the Department of Energy to advance technologies that integrate solar energy with the national grid. (Arkansas Business)

EMISSIONS: Shell announces that it aims to stop adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere by 2050, but critics say “net zero” would allow them to pump gases and claim to offset them with measures to capture emissions. (Associated Press)

EFFICIENCY: Texas regulators are expected to vote today on new smart meter rules that would utilize on-demand data to give customers more control over their usage. (Utility Dive)

OFFSHORE DRILLING: Experts and scientists discuss lessons learned from the BP oil spill 10 years ago. (E&E News, subscription)

PIPELINES: A federal court’s decision to cancel a key Keystone XL Pipeline permit could have impacts on other projects like the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines. (Bloomberg Law) 

COAL:
• The Trump administration reverses an Obama-era rule that compelled coal plants to cut mercury emissions and other air pollutants. (Associated Press)
• Alabama environmental regulators say they’re drafting new air and water pollution permits for a coal and natural gas power plant years after the permits expired. (AL.com)

COMMENTARY: A prominent energy justice advocate in Memphis describes the long fight to give residents access to more affordable energy. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)

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.