GRID: Texas lawmakers unveil a compromise bill to require weatherization of power plants and some natural gas wells and related infrastructure, although critics note it reduces how many natural gas facilities must actually be upgraded. (Dallas Morning News)

ALSO:
• Texas lawmakers still disagree over the role of renewables in February’s outages and how state law should treat them. (Utility Dive)
• Tennessee opposes an effort by four state power companies to use the Tennessee Valley Authority’s transmission lines to import electricity from other, less expensive utilities and power producers. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• Duke Energy bolsters its power lines in coastal North Carolina as part of a multi-year infrastructure improvement project to protect against hurricanes. (Port City Daily)
• Residents of a South Carolina island push back on Santee Cooper’s plans to run transmission lines through a wildlife-rich marsh. (WCBD)
• The Tennessee Valley Authority announces plans for a new 5.4-mile transmission line in Tennessee. (Daily Energy Insider)

UTILITIES:
• North Carolina regulators take steps to give low-income families more control over their energy costs by pushing Duke Energy to set aside $6 million for home weatherization and setting the stage for more systemic change. (Energy News Network)
• Virginia regulators approve one of several requests by Appalachian Power to raise rates for about 500,000 customers in the state. (Roanoke Times)
• An economics professor explains why cryptocurrency mining is generating noise complaints near an electrical substation in Tennessee. (WATE)

COAL:
• The declining price of solar power and complaints from customers finally begin to push many Virginia rural electric cooperatives from their historic reliance on coal-generated power. (Energy News Network)
• A public-private partnership between a company and West Virginia and federal officials plans an acid mine drainage treatment system to clean up runoff from an underground coal mine that flows into a creek. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• A federal judge rules against environmental groups that worry coal ash ponds near a Kentucky power plant violate waste management standards and threaten people’s health. (E&E News, subscription)

PIPELINES:
• The Colonial Pipeline experiences another hiccup after its communications system for shippers goes offline. (S&P Global)
• Experts tell a state legislative panel that North Carolina is especially susceptible to energy interruptions because its gasoline and natural gas originate largely from two pipeline networks, fueling a renewed push for more pipelines. (Associated Press, WRAL)
• Construction on the new 9.3-mile Atlanta Gas Light pipeline reaches the halfway point. (Rome News-Tribune)
• A protester locking themselves to the inside of a disabled vehicle delays work on the Mountain Valley Pipeline. (Roanoke Times)

SOLAR:
• Virginia solar advocacy groups and a state agency ask regulators for a hearing on Dominion Energy’s plan to charge a $75 minimum bill for shared solar customers, which they say will strangle participation. (Virginia Mercury)
• A Tampa think tank proposes converting an old bridge slated for demolition into a solar generation facility. (St. Pete Catalyst)
• An energy company pitches a 175 MW solar farm in Texas. (KRIS)

NUCLEAR: Georgia Power again pushes back plans to begin operation of new units at Plant Vogtle until next year after delays in testing, with an accompanying rise in cost not likely to be known until later this fall. (Associated Press, Georgia Recorder)

OIL & GAS: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signs a bill into law that prevents cities from prohibiting natural gas as a fuel source in new construction and utility services. (Texas Tribune)

COMMENTARY:
• A growing number of Americans look to home solar arrays because they’re losing trust in electrical and vehicle fuel networks, writes an editorial board. (Dallas Morning News)
• West Virginia lawmakers must plan for the closure of the state’s remaining coal-fired power plants if it wants to weather coal’s decline, writes an energy analyst. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

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.