ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Tennessee lawmakers approve a nearly $900 million incentive package to secure a $5.6 billion investment by Ford Motor Company to build an electric vehicle and battery factory at a 4,200-acre, state-owned megasite. (Tennessee Lookout, Knoxville News & Sentinel)

ALSO:
• A northern Virginia county announces eight new electric buses and charging stations as it moves toward a goal of electrifying its entire school bus fleet by 2035. (WTOP)
• A Texas county edges forward with a plan to electrify its fleet by seeking funding and researching locations for an electric charging station. (Austin Monitor)

OVERSIGHT: A group formed by Texas lawmakers to address energy reliability after widespread outages in February includes all four of the oil and gas industry’s top choices who were included in a list of names the industry provided to regulators, emails show. (Texas Tribune)

POLITICS: Kentucky’s governor unveils a plan to promote the state as an energy and manufacturing hub in ways that nod to the impacts of climate change while never actually using that phrase or mentioning any serious plans to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. (WFPL)

SOLAR:
• Shell’s solar subsidiary begins construction on a 250 MW solar farm in south Georgia. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, subscription; news release)
• An energy company completes financing of a 270 MW solar farm in Texas and expects to begin operations there in 2022. (Renewables Now)

OIL & GAS: A Louisiana board places a 60-day moratorium on fracking operations at night within 3,000 feet of subdivisions after receiving noise complaints from residents. (KTBS)

PIPELINES: A “climate emergency choir” sings hymns and protest songs to Virginia officials in an effort to stop construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. (WMRA)

UTILITIES: Utilities in Arkansas and Kentucky warn customers to brace for higher bills as natural gas prices rise. (Jonesboro Sun, WAVE)

GRID:
• Entergy begins a project to replace about 130 utility poles, hang 150 spans of new power lines and implement smart meters as part of an effort to upgrade the grid around Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after significant outages during Hurricane Ida. (WBRZ)
• A northwest Florida neighborhood will use a Gulf Power program to replace overhead power lines with underground lines. (Pensacola News Journal)
• Miami and Florida Power & Light launch a project to build a new underground transmission line. (news release)

COMMENTARY:
• The rapid growth of the electric vehicle industry and significant investments by manufacturers present the Southeast and Southwest with an opportunity to wrest control of the automobile industry from its historical home in the Midwest, writes a columnist. (Bloomberg)
• President Joe Biden’s clean-energy agenda necessitates the involvement of nuclear power such as that at Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle, writes a policy analyst. (Athens Banner-Herald)

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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.