COAL: Conflicting decisions by Virginia and West Virginia regulators over whether to approve rate recovery for wastewater upgrades at a West Virginia coal plant show the limits of what coal boosters can do to keep such plants from shutting down as the country shifts from fossil fuels. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

GRID: Climate-driven weather events like Texas’ February freeze and Hurricane Ida — and the extensive power outages that have resulted — fuel soaring demand for  backup generators. (New York Times)

OIL & GAS:
• Tropical Depression Nicholas, downgraded from a hurricane, lingers over Louisiana while the oil and gas industry continues to recover after Hurricane Ida. (Associated Press, Reuters)
• Ida shut down enough petroleum refineries and petrochemical plants to make a dent in national manufacturing activity and slow industrial growth to 0.4% in August. (Associated Press)
• A Louisiana photographer visually documents the effects of Hurricane Ida on fossil fuel facilities in the state’s “Cancer Alley” between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. (Sierra)

UTILITIES:
• Florida regulators wade into a fight over whether a secretive opposition group should be part of a rate case involving Florida Power & Light’s request for an increase in base electric rates. (News Service of Florida)
• The Tennessee Valley Authority launches the sale of 10-year maturity green bonds — its first offering of a sustainability-focused financial instrument. (Daily Energy Insider)
• Appalachian Power asks Virginia regulators for a rate increase to recover the rising cost of coal and natural gas. (Roanoke Times)

PIPELINES: Dominion Energy’s failed attempt to build a compressor station and pipeline in a historic Black community in Virginia by arguing it was largely white stands as an example of how energy companies often route infrastructure projects through vulnerable, historically marginalized places. (Guardian)

SOLAR:
• A Tennessee solar startup offers companies the chance to invest in renewable energy and offset their carbon footprints without a minimum investment. (Tennessee Lookout)
• Kentucky lawmakers hear from solar industry professionals as they consider its potential to replace coal and natural gas as a power producer while hearing concerns about its effects on views and agricultural production. (WBKO)

POLITICS: U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has emerged as one of the last Senate Democrats defending the fossil fuel industry, but environmentalists hope he won’t block historic reforms of federal oil and gas programs being considered in the $3.5 trillion budget package. (Houston Chronicle, E&E News)

MINING: Oklahoma landowners file a petition requesting the state mining agency redo several permits in which the agency did not disclose its hearing officer was married to a lawyer for the mining company. (Oklahoma Watch)

CRYPTOCURRENCY: A cryptocurrency firm moving into a Virginia industrial park agrees to pay for the construction of its own electrical substation due to the scale of its power demand. (Sylvania Telephone/Augusta Chronicle)

SUSTAINABILITY: The federal government awards grants to 16 rural West Virginia businesses to install renewable energy systems and make energy efficiency improvements. (Associated Press)

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.