POLITICS: Newly emboldened Virginia Republicans aim to roll back the state’s landmark clean energy reforms but face numerous obstacles that include a Democratic-controlled state Senate and market forces already embracing renewables. (Energy News Network)

OIL & GAS:
• India’s largest private firm announces a deal to divest of its shale gas business in Texas. (Quartz)
• Phillips 66 says it will convert a hurricane-damaged Louisiana oil refinery to an oil terminal after unsuccessfully attempting to sell it. (Reuters)
• Arkansas’ largest natural gas provider says it expects the average residential customer’s bill will increase by 42% this winter due to rising natural gas costs. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

RENEWABLES: Georgia Power issues a draft request to obtain 1,030 MW of utility-scale renewable power capacity to begin service in 2023 and 2024. (Renewables Now)

GRID:
• A subsidiary of electric vehicle maker Tesla is certified as a retail electricity provider in Texas. (CleanTechnica)
• The CEO of Texas’ grid manager seeks to rebuild trust as he collects public feedback on a “listening tour” of the state. (KTVT, KXAS)
• Auditors in Austin, Texas, find the city was woefully unprepared for Winter Storm Uri because planners didn’t adequately consider the risks of a severe winter storm. (Austin Monitor)
• An Oklahoma woman fights back against Transource Energy’s proposed $100 million, 76-mile electric transmission line that would cross her property. (Sand Springs Leader)

NUCLEAR: Southern Company says it will focus on bringing new nuclear power online as it shutters more than half of its coal capacity over the next seven years. (Grist)

EMISSIONS:
• Duke Energy looks to offshore wind and advanced nuclear as it determines how to reduce carbon emissions 70% by 2030 to meet a new North Carolina mandate. (Utility Dive)
• Tampa Bay electric company TECO says it has cut its coal usage by more than 90% since 2000 and will attain net-zero carbon emissions from its power plants by 2050. (WTSP)
• A journalism project identifies industrial hotspots from the urban sprawl of Houston to the rivers of Virginia where air pollution from industrial plants has elevated cancer risk to a level the federal government considers unacceptable. (ProPublica)

SOLAR: Former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen calls for state lawmakers to invest in electric vehicle infrastructure, but says he will personally continue to grow his solar business instead of jumping into the EV sector. (Nashville Post)

FINANCE: Duke Energy Florida considers issuing a $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion sustainability bond that can be used to cover electric vehicle infrastructure, energy efficiency, climate change adaptation, grid hardening or other social initiatives. (Charlotte Business Journal)

COAL: Federal prosecutors begin a criminal fraud trial in Kentucky by arguing four former coal company officials conspired to cheat federal safety regulations to boost company profits at the expense of workers. (Associated Press)

COMMENTARY: Republican victors in Virginia last week look askance at clean energy changes sweeping the state but can’t likely overturn a pivotal 2020 law because the market is already moving forward and Democrats still control the state Senate, writes the director of a climate-focused political advocacy group. (Virginia Mercury)

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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.