PIPELINES: The Mountain Valley Pipeline clears a significant hurdle as a Virginia board votes 3-2 to approve a permit for it to cross about 150 streams and wetlands in Southwest Virginia. (Virginia Mercury, Roanoke Times)

GRID:
• The Tennessee Valley Authority says power has been restored to more than 90% of homes and businesses that suffered power outages from tornadoes in Tennessee and Kentucky. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• Electric cooperatives, mutual aid workers and contractor crews reduce the number of outages in western Kentucky from 80,000 to about 10,000. (Paducah Sun)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Electric vehicle maker Proterra announces it will invest $76 million to build a South Carolina factory to make batteries largely for commercial vehicles such as delivery and work trucks, industrial equipment and buses. (WFAE)

BIOFUELS: University of Central Florida researchers study ethanol fuel cells as an renewable energy alternative to traditional combustion engines. (news release)

WIND: Southwest Virginia groups launch an initiative to incorporate the region’s manufacturers into the developing offshore wind supply chain. (Bristol Herald-Courier, Kingsport Times News)

SOLAR: Construction is nearly complete on a 3.3 MW solar plant that will cover 44% of a Virginia school system’s needs. (Smithfield Times)

EMISSIONS: Three environmental groups including the Chesapeake Climate Action Network plan to sue the EPA for using outdated methods of measuring methane from landfills they say underestimate emissions by 25%. (Inside Climate News)

COAL ASH: A clean water group names Georgia Power’s plans to bury coal ash in unlined pits submerged in groundwater at five power plants as one of the worst threats to Georgia’s water. (Georgia Recorder)

OIL & GAS:
• Florida has 3.2 GW of new gas-fired generation capacity scheduled to enter commercial operation, making up about a tenth of new gas capacity planned nationally. (Power)
• An Oklahoma maker of oil and gas control equipment purchases a Texas distributor to expand its reach in the Permian Basin and nearby areas. (Journal Record)

OVERSIGHT: Louisiana regulators approve contracts with a consulting group to understand long-term utility assessments after a delay over concerns the firm had worked groups opposing the Dakota Access oil pipeline. (Louisiana Illuminator)

COMMENTARY:
• The outdoor recreation industry in West Virginia and beyond needs federal officials to implement stronger methane rules to reduce air and climate pollution, writes a business owner. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• Cleaning up hazardous coal waste in Southwest Virginia can create hundreds of jobs, fuel millions of dollars in economic impact and restore the region’s natural beauty, writes a county supervisor. (Roanoke Times)
• The Tennessee Valley Authority should embrace renewables and energy efficiency programs instead of funding anti-environment trade groups and investing in fossil fuels, write two energy justice advocates. (Tennessean)
• Texas’ largest electricity cooperative is moving in the wrong direction by moving to slash the rate it pays for energy from residential solar panels, writes the director of a conservative energy group. (San Antonio Express-News)

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.