OVERSIGHT: A group of Virginia lawmakers prepares to push for stricter oversight of Dominion Energy, a longtime political behemoth in the state and its largest utility. (Associated Press)

EFFICIENCY: Months after record participation by state and local governments helped pass an ambitious building energy code update, the organization that oversees the process is taking steps that would sideline thousands of public sector members from voting on future updates. (Energy News Network)

***SPONSORED LINK: North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association is offering a virtual clean energy continuing legal education (CLE) course on Feb. 2, with a specific focus on the Southeast region. Register today! ***

OIL & GAS:
• Texas’ oil and gas industry presses state lawmakers to invest in roads, transmission lines and other energy-related infrastructure. (Bloomberg Tax, subscription)
• The top Democrat in Florida’s state senate files a bill to ban fracking. (WFOR)
• Residents of an Oklahoma city vote to renew its 25-year franchise agreement with Oklahoma Natural Gas. (Shawnee News-Star)
• A federal agency finds that damage from replacing a natural gas pipe more than 20 years ago contributed to a 2018 explosion that killed a 12-year-old girl in Dallas. (KERA)

NUCLEAR: The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed work on two new reactors at Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle. (Capitol Beat News Service/Georgia Public Broadcasting)

UTILITIES: Environmental groups push back against a staff recommendation arguing that Duke Power doesn’t need North Carolina regulators’ approval to join a regional power-sharing market. (Charlotte Business Journal)

COAL: All but one member of West Virginia’s five-member congressional delegation address the state’s coal association, with lone Democrat U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin the only one optimistic about the incoming presidential administration. (WV News)

SOLAR: Texas becomes Duke Energy’s largest solar market, followed by California and North Carolina, after it invests in its fifth solar plant in the Lone Star State. (Charlotte Business Journal)

WIND: A southern Virginia college adds a new program this month that will train and certify students in skills needed for a planned offshore wind farm. (Danville Register & Bee)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Florida lawmaker introduces legislation to pay for electric vehicle charging stations with a grant program. (WLRN)

GRID: The Tennessee Valley Authority plans repairs for a Kentucky substation that was damaged when someone shot up equipment. (WPSD)

PIPELINES: Federal regulators clear the way for the Double E Pipeline to begin construction in New Mexico and Texas. (news release)

BIOGAS: A renewable natural gas developer inks a deal to develop up to four facilities that will process biogas produced by Arkansas-based Tyson Foods. (Bioenergy Insight)

COMMENTARY: A Bloomberg opinion columnist deconstructs a Texas regulator’s rant about international geopolitics in response to criticism of the state’s natural flaring policies. (Bloomberg)

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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.