WIND: An offshore wind farm near Virginia is one of two national projects the Biden administration hopes will provide a foothold for its goal of growing the industry to 30 GW by 2030. (Reuters, Washington Post)

NATURAL GAS:
• Texas lawmakers tout a prohibition against localities banning natural gas hookups as a way to ensure against another energy crisis like February’s storm, but experts say the legislation could actually spur more blackouts. (KUT)
• Georgia lawmakers attempt to pass a bill restricting localities from banning natural gas hookups will set back clean-energy plans in Savannah and four other cities with plans to move away from fossil fuels, says a local alderman. (WSAV)

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GRID:
• The Texas state senate unanimously passes a bill to require weatherization of power plants and additional transparency around blackouts that includes a state alert system. (Texas Tribune, The Eagle)
• Texas lawmakers advance legislation to add new fees on solar and wind generators as “unreliable” energy sources that can’t be easily called upon all times at a moment’s notice. (Houston Chronicle)

UTILITIES:
• The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy calls on the Tennessee Valley Authority to lead the utility industry by converting entirely to carbon-free electricity generation by 2030. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• A developer acquires the former Little Rock headquarters of Arkansas Power & Light with the goal of transforming it into a post-pandemic co-working space. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

COAL:
• A series of legislative proposals in West Virginia and other coal-producing states would make it harder to close coal plants and slow the transition to clean energy in an attempt to save jobs. (Bloomberg)
• Doctors hired by coal companies are less likely to diagnose black lung disease from X-rays than independent or miner-hired doctors, according to a new study with implications for a disease that is resurgent across central Appalachia. (Ohio Valley ReSource)

PIPELINES:
• Virginia regulators say they’ll need up to a year before they can issue a water quality certification for stream crossings by the Mountain Valley Pipeline. (Roanoke Times)
• A Gulf Coast pipeline company touts its planned expansion in Louisiana and Texas as a way to expand shippers’ market access to natural gas. (S&P Global)

SOLAR: A 98 MW solar farm begins operation in South Carolina and will deliver electricity for state-owned utility Santee Cooper. (PV Magazine)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Korean battery maker SK Innovation looks to April 11 as the deadline for President Joe Biden to overturn a trade decision against it, lest it take action that could include withdrawing from its Georgia factories. (Reuters)

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CARBON CAPTURE: Canadian e-shopping company Shopify will pay a Texas company to pull 10,000 metric tons of carbon out of the atmosphere at a sprawling “direct air capture” facility. (Grist)

COMMENTARY: New estimates show that five southwestern Virginia coal counties are losing population because people are moving out, joining the ranks of 13 other state “exodus” counties and raising a tricky policy question for the candidates running for governor. (Roanoke Times)

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.