COAL: Many West Virginia coal miners still support Donald Trump even though his promises to revive the industry have fallen flat. (Associated Press)

ALSO:
• A decline in coal production and related revenue creates uncertainty for a federal program to reclaim and spur economic development at abandoned mine sites. (Daily Yonder)
• The U.S. Energy Department will help fund construction of a coal refinery with carbon capture technology to support an underground Appalachian mining complex. (Observer-Reporter)

OIL & GAS:
• Amid a struggling oil market, Exxon Mobil will cut 1,900 jobs, mostly from its Houston headquarters. (Associated Press)
• Offshore oil and gas producers shut down nearly half of the Gulf Coast’s production for Hurricane Zeta. (Reuters)
• Environmental groups sue the U.S. EPA for failing to update and enforce rules for flaring, or burning off excess gases. (Houston Chronicle)

PIPELINES: Federal regulators order the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to provide a plan for winding down the canceled project. (Virginia Mercury)

UTILITIES:
• Georgia Power’s president will retire in 2021, around the same time a new unit at its Plant Vogtle nuclear facility becomes operational. (Athens Banner-Herald)
• The refusal by New Orleans’ inspector general to investigate whether a utility hired actors to support a power plant at a meeting became an early red flag for ethics watchdogs before his eventual resignation. (WWL-TV)

COAL ASH: North Carolina regulators approve a plan for removing coal ash at a Duke Energy power plant set to close as early as 2024. (Gaston Gazette)

SOLAR: A Virginia developer files plans to build a solar farm on land previously slated for commercial and residential development. (Northern Virginia Daily)

WIND: North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland announce they will work together to facilitate offshore wind energy development. (The Hill)

CARBON: Virginia seeks to dismiss a lawsuit against its involvement in a regional cap-and-invest organization because the plaintiff didn’t pay court fees on time. (Virginia Mercury)

POLITICS:
• New York climate activist Michael Bloomberg gives $2.6 million to a Democrat running for a Texas board that regulates oil and gas. (Grist)
• A Republican running for a Texas regulatory board claims without evidence that solar panels pollute the ground. (E&E News, subscription)
• West Virginia’s Republican governor, a billionaire and a head of a coal company that stretches across five states, faces three opponents in his bid for re-election. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

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.