GRID: Texas regulators seek to assure residents that the grid is prepared for winter after February’s near-collapse, but energy experts remain concerned that vulnerabilities still exist. (Houston Chronicle, Spectrum News)

ALSO: Months of investigation by Oklahoma failed to find price gouging or other illegal activity when natural gas prices skyrocketed to historic highs during February’s winter storm. (Journal Record)

POLITICS: Critics say Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin doesn’t have the power to withdraw the state from a regional carbon market because its participation is regulated by an air pollution control board. (Grist)

OIL & GAS:
• Natural gas remains Texas’ largest energy source, providing 43% of power on the state grid this year compared to 30% by solar and wind combined. (San Antonio Express-News)
• As the gas industry feels market pressure around emissions, two Appalachian shale drillers seek certification that the natural gas they produce is “responsibly sourced” and another company achieves a high grade for controlling methane emissions in the Permian Basin. (S&P Global; Natural Gas Intelligence, subscription)

PIPELINES: Developers hold their first public meeting for a proposed 83-mile Virginia pipeline that would connect to a proposed power plant. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

COAL ASH: The Sierra Club appeals a court decision approving Georgia Power’s plan to collect $525 million in coal ash pond closure costs from ratepayers to the state supreme court. (The Current)

SOLAR: As part of a speech touting Kentucky’s record-breaking economic development year, Gov. Andy Beshear announces a new $231 million solar power project on a former coal mine. (WHAS)

WIND: A federal agency releases a plan for developing wind energy off North Carolina’s southern coastline with less impact to the environment than predicted several years ago. (Triangle Business Journal, subscription)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• General Motors announces a deal with the only commercial U.S. rare earth mine, which will establish a Texas factory to produce enough magnets for up to 500,000 electric motors annually. (NBC News)
• The Tennessee Valley Authority and Duke Energy join more than 50 other utilities in a nationwide agreement to boost the number of electric chargers tenfold to accommodate a projected 22 million electric vehicles that will be on U.S. roads in 2030. (Chattanooga Times Free Press, WNCT)
• The federal infrastructure bill will send $198 million to Florida to build out its electric-vehicle charging framework. (Spectrum News)

EFFICIENCY: A Kentucky school district approves a $10.6 million energy efficiency project. (Paducah Sun)

COMMENTARY:
• The Tennessee Valley Authority’s plans to dispose of coal ash by trucking it across Memphis to a landfill will create nearly a decade of negative impacts on nearby, predominantly Black  neighborhoods, writes an activist. (Commercial Appeal)
• Texas lawmakers put some new safeguards largely aimed at electric companies in place this year, but gave gas providers more time on a bet the state won’t get another storm like February’s, writes a columnist. (Texas Tribune)
• ExxonMobil’s pledge to cut flaring and attain net-zero emissions in the Permian Basin by 2030 shows global pressure to cut emissions but also the challenges of making those reductions real, writes an engineer. (Forbes)

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.