OIL & GAS: A 5.2 magnitude earthquake strikes part of west Texas where scientists say hydraulic fracturing and the routine practice of injecting salty wastewater into the ground has dramatically increased the number and strength of earthquakes. (El Paso Times, Texas Tribune)

ALSO: Tennessee residents protest the Tennessee Valley Authority’s plans to build more natural gas-fired power plants, and call for more transparency in its future power plans. (Chattanooga Times Free Press, subscription)

COAL: Kentucky regulators allow a utility to close two coal-fired units but block the closure of two others while also granting construction of a new gas unit and expansion of its renewable portfolio. (Louisville Courier Journal)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 

  • The deal between the United Auto Workers and Ford could touch more than 100,000 jobs across Kentucky as the automaker prepares to launch an all-new electric vehicle at its Louisville factory and open two battery plants. (Louisville Courier Journal)
  • A South Carolina economic development official touts the state’s regulatory flexibility to attract Korean battery and electric vehicle makers to join Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Scout Motors factories. (Korea Herald)

SOLAR: 

POLITICS: 

RENEWABLES: 

  • Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt sounds the alarm about Chinese companies buying state land for “marijuana farms,” but data reveals the spike in foreign-owned land has come almost entirely from Canadian and European companies building wind and solar farms. (Investigate Midwest)
  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture announces $2.3 million in grants to develop renewable energy in nine Virginia counties and a city. (WRIC)

STORAGE: An energy company announces it’s obtained financing for a 150 MW battery storage project in Texas. (Renewables Now)

HYDROGEN: A petrochemicals manufacturer announces it will convert a soon-to-be-closed Texas oil refinery into a hydrogen production facility, while another company announces a liquified natural gas export terminal on the Texas Gulf Coast. (Engineering News-Record)

NUCLEAR: A Virginia company will supply nuclear fuel and components for a team of businesses developing a nuclear fission reactor to power space vehicles. (Cardinal News)

GRID: 

COMMENTARY: Schools should emphasize STEM education to prepare students to solve complicated environmental problems, writes an Arkansas teacher. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

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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.