SOLAR: Solar developers and consumer advocates push for the addition of shared solar programs in Virginia beyond Dominion Energy’s territory. (Cardinal News)

ALSO:
• Appalachian solar advocates hope stackable federal tax credits for businesses, schools, nonprofits and individuals will help revamp rural economies previously dependent on coal. (Daily Yonder)
• A Tennessee solar trade group sees rapid growth that corresponds to an increase in solar and renewables companies across the state and region. (Inside of Knoxville)

COAL ASH: A North Carolina college town awaits results of soil testing for coal ash at a site where it hopes to locate a municipal services center, police station and other departments. (Daily Tar Heel)

POLITICS:
• The chair of Texas’ three-member oil and gas regulatory board wins re-election as he calls for more fossil fuel production. (Texas Tribune)
• A Louisiana incumbent on a regulatory board that oversees electric bills is forced into a runoff. (NOLA.com)

UTILITIES:
• Georgia regulators clash with Georgia Power officials in hearings over the utility’s rates and profit. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Florida wildlife officials institute a rule prohibiting boating in warm waters near a Florida Power & Light power plant to protect manatees who overwinter there. (WKMG)

NUCLEAR: Nuclear power’s recent ebbs and flows are illustrated in the Southeast, where South Carolina’s state-owned utility abandoned construction on a plant and Georgia Power has been long delayed in Plant Vogtle’s expansion, while other utilities seek to extend use of existing reactors. (S&P Global)

OIL & GAS:
• A liquified natural gas firm with a Florida facility eyes expansion in the Gulf Coast export market as it forecasts continued growth in the Asian market. (S&P Global)
• Federal officials allow an energy company to resume use of a liquefied natural gas storage tank in Louisiana five years after it was shut down because of a leak. (E&E News, subscription)

HYDROGEN: Construction will soon begin on a new 700 MW natural gas-powered plant that will initially be able to use 50% hydrogen for fuel. (Plaquemine Post South)

CARBON CAPTURE: A North Carolina company plans to use federal incentives to build a 300 MW natural gas-fired power plant with carbon capture in Texas. (Marketplace)

DECARBONIZATION: A professor at the University of Texas at Arlington leads an effort to decarbonize concrete production and promote its use as a renewable energy generator. (news release)

CLIMATE: Tropical Storm Nicole advances toward Florida’s Atlantic coast, spurring utilities to send extra lineworkers to assist with anticipated restoration efforts. (Associated Press, Northern Kentucky Tribune)

COMMENTARY: Louisiana Republicans wrongly point fingers at local elected officials for soaring power rates even though they’re to blame for blocking more renewables, writes a university professor. (The Lens)

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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.