COAL: After 23 months of striking against Alabama’s Warrior Met Coal, the United Mine Workers of America tells miners they may return to work next month while the union continues to negotiate for a new agreement. (AL.com)

NUCLEAR: Georgia Power officials yet again push back the planned startup of two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle, whose construction has been plagued by numerous delays and cost overruns. (Associated Press)

ENERGY EFFICIENCY: Critics decry the lack of consumer protections in Florida for homeowners who use a loan program to fund clean energy-related property improvements. (Miami Herald)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Workers at a Kentucky Ford plant fear for its future as the automaker pivots toward electrification and away from the compact crossover SUV made at the Louisville factory. (WDRB)
• Electric and hybrid vehicle registrations soar in North Carolina, with the Raleigh and Charlotte metro areas leading the state. (Wilmington Star-News)

SOLAR:
• McDonald’s signs a power purchase agreement for the entire production of a 180 MW solar farm in Louisiana. (PV Magazine)
• A Virginia town council sets a public hearing for a proposed 5 MW solar facility that’s already been the subject of multiple reviews and public forums. (South Boston News & Record)

WIND: Twelve plaintiffs file nearly identical lawsuits challenging a planned West Virginia wind farm. (National Law Review)

EMISSIONS: Arkansas challenges the U.S. EPA’s rejection of its plan to meet “good neighbor” obligations ensuring its coal-fired power plants and industrial sites don’t pollute the air in other states. (Associated Press)

OIL & GAS: Shell begins producing oil in the Gulf of Mexico at a new deepwater rig designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and costs. (Acadiana Advocate)

GRID:
• Experts at a college energy conference discuss challenges to the Texas grid as it incorporates more renewable energy sources. (KDFW)
• A Virginia Tech professor begins a project to develop cybersecurity technology for unstaffed electrical substations in remote locations. (Smart Energy International)
• A Tennessee professor gave the Tennessee Valley Authority’s energy reliability a “C+” before a December cold snap resulted in rolling blackouts across the state. (WKRN)

CARBON CAPTURE: A chemical engineering professor says carbon capture technology represents a good opportunity for Louisiana because the state emits 10 times the amount of carbon dioxide as the global per capita average. (The Advocate)

BIOGAS: A waste company that manages a Virginia landfill invests in a system to convert its emissions into natural gas. (Kenbridge Victoria Dispatch)

UTILITIES: Duke Energy and Dominion Energy each disclose a more than $1 billion impairment on renewable energy facilities, with Duke planning to unload its contracted renewables portfolio in 2023. (S&P Global)

POLITICS: A think tank finds Texas and Florida rank second and third nationally for numbers of potential jobs created through federal climate legislation. (Canary Media)

COMMENTARY: An environmental activist fears a proposed U.S. EPA rule to regulate air standards for coal dust that blows from mining-related infrastructure is too weak to protect people in coal communities. (Appalachian Voices)

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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.