ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: Environmental justice advocates in Louisiana worry that federal money intended to reduce electricity bills, weatherize homes and reduce pollution in underserved communities is being blocked from reaching Black, minority and lower-income residents. (Floodlight/Louisiana Illuminator)

OIL & GAS: 

CLIMATE: Already home to some of the highest insurance rates in the U.S., Florida residents see insurance premiums rise by as much as 40% this year as companies account for increasingly extreme weather, pushing some to leave the state. (NPR)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 

POLITICS: 

SOLAR: A Texas airport buys 68 acres of neighboring land, likely for a solar farm as it projects the need for more electricity as aircraft go electric. (KIII)

HYDROGEN: 

EMISSIONS: A Virginia county adopts its first-ever plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition to sustainable energy, but critics call it “greenwash” to obscure planned development of up to 34 new data centers. (Prince William Times)

GRID: The U.S. solicitor general tells the U.S. Supreme Court that a Texas law banning non-incumbent companies from building transmission facilities in the state is unconstitutional. (Utility Dive)

WIND: Dominion Energy selects contractors and gears up to begin construction of an offshore wind farm near Virginia as the first German-manufactured monopiles for the project begin to arrive. (Offshore Wind)

COAL: Appalachian advocacy groups host a virtual meeting to discuss reforesting and restoring the natural landscape on former coal surface mines. (Times Leader)

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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.