FLOODING: President Biden visits parts of eastern Kentucky damaged by flooding and pledges federal aid to help communities rebuild. (Lexington Herald-Leader, E&E News)

ALSO: A 2019 study identified parts of eastern Kentucky ravaged by floods last week as among the most “mining-damaged areas” in the region, as mountaintop removal practices and a resulting lack of vegetation increased vulnerability to flooding. (Grist)

WIND: Dominion Energy officials question Virginia regulators’ approval of stringent consumer protections around the utility’s offshore wind plans, which they say threaten the project’s financial viability. (E&E News, subscription)

OIL & GAS: An oil tank platform on Louisiana’s Gulf Coast collapses and spills thousands of gallons of oil into the water. (WGNO)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Georgia prepares for a key role in the transition to electric vehicles with Hyundai announcing a new factory near Savannah and its ports ready to ship those vehicles around the world. (Savannah Morning News)
• Electric vehicle maker Canoo reports a $164 million loss for the second quarter of 2022 but says it has more than $1 billion in its sales pipeline, including a deal to supply Walmart. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

SOLAR:
• A sustainability group prepares to launch a community-based solar group-buying program in North Carolina’s Triangle region. (Chatham News Record)
• A Florida city council approves rezoning for a Duke Energy solar farm. (Alachua Today)

BIOGAS: A Virginia gas company asks state regulators to approve its plans to install equipment to convert biogas from a sewage treatment plant into natural gas. (Roanoke Times)

GRID:
• Texas is still assessing the effectiveness and costs of its changes to state grid operations after a 2021 winter storm. (Dallas Morning News)
• Democrats’ federal climate package could transform the power grid in Tennessee by allowing power companies and utilities like the Tennessee Valley Authority to directly monetize federal tax credits for renewables. (WPLN)

HYDROELECTRIC: A water resource engineer says the Tennessee Valley Authority’s 29 hydroelectric dams have received an excess of “free fuel” from record-breaking rainfall this year as natural gas and coal see price increases. (Oak Ridger)

ACTIVISM: Young activists petition Florida leaders to follow through with a legal requirement to a goal of 100% clean energy by 2050. (Inside Climate News, NPR)

UTILITIES:  The municipal utility in Gainesville, Florida, ranks second for the highest electric bills among all utilities in Florida. (Gainesville Sun)

COMMENTARY:
• A longtime Florida columnist recaps Florida Power & Light’s use of a political consultancy firm to track journalists and place stories at a political news site. (Florida Phoenix)
• Democrats’ climate spending package will add momentum, but states already are driving the clean energy transition — even “red” states that don’t focus so much on climate change, writes an energy and climate professor. (The Advocate)
• The federal Inflation Reduction Act’s incentives for renewables, storage, efficiency, building electrification and electric vehicles will pair well with Virginia’s laws to supercharge the clean energy transition, writes a columnist. (Virginia Mercury)

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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.