COAL ASH: A state supreme court decision in favor of Georgia Power could affect state regulators’ vote this week to determine how much ratepayers should be on the hook for the company’s coal transition plan. (Georgia Recorder)

SOLAR:
• An energy company plans to begin construction next year on a Virginia solar farm that would be the second largest in the state. (WDBJ)
• A floating 1.1 MW solar array deployed by the U.S. Army in North Carolina last month is part of a larger trend of using floatovoltaics to generate power. (The Hill)

UTILITIES:
• Virginia regulators approve a rate increase for Appalachian Power to build more wind and solar projects in a push to generate carbon-free electricity. (Roanoke Times)
• The Tennessee Valley Authority considers renting out part of its headquarters in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as most of its employees work from home. (Chattanoogan)
• Gas prices in eastern Tennessee start to drop, but a recent fuel cost adjustment is pushing electricity prices higher. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• An Entergy official meets with a Louisiana city council to discuss why power bills are rising and what options are available for customers who have trouble paying. (The Advocate)

OIL & GAS:
• U.S. Gulf Coast export terminals see a spike in liquified natural gas shipments to Europe amid the war in Ukraine. (The Advocate)
• Alabama officials worry about the impact on state royalty income if the Biden administration were to limit oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico. (AL.com)
• Texas oil and gas businesses have added 39,400 jobs since September 2020, but that’s just half the number lost during the pandemic. (Rigzone)

GRID:
• Texas’ grid manager forecasts peak loads this week that would break the all-time record set just earlier this month. (S&P Global)
• Texas residents can use several indicators to determine whether a power outage is local or part of a larger rolling blackout implemented by the state grid operator. (Texas Tribune)

CLIMATE:
• Children in Louisiana’s Pointe-au-Chien tribe attend a summer camp to learn about their history and culture as well as climate change and land loss. (WWNO)
• Environmentalists and community leaders urge Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency after a United Nations climate change report called out Florida as under significant threat. (Orlando Sentinel)

OVERSIGHT: West Virginia regulators name members of a task force to consider how to lower energy costs, with a focus on operating the state’s coal-fired power plants at higher capacity. (Charleston Gazette-Mail, subscription)

ACTIVISM: Alabama residents fight a landfill that sometimes takes coal ash and may begin accepting trash from 33 states if regulators grant the permits. (Montgomery Advertiser)

COMMENTARY:
• The Tennessee Valley Authority should look to wind and solar to replace power from an aging coal-fired power plant instead of natural gas, which is prone to price spikes and requires construction of pipelines, a Nashville resident writes. (Tennessean)
• An energy columnist blames spiking energy bills on Virginia utilities’ reliance on coal and natural gas, and longtime failure to invest in renewables even as wind and solar became the lowest-cost sources of energy. (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.