Southeast Energy News is one of five regional services published by the Energy News Network. Today’s edition was compiled by Mason Adams.

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Alabama makes strides toward solar and clean energy, largely because automaker Mercedes-Benz, which has a large manufacturing presence in the state, is moving toward electric vehicles and decarbonization. (CleanTechnica)

ALSO:
• Planning experts discuss how localities in western Tennessee can collaborate to best take advantage of Ford’s planned electric vehicle and battery factories. (Commercial Appeal)
• A study shows motorists use a new electric vehicle charger in North Carolina about once a day, which developers say they interpret as a starting point. (WCNC)

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OIL & GAS:
• Industry leaders and analysts in Texas’ Permian Basin say there’s no quick way to increase oil and gas production due to supply chain issues, labor shortages and investor hesitancy. (Texas Tribune, New York Times)
• A shale oil company plans to build 70 carbon capture facilities around the world by 2035, with the first set to begin construction in the Permian Basin this year. (Bloomberg)
• U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito calls for President Biden to lift a moratorium on shipping liquified natural gas by rail. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

SOLAR:
• A Kentucky lawmaker proposes reworking the state’s rules for merchant generating facilities of more than 10 MW, which were originally written for small coal plants but utility-scale solar farms now use. (WFPL)
• A proposed 800 MW solar farm in rural Virginia is scheduled for a public hearing next month. (News & Record)

PIPELINES: The FBI investigates damage to a Warrior Met Coal pipeline in Alabama, which a trade group claims was likely caused by an explosive device. (AL.com)

HYDROGEN: West Virginia leaders advance a proposal to secure massive federal investment for a regional hydrogen hub, as critics argue the plan prioritizes uneconomical technologies that don’t adequately cut carbon emissions. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

UTILITIES:
• Georgia Power customers call for investments in clean energy and other priorities during a public hearing before regulators consider the utility’s long-term plans. (WABE)
• CenterPoint Energy raises gas rates for Texas customers to cover infrastructure it added after last year’s winter storm. (Houston Chronicle)

GRID:
• Dominion Energy announces a $17 million initiative to strengthen the grid in a Northern Virginia community. (WUSA)
• Crews extinguish a wildfire outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that was sparked by a fallen power line. (WBIR)

OVERSIGHT: Mississippi regulators call on President Biden to appoint at least two Mississippians to the board of the Tennessee Valley Authority. (Yazoo Herald)

POLITICS: U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin sparks a new round of negotiations over federal climate and social spending by laying out what energy measures he would support. (Washington Post)

COMMENTARY: Texas is poised to continue its long tradition of energy innovation into the clean energy transition, but its leaders risk undermining clean energy through legislation and regulations, writes a policy director at a nonprofit. (Dallas Morning News)

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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.