OIL & GAS: Federal regulators unanimously approve a liquefied natural gas export terminal on the Louisiana coast despite concerns that it will only worsen greenhouse gas emissions and further harm communities frequently exposed to pollution. (Reuters)

ALSO:
• Parts of the Permian Basin are rocked by a 5.3-magnitude earthquake that demonstrates the seismic impact of widespread fracking. (Bloomberg)
• A Louisiana contractor warns docking facilities at a planned crude oil export storage terminal could reduce the ability of a proposed $1.4 billion coastline restoration project to divert sediment and rebuild land. (NOLA.com)

PIPELINES:
• The U.S. Forest Service will again study the environmental impact of the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s path through the Jefferson National Forest in Virginia after a court twice rejected earlier approvals. (Roanoke Times)
• A Shell pipeline between Houston and Port Neches, Texas, will run at reduced capacity until mid to late December, potentially bottlenecking crude oil shipments. (Reuters)

SOLAR:
• A 15 MW solar farm that will sell energy to Appalachian Power begins operation in central Virginia. (Altavista Journal)
• A North Carolina county board approves rezoning for a 10 MW solar farm. (Iredell Free News)
• A 2.8 MW solar farm to power a southern Virginia electric cooperative nears completion. (Danville Register & Bee)
• A North Carolina planning board discusses changing its solar farm regulations to give county officials greater flexibility in recommending or requiring more specific standards for proposed projects. (WECT)

RENEWABLES: American Electric Power’s Oklahoma subsidiary asks state regulators to approve its purchase of a 999.5 MW portfolio of wind and solar projects in Texas and Kansas. (Renewables Now)

COAL:
• An expert refutes the West Virginia consumer advocate’s suggestion that utility Mon Power buy a coal-fired power plant to keep it open, saying it would be better to help the community move on. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
• West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice announces a company will invest $60 million in the state to extract rare earth metals from coal waste. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

GRID:
• Texas lawmakers discuss changing the state electricity market to increase grid reliability, but critics say the “performance credit mechanism” intended to incentivize more electricity generation won’t help avoid future blackouts. (Texas Public Radio)
• The North American Electric Reliability Corp. warns inadequate weatherization of power generators in Texas could lead to outages during extreme or prolonged cold weather. (S&P Global)

NUCLEAR: Virginia Gov. Glenn Younkin touts his proposal to build a small modular nuclear reactor in southwestern Virginia as he works to gain support for his impending budget proposal. (Bristol Herald Courier)

BIOMASS: A North Carolina county approves a 6-month moratorium on biomass facilities to allow it to study and implement changes to its land use ordinance. (Asheville Citizen-Times)

UTILITIES: A bankruptcy judge approves a Texas electric cooperative’s reorganization plan to pay the state grid manager $1.89 billion of the $2.1 billion it was originally billed for 2021 winter storm costs. (S&P Global)

CLIMATE: Scientists warn sea level rise will affect coastal Virginia, but climate change did not factor into the 2022 midterm elections that saw a congressional seat in the region flip from Democratic to Republican. (Capital News Service)

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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.