SOLAR: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis cites inflation as he vetoes a utility-backed bill that would have stripped solar power subsidies for residential customers and allowed electric utilities to impose steep fees on solar panel owners. (Miami Herald, Tallahassee Democrat)

ALSO: Virginia ranked fourth in the country for solar installations in 2021, and for the first time generated more power from solar than coal. (WVTF)

WIND:
• A North Carolina authority announces a coastal island will host a proposed offshore wind manufacturing terminal. (Wilmington Star-News)
• Wind energy booms in Oklahoma and Texas — deep-red Republican states that once were dominated by oil and gas. (CNN)

OIL & GAS:
• The U.S. Department of Energy allows additional exports of liquefied natural gas from planned terminals in Texas and Louisiana. (Washington Post)
• The Gulf Coast sees its third announced refinery closure in two years amid an industry-wide decline in refining capacity. (Fox Business)
• A West Virginia natural gas industry leader complains that the unfinished Mountain Valley Pipeline is hampering the Appalachian region’s ability to compete against other U.S. basins. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• Virginia Natural Gas moves to upgrade and replace 400 miles of older pipes, incorporating technology to predict excavation damage and methane leaks. (Daily Energy Insider)

PIPELINES: Federal officials suspend a permit for a proposed Kentucky gas pipeline while they re-evaluate its potential effects on endangered bats. (WDRB)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Kentucky prepares for a Japanese company to begin construction of a battery plant for electric vehicles this summer. (Spectrum News)
• Four South Carolina colleges aim to develop a workforce that can build and service electric vehicles and develop cybersecurity to protect them. (news release)

NUCLEAR: The trial of the last of four executives charged with fraud in the high-profile failure of a South Carolina nuclear project could be delayed as prosecutors seek to disqualify his lawyer. (Post and Courier)

UTILITIES: Duke Energy saw a 20% jump in installed wind and solar power in 2021, with increases in North Carolina and Florida leading the way. (Villages-News)

COAL: Coal industry representatives testify rail service issues have delayed coal shipments, shrinking stockpiles before summer’s electricity peak. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

EMISSIONS: Residents of a predominantly Black, low-income community in a Florida industrial corridor seek the source of an odor that’s troubled them for decades. (Tampa Bay Times)

POLITICS: Louisiana’s oil and gas industry pushes a state lawmaker to withdraw his effort to enshrine local control over a generous corporate tax incentive in the state constitution. (The Advocate)

EFFICIENCY: Chattanooga, Tennessee’s municipal utility is named as the most efficient local power company in the Tennessee Valley Authority’s seven-state region. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

CRYPTOCURRENCY: A cryptocurrency mining company announces plans to build its own 1.7 GW electrical substation in Texas to avoid compromising the power grid. (CryptoPotato)

BIOGAS: Duke Energy announces two North Carolina projects to convert landfill emissions into renewable natural gas. (news release)

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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.