HURRICANE IAN: Hurricane Ian intensifies into a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour and is expected to make landfall on Florida tonight, driving intense preparations and evacuations. (New York Times, Tampa Bay Times)

ALSO:
• Ahead of its arrival, Hurricane Ian has brought strong winds and offshoot tornados which have led to power outages for 8,000 people in Florida. (Florida Politics)
• Florida’s 55 electric utilities brace for Hurricane Ian after it knocks out power in Cuba, with 22,000 workers from Duke Energy and Florida Power & Light set to respond to anticipated outages. (S&P Global, New York Times, WOFL)
• As Hurricane Ian’s path shifts and the threat of storm surge to Tampa diminishes, Tampa Electric Co. reverses its earlier plans to shut down power in the city. (Tampa Bay Times)

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WIND: Dominion Energy is in a standoff with Virginia regulators who want to apply a performance guarantee to protect ratepayers if the utility’s $9.8 billion offshore wind farm falls short of expectations, with clean energy advocates largely backing the additional consumer protections. (Energy News Network)

PIPELINES:
• U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin agrees to remove his permitting reform legislation from a congressional spending measure for lack of support, triggering relief from U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine and anti-Mountain Valley Pipeline activists. (Associated Press, Virginia Mercury)
• A longtime West Virginia journalist explains U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s commitment to the Mountain Valley Pipeline comes as the state’s energy economy is transitioning largely from coal to natural gas. (Grid)

SOLAR:
• A rural Virginia county board unanimously approves an ordinance detailing the process to approve large scale solar energy facilities. (Martinsville Bulletin)
• An Arkansas bank breaks ground on a planned 219 kW solar array that will cover 79% of its electricity usage at five branches. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• As Ford gears up to build two electric vehicle batteries in Kentucky, it’s also expanding its existing truck plant near Louisville. (Associated Press)
• Texas will use up to $408 million in federal funding to build its electric vehicle charging network, beginning with 50 locations along interstates in its first year. (Texas Tribune)

GRID: Hundreds of thousands in Puerto Rico still don’t have power nine days after Hurricane Fiona knocked out the island’s power grid. (NPR)

CARBON CAPTURE: A Louisiana parish board approves a year-long moratorium on injection wells used in carbon capture to allow for more time to study the technology’s effects. (The Advocate)

NUCLEAR: Tennessee officials commit to partnering with the U.S. EPA to clean up a former nuclear site formerly occupied by a company that was repeatedly cited for not properly handling radioactive materials. (Oak Ridger)

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MINERALS: A North Carolina critical minerals company announces it will build a recycled titanium manufacturing site in Virginia. (Cardinal News)

COMMENTARY:
• Appalachian advocacy groups herald U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s removal of language to force completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline from a congressional spending bill. (POWHR, Appalachian Voices)
• An environmental group recommends North Carolina join a regional carbon market to maximize benefits from decarbonizing its electric sector. (Environmental Defense Fund)

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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.