ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The U.S. clean energy loans office will give $9.2 billion to Ford to build three battery factories in Kentucky and Tennessee, covering almost all of the plants’ costs when combined with state subsidies. (New York Times)

ALSO:
• A Korean company announces it will build a $72 million factory in suburban Atlanta to make electric vehicle battery parts, and is the 10th supplier to announce a regional factory near Hyundai’s planned EV plant. (Associated Press)
• Toyota’s CEO visits North Carolina to meet with state officials and celebrate construction of a new battery plant. (Raleigh News & Observer) 

CARBON CAPTURE:
• Louisiana environmental justice advocates lead the way for a nationwide resistance to the Biden administration’s carbon capture and storage plans, saying they’ll provide a lifeline for heavily polluting fossil fuel and petrochemical plants. (Washington Post)
• The U.S. EPA holds a listening session to collect public input on Louisiana’s bid to assume permitting authority on carbon capture projects from the federal government. (DeSmog Blog)
• A Houston company that offers carbon offsets for plugging abandoned oil and gas wells is part of a wave of companies that sell such credits to companies trying to meet emissions reduction goals. (Inside Climate News)

SOLAR:
• Georgia Power plants 25 plant species known to attract bees and other pollinators at a solar facility. (WRBL)
• A solar company expects to begin construction next year on a 530-acre West Virginia solar farm. (Beckley Register-Herald)
• A Virginia city council moves toward a decision whether to approve permits for 15.75 MW and 5 MW solar farms. (Staunton News Leader)

COAL:
• A federal judge enters a $154,700 judgement against coal companies owned by the family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice for six years of unpaid premiums in a retiree health plan. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• A coal company announces it’s resumed production at an Alabama coal mine after a fire in March. (news release)

GRID: An expert says Texas wind and solar farms are “bailing us out” as the state power grid is strained by summer heat, storms and a nuclear plant failure. (CNN, Austin American-Statesman)

OIL & GAS: Tennessee farmers and residents organize against a new natural gas-fired power plant and battery storage system the Tennessee Valley Authority plans to replace a shuttered coal unit. (WTVF)

OVERSIGHT: A Louisiana regulator raises concern about third-party utility bill management companies, which aren’t regulated and add a layer of obfuscation and potentially additional fees to bills. (WAFB)

POLITICS: North Carolina environmental groups sound the alarm about a bill that could increase water pollution and ease permitting for new natural gas pipelines and hog farms. (WUNC)

UTILITIES: Florida clean energy advocates ask a county board to hold a public hearing on shifting from fossil fuels, spurred largely by utility rate hikes they blame on fossil fuel costs. (WUSF)

COMMENTARY: The Texas power grid’s biggest lapses this summer stem from failures at plants powered by natural gas, coal and nuclear power, and not the renewable sources that have been scapegoated by state lawmakers, writes a columnist. (Houston Chronicle)

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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.