EFFICIENCY: Sustainability advocates hail a North Carolina energy efficiency program for its success in rallying local residents to fill gaps and overcome barriers that grant money alone can’t solve. (Energy News Network)

ALSO: Florida regulators vote to streamline how they set utility energy efficiency goals, but critics dismiss the change as merely administrative. (Utility Dive)

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COAL:
• A study commissioned by an environmental group finds the Tennessee Valley Authority could create more than 15,000 jobs if it moved more quickly to phase out coal and pivot to renewables by 2035. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• Critics say coal states are missing opportunities to diversify their economies as lawmakers work to preserve the declining coal industry: “When you put all your eggs in one basket, it is hard to move forward.” (E&E News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Market data shows 40% of the nation’s electric vehicle and supply chain investment has gone to the Southeast, creating competition among states and laying the groundwork for the EV transition. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)
• Virginia lawmakers pass a bill requiring firefighters to complete a training program about electric vehicle fires. (Capital News Service)

SOLAR:
• A Virginia county manager who unexpectedly resigned this month signed paperwork to approve a solar farm outside the process used for typical land-use matters, upsetting landowners and elected officials. (Martinsville Bulletin)
• An energy company completes construction of a 250 MW Texas solar farm, with most of the power slated to go to a grocery store chain and a pharmaceutical company. (PV Magazine)

WIND: NextEra Energy’s CEO says the complications of installing and maintaining infrastructure at sea and high cost of transmitting electricity makes offshore wind a risky investment. (Reuters)

NUCLEAR: A former utility executive agrees to spend 15 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to mislead the public about a failed $9 billion nuclear expansion in South Carolina. (Associated Press)

OIL & GAS: West Virginia U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin criticizes the Biden administration after officials argued they need the rest of the year to finish a legally required plan to lease offshore territory for oil and gas. (Washington Post)

FINANCE: West Virginia lawmakers advance a bill to give state managers more power to direct state investments away from firms that incorporate environmental, social and corporate governance factors, despite an official’s warning it prioritizes politics over financial considerations. (Parkersburg News & Sentinel)

UTILITIES:
• Texas lawmakers consider a bill prohibiting cities from moving money from municipal utilities into their general fund, angering San Antonio officials who redirected higher-than-expected revenue from its utility back to ratepayers. (San Antonio Report)
• An audit reveals a Virginia city utility might have mistakenly billed customers by estimating bills instead of reading meters, has not developed plans to replace aging equipment, and has more than $60 million in backlogged unpaid bills. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

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CLIMATE:
• Experts say people living in affordable housing who can’t pay to maintain their homes are hurt more by the effects of climate change in coastal areas. (The State)
• Vice President Kamala Harris tells a Florida conference she’s optimistic about federal investments to tackle climate change. (Miami Herald)

COMMENTARY: Chevron’s CEO tells an editorial board the oil and gas company isn’t interested in wind or solar because they don’t have a high enough rate of return on investment. (Houston Chronicle)

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Mason Adams

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.