CARBON CAPTURE: The world’s leading hydrogen supplier sues a Louisiana parish for attempting to block its attempts to build a carbon capture facility beneath its planned $4.5 billion plant. (WRKF)

SOLAR: A Georgia environmental protection official warns runoff from large solar farms is washing the region’s sandy soil into rivers and streams and creating a pollution concern. (Capitol Beat News Service)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• A global manufacturer considered a likely supplier to Toyota’s planned electric vehicle battery plant announces it will build a factory in North Carolina. (Winston-Salem Journal)
• Union Pacific Railroad will build electric hybrid locomotives at its facility in Arkansas. (Arkansas Business, subscription)

OIL & GAS:
• South Carolina state-owned utility Santee Cooper says it will build a natural gas-fired power plant to replace aging coal units, but at a different site than it had previously planned. (Post and Courier, subscription)
• Natural gas prices plunge in the Permian Basin as production overwhelms the regional pipeline network. (Bloomberg)
• An Oklahoma-based gas company lays off 3% of its workers as it prepares to sell off its Texas oil properties to focus more on natural gas. (Reuters)
• Natural gas company Kinder Morgan builds infrastructure in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi to reflect a “hyper-growth scenario” for liquified natural gas exports to Mexico, Europe and Asia. (Natural Gas Intelligence)

COAL: West Virginia regulators suspend a coal mining permit for a company that’s received 10 violation notices since November. (Charleston Gazette-Mail) 

GRID:
• Puerto Rico officials urge federal regulators to lift a cap on how much liquefied natural gas can be stored at facilities, saying the cap affects two plants that provide 40% of the island’s power. (Utility Dive)
• South Carolina state utility Santee Cooper seeks public input on its grid hardening plans. (WCBD)
• A Virginia municipal utility plans to build a new substation to meet power demand as more industrial projects build in the region. (Danville Register & Bee)

PIPELINES: Mountain Valley Pipeline officials deny their withdrawal of eminent domain actions for a North Carolina extension means they’re abandoning the project. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

NUCLEAR: Two companies announce a plan to build a natrium fuel facility in North Carolina to bolster the supply chain for planned advanced nuclear reactors. (Power Engineering)

UTILITIES: A Texas city council votes to freeze electric disconnections, late fees or penalties by its municipal utility through the winter. (KVEO)

EMISSIONS: Critics complain North Carolina regulators are abdicating their responsibility to decrease carbon emissions by delegating the task to Duke Power, which they say relies too much on fossil fuels. (Wilkes Journal-Patriot)

CLIMATE:
• Records show a federal relief agency has delivered far more aid to Puerto Rico residents after Hurricane Fiona this year than it did after Hurricane Maria in 2017, demonstrating how policy changes have made it easier for people in disaster areas to receive emergency cash, housing aid and supplies. (E&E News)
• North Carolina sees the dead “ghost forests” spread across its coastal communities due to rising seas and spread of saltwater inland. (WRAL)

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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.