ELECTRIC VEHICLES: An analysis shows state and local governments are set to give $2.1 billion in tax breaks and other incentives to Hyundai after the automaker and its partner battery maker announced they will increase their investment in an electric vehicle factory in Georgia. (Associated Press)

ALSO:
• A Florida lawmaker files legislation to impose a yearly registration fee of $200 on electric vehicles to make up for lost gas taxes. (Tampa Bay Times)
• A Florida city council agrees to a trial program to charge fees for use of its electric vehicle charging stations. (Palm Coast Observer)
• More than 3,700 workers at General Motors’ Tennessee plant watch to see if they’ll go on strike as part of the United Auto Workers’ contract dispute with the big three car makers. (WTVF)

STORAGE: An electric vehicle battery-repurposing company announces it will install a 500 kW battery system at Nissan’s North American headquarters in Tennessee using second-life Nissan LEAF battery packs. (news release)

SOLAR:
• Even though Georgia ranks high for solar installations and total area of solar-suitable warehouse roofs, warehouse owners in the state seem disinclined to invest in solar because it’s still cheaper to buy power off the grid, experts say. (Georgia Current)
• A manufacturer of solar trackers and fixed-tilt racking announces it will open an Alabama factory, its sixth in the U.S. (Solar Power World)
• A South Carolina city council discusses a company’s plan to invest nearly $100 million in solar generating facilities on 160 acres. (SC Now)

OIL & GAS:
• The bays around Texas are filled with abandoned oil and gas wells and equipment that’s falling apart and threatening coastal ecosystems. (Texas Monthly)
• The Nansemond Indian Nation sends a formal grievance to an energy company’s Canadian leaders over their plans to double the size of about 50 miles of an existing pipeline in Virginia. (WHRO)
• A federal court rejects environmentalists’ attempts to block permits for a planned liquified natural gas terminal and pipeline in Louisiana. (Associated Press)

COAL: More than 5,200 people commented on a federal agency’s proposal to strengthen a rule to more tightly regulate silica dust that significantly contributes to black lung disease in coal miners and others. (news release)

BIOGAS:
• A company announces it’s completed two landfill-to-gas plants in North Carolina. (Biomass Magazine)
• Chattanooga, Tennessee, announces plans to build a waste-to-energy system to convert wastewater into biogas. (Chattanoogan) 

GRID: Mississippi regulators meet with Entergy officials to discuss power outages in June caused by severe thunderstorms, tornados and flash floods. (WJTV)

POLITICS:
• With Virginia’s commitment to phasing out coal by 2050 and shifting to electric vehicles at risk, the League of Conservation Voters gives $2 million to Democratic candidates in state legislative races. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp suspends state gasoline and diesel fuel taxes through an executive order declaring an emergency over high prices. (Associated Press)

COMMENTARY: Rooftop solar has been slow to catch on in Appalachia, partly because of its topography, weather and historic reliance on fossil fuels, but those factors can be countered through financial incentives, writes an editorial board. (Beckley Herald-Register)

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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.