CLIMATE: Hurricane Ian weakens into a tropical storm after damaging a hospital and leaving more than 2.5 million people without power in Florida. (Washington Post, WUFT, NPR)

PIPELINES:
• Anti-Mountain Valley Pipeline activists enjoy a temporary win in their eight-year fight after U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin withdraws legislation that would have forced its completion. (WDBJ)
• South Carolina residents say they’re frustrated and feel powerless as Dominion Energy moves toward building a 14.5-mile pipeline. (WBTW)

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SOLAR:
• A Kentucky county board repeals its previous approval of a solar farm after neighbors complain they hadn’t been consulted. (Eagle Post)
• An official at a Georgia solar module manufacturer says new federal incentives will spur a race to ramp up solar manufacturing capacity. (Renewable Energy World)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Federal officials approve $48 million for West Virginia to build electric vehicle chargers on its interstates and in communities. (Parkersburg News and Sentinel)

OIL & GAS:
• Oil producers resume production in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Ian moves north into Florida. (S&P Global)
• Forecasters expect U.S. oil refiners to run at a high capacity next quarter, especially since the industry largely avoided a hit by Hurricane Ian. (Reuters)
• President Biden warns oil companies not to hike prices in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. (Associated Press)

RENEWABLE FUELS: A pipeline company plans to retrofit 30 tanks at a Louisiana terminal for a Finnish company to store materials such as used cooking oil for renewable fuel. (NOLA.com)

HYDROGEN: West Virginia leads a coalition of groups trying to attract federal funding for a hydrogen hub, but critics say it could slow Appalachia’s clean energy transition. (Charleston Gazette-Mail, subscription)

GRID:
• Public safety officials and utility crews respond to Hurricane Ian’s damage, including a downed power line. (Politico, WFLA)
• Hurricane Ian’s arrival in Florida spurs national conversation over weatherproofing the U.S. power grid. (MarketPlace)

POLITICS:
• U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s energy permitting reform failed largely because of its inclusion of language to force completion of the contentious Mountain Valley Pipeline, but other provisions may be reworked into legislation that can attract bipartisan support. (Energy News Network, Roll Call)
• Environmentalists and clean energy advocates have mixed feelings about the failure of Manchin’s permitting legislation, but senators from both parties are working to revive the measure in a new form. (Reuters, Virginia Mercury)
• U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visits a North Carolina solar and battery storage company to tout legislation investing in clean energy. (WRAL)

COAL ASH: Environmental groups sue Alabama Power to prevent it from storing coal ash along the Mobile River after past coal ash spills on riversides in Tennessee and the North Carolina-Virginia border. (1819 News)

COMMENTARY:
• A clean energy advocate applauds a Virginia city’s investment in hybrid and electric vehicles and the likelihood for more due to the recently passed federal climate package. (Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star)
• The failure of energy permitting reform legislation reflects not just a miscalculation by U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin but a setback for West Virginia when it comes to energy development, writes a radio host. (WV Metro News)

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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.