ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: Largely Black communities in south Memphis spent decades suffering from pollution from a Tennessee Valley Authority coal plant — and now that it’s closed, the utility is trucking tons of toxic coal ash through their neighborhoods to a nearby landfill. (Energy News Network, Washington Post)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Hyundai considers accelerating construction of its planned Georgia electric vehicle plant because the new federal climate law excludes electric vehicles assembled outside North America from tax credits. (Reuters)
• As Georgia looks to access federal funding for electric vehicle chargers, state lawmakers still must set industry rules after a dispute between the state’s power companies and convenience stores crushed earlier efforts. (Capitol Beat News Service)
• North Carolinians are beginning to shift to electric and hybrid vehicles, with standard hybrids experiencing the largest gains among state registrations for the first half of 2022. (Winston-Salem Journal)

SOLAR: Developers in Florida’s Tampa Bay plan to add solar panels and batteries to homes and buildings due to huge incentives included in congressional Democrats’ newly passed climate package. (WTVT)

UTILITIES:
• A Florida power company receives a fine and probation for willfully violating a federal safety rule after a 2017 explosion at a coal-fired power plant killed five workers. (New York Times, news release)
• Entergy offers $4.4 million in one-time $150 bill credits for Louisiana customers. (NOLA.com)

CLIMATE:
• An Appalachian cultural center and the Kentucky communities around it reel from the devastating effects of 1,000-year-floods that struck in late July. (HuffPost)
• Residents in rural areas around San Antonio, Texas, worry the region’s aquifer won’t hold up amid a drought and the state’s rapidly growing population. (San Antonio Report)
• On the 30th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew, which killed 65 people, Florida has implemented protective measures against hurricanes but is still vulnerable to storms as more people pour into the state. (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

RENEWABLES: The new climate law negotiated by U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin could lead to the development of more clean energy in fossil fuel-reliant West Virginia, experts say. (WV News)

POLITICS:
• The U.S. Supreme Court delays Georgia’s election for two regulators after four Black residents argue the process dilutes Black votes and violates the Voting Rights Act. (Savannah Morning News)
• High power bills have turned usually ignored elections for Louisiana Public Service Commission into hot political races. (The Advocate)
• Democrats challenging Texas’ governor and lieutenant governor are making the state’s grid problems the centerpiece of their campaigns. (Dallas Morning News)

COMMENTARY:
• A former chairman of the Florida Chamber of Commerce writes that newspapers have been too hard on Florida Power & Light in covering its involvement with a political consultancy that influenced elections and media coverage. (Florida Times-Union)
• An editorial board pans Virginia regulators’ approval of a rate increase tied to Dominion Energy’s offshore wind farm, noting that many details have yet to be finalized and risk will fall on ratepayers. (Wall Street Journal, subscription)

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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.