COAL: Republican lawmakers in coal-heavy states like Kentucky and West Virginia are making it harder for power companies to retire coal-fired power plants, propping up the industry even though it costs ratepayers more. (CNN)

ALSO:
• The owner of a West Virginia coal-fired power plant slated for closure negotiates with a company to produce hydrogen there while continuing to work with two FirstEnergy subsidiaries that are considering buying the plant. (Parkersburg News and Sentinel)
• A coal marketing company tells a federal court that West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s family coal company still hasn’t addressed a $1.9 million debt after a 2021 court ruling found it violated a supply agreement. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

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TRANSITION: A union official discusses its deal with a battery maker to retrain and employ former coal miners at its planned West Virginia factory. (Canary Media)

CLEAN ENERGY: The Southeast is an epicenter for a wave of recently announced solar, battery and electric vehicle factories tapping into $391 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding. (Canary Media)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• In a Republican area of Texas, electric vehicles are gathering ground, with GOP voters saying high gas prices are convincing them to make the switch. (Washington Post)
• Georgia could award up to about $700 million in incentives for a planned $5 billion SK-Hyundai electric vehicle battery factory in the state. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• A Texas factory plans to make 350 kW fast chargers for electric vehicles. (KDFW)

SOLAR:
• Texas residents without municipal water service use solar distillation to generate water from the air. (Texas Tribune)
• A company closes on financing for a 180 MW solar farm in Louisiana. (Business & Industry Connection)

PIPELINES: Construction on the long-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline could resume in as little as two weeks after its inclusion in the congressional debt deal, while the project’s opponents consider what to do next. (Roanoke Times, Cardinal News)

NUCLEAR: Critics continue to decry the projected $35 billion cost of Georgia Power’s expansion of nuclear Plant Vogtle as the utility brings the first new unit to 100% power. (Georgia Recorder)

CARBON CAPTURE: An Austin, Texas, brewery is starting to capture carbon dioxide produced during the brewing process, then use it in future brews instead of buying more carbon. (Washington Post)

EFFICIENCY: An Atlanta convention center saved more than $10 million during the first five years after it upgraded its boilers, chillers and other energy-using systems. (Facilities Net)

CLIMATE:
• Florida joins nine other states in a Louisiana-led lawsuit challenging changes to a federal flood insurance program that could drive up premiums. (Tampa Bay Tribune)
• Texas lawmakers allocated more than $2 billion from the state’s historic surplus to increase water supplies, fix failing infrastructure and prevent flooding, but a watchdog group says they slid backward on protecting air and water quality. (Texas Tribune, San Antonio Current)

POLITICS:
• A Dominion Energy-backed political action committee jumps into the primary races for Virginia legislative seats. (VPM)
• Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken steps to address extreme weather, flooding and other results of climate change, but not carbon emissions. (Washington Post)

COMMENTARY:
• Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell warns a proposed U.S. EPA rule to reduce carbon emissions from power plants will cripple domestic energy production, threaten national security and squeeze workers and job creators in Kentucky and beyond. (Courier-Journal)
• Texas’ newly passed electric vehicle registration fees should be tailored to provide sustainable funding for road maintenance instead of as a blow in America’s culture wars, writes a consultant. (Bloomberg)

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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.