CLIMATE: Kentucky and West Virginia officials have for years taken little action on comprehensive flood mitigation plans, even as climate change is driving more extreme rainfall and catastrophic floods. (Mountain State Spotlight)

ALSO: A federal plan to re-channel part of the Mississippi River into swamps and marshes south of New Orleans to rebuild areas lost to erosion divides residents. (Revelator)

OVERSIGHT:
• Louisiana regulators consider changing decades-old rules to eliminate utility monopolies and introduce more competition into state energy markets. (The Advocate)
• A Democratic Virginia lawmaker suggests Dominion Energy and other utilities might lower the cost of participation in a regional carbon market by embedding the charge in their base rates rather than as a rider. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

WIND: As Dominion Energy balks at a performance guarantee on its proposed offshore wind farm near Virginia, clean energy advocates call for more competition to bring costs down. (VPM)

GRID:
• Record summer heat didn’t break Texas’ power grid, but caused enough issues to alarm experts who warn that more reform is needed to ensure its reliability. (Spectrum News)
• Texas’ grid operator expects to have enough power this fall but warns a decline in output from renewables and unplanned power plant outages could stress the system and create rolling blackouts. (Dallas Morning News)
• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott touts the state grid’s readiness for fall — a time when milder temperatures don’t stretch it much — as he enters the final months of his re-election campaign. (Texas Tribune)

TRANSPORTATION:
• West Virginia’s first electric school bus began service this week. (Bluefield Daily-Telegraph)
• A Florida school system continues a shift toward cleaner buses by opening a compressed natural gas station for buses with even fewer emissions than propane. (Florida Politics)

OIL & GAS: The U.S. EPA denies a request by a major liquefied natural gas producer to exempt two Gulf Coast plants from a federal air pollution rule. (Associated Press, Reuters)

TRANSITION:
• Southern West Virginia readies for the infusion of $100 million in federal and matching funds for clean energy, remediation and advanced technology projects. (Huntington Herald-Dispatch)
• A plan to build a 240 MW solar plant on the site of a retired coal-fired plant is symbolic of a larger shift by Louisiana utilities toward renewables. (New Orleans City Business)

CRYPTOCURRENCY: Bitcoin-mining operations become increasingly divisive in Texas, as advocates say they accelerate the growth of renewables but critics complain about their reliance on fossil fuels. (Reuters)

POLITICS:
• Documents reveal Florida Power & Light gave $25,000 to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2018 election campaign through a nonprofit that doesn’t have to disclose its donors. (Tampa Bay Times)
• Experts warn Texas’ efforts to cut ties with banks and investment firms that “boycott” fossil fuels could be used to weaponize public retirement funds and other state money against political foes. (E&E News)

COMMENTARY: A viral social media post showing the lofty price for a 2012 Chevrolet Volt’s replacement battery leaves out important context, but does point to the challenges of a rapidly developing technology, writes a conservative newspaper editor. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

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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.