MANUFACTURING: The United Auto Workers’ tentative agreement with Ford includes a $1.2 billion investment into the automaker’s Louisville, Kentucky, plant to facilitate its transition to producing electric vehicles. (Louisville Courier Journal)

ALSO:

WIND: 

  • The offshore wind industry sees ups and downs, as federal officials approve the nation’s largest planned offshore wind farm in Virginia and announce new lease areas in the Gulf of Mexico while other projects are canceled. (Associated Press)
  • Dominion Energy announces its planned $9.8 billion offshore wind project near Virginia remains on schedule and on budget even while two other East Coast projects were canceled. (E&E News, subscription)

SOLAR: 

POLITICS: 

  • In Kentucky’s closely fought campaign for governor, the Democratic incumbent and Republican challenger both embrace the coal industry even as the state’s energy markets shift toward cleaner power sources. (Kentucky Lantern)
  • Texans prepare to vote on a ballot initiative to create a “Texas Energy Fund” to incentivize construction of natural gas plants, even though experts caution it fails to take into account the grid’s growing reliance on renewables. (San Antonio Express-News)

OIL & GAS: 

GRID: Texas utility regulators approve a 40% increase in the state grid operator’s budget, most of which will come from passing costs down to companies that sell power to consumers. (San Antonio Express-News)

CLIMATE: 

  • The U.S. Treasury Department, two U.S. senators and a national group of state regulators are launching inquiries into how insurance companies in Florida, Louisiana, Texas and elsewhere are raising rates in response to climate change. (E&E News)
  • This year was Texas’ second-hottest on record, and scientists say it’s not an anomaly but a sign of what’s to come. (Dallas Morning News)
  • Developers start to build homes designed to be more resilient against extreme weather, from tightening solar panels more snugly to reducing their carbon footprint. (Associated Press)

EMISSIONS: 

COAL: Two workers have died following last week’s collapse at a Kentucky coal processing plant. (WSAZ/Gray News)

COMMENTARY: 

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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.