OIL & GAS: Insurers are pulling out of residential areas along the Gulf Coast, leaving homeowners with few protections for flooding and storms, but still cover a wave of new liquified natural gas export terminals along the Louisiana coast. (Floodlight/Guardian)

SOLAR:
• An Arkansas municipal utility enters an agreement with a company to buy power for a community solar program. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
• A Kentucky city announces the launch of operations at its first solar facility, with the goal of going entirely renewable by 2030. (WLKY)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Ford and battery maker SK On begin hiring leadership and the first employees to staff their electric vehicle and battery factories in Tennessee, although most of the 5,800 jobs in the BlueOval complex won’t be filled until 2024. (Commercial Appeal)
• An electric vehicle advocate’s struggle to find charging options on a trip from Texas through Oklahoma to Arkansas illustrates the challenge of rural “charging deserts” in the EV transition. (WSMV)

NUCLEAR:
• Georgia Power moves to take the final steps to begin producing power at two new units at its nuclear Plant Vogtle, while revealing an additional month-long delay due to the malfunction of a hydrogen system. (GPB)
• A Virginia consortium pursues federal grants to support the buildout of the region’s nuclear power industry. (Cardinal News) 

UTILITIES:
• Kentucky regulators set public hearings to consider Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities’ request to retire four coal-fired and three natural-gas fired units. (Interior Journal)
• A natural gas company says it will give ratepayers six months to set up repayment plans under a compromise with Arkansas regulators to allow it to disconnect customers for nonpayment. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
• In its first rate filing since Virginia lawmakers approved regulatory reform, Dominion Energy says customers will get neither refunds nor a base rate increase. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

FINANCE:
• The state of Oklahoma benefited from oil and gas price spikes last summer but now is seeing declining revenues as prices drop. (Journal Record)
• The city of Richmond considers joining a Virginia program that offers loan financing for developers to invest in renewables, energy efficiency and water conservation measures. (VPM)

PIPELINES:
• More than 50 Democratic North Carolina lawmakers ask federal regulators to deny the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s appeal for more time to win approval for its Southgate spur from Virginia. (Greensboro News & Record)
• West Virginia’s attorney general and Congress members from Texas and Pennsylvania call on the U.S. Supreme Court to allow resumption of construction on the Mountain Valley Pipeline. (Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Williamsport Sun-Gazette)

COMMENTARY:
• The opening of Gulf waters for offshore wind development could enable Texas to become a leader in another renewable energy arena if conservative pushback doesn’t derail progress, writes an energy columnist. (CleanTechnica)
• Federal regulators should approve a newly proposed rule to restrict silica levels to protect coal miners against black lung disease, writes an editorial board. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

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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.