ELECTRIC VEHICLES: South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster says he’ll ask state lawmakers to approve $1.3 billion in incentives to attract a Volkswagen-backed electric vehicle factory. (Chattanooga Times Free Press, Reuters)

ALSO:
• A South Korean company that makes automotive door components announces it will open a factory in Georgia to be near Hyundai’s $5.5 billion electric vehicle plant. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Entergy will present a $255,000 grant to a Texas university to build a solar-powered electric vehicle charging station on campus. (KAGS)

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SOLAR:
• A bipartisan group of Georgia state senators introduces a bill over the objections of Georgia Power to expand the number of households allowed to use net metering. (Macon Telegraph)
• Entergy asks Louisiana regulators to approve its plan to add 224 MW of solar power, including construction of a 49 MW plant and purchase power agreement for another 175 MW. (Greater Baton Rouge Business Report)
• A company makes solar-powered mobile nanogrids that were deployed to communities in Florida and Louisiana after hurricanes to provide emergency services. (CleanTechnica)
• The Nature Conservancy develops a solar siting tool to accelerate large-scale solar development in parts of Georgia with lower environmental sensitivity. (news release)

NUCLEAR:
• Georgia Power begins splitting atoms in one of the two new nuclear units at Plant Vogtle, a key step toward completion of the nation’s first new reactors built in more than three decades. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Virginia lawmakers passed bills taking steps to create a legal framework and set up workforce development programs to support the planned construction of a small modular nuclear reactor within the next decade. (Cardinal News)

COAL: West Virginia regulators push American Electric Power to run coal-fired power plants at higher capacities despite the utility’s worry that doing so would raise customers’ bills. (E&E News)

OIL & GAS:
• Environmental groups sue the federal government to stop plans to open up more than 73 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico to oil drilling. (WUSF)
• Oklahoma lawmakers consider exempting natural gas from price stabilization legislation, opening the door for companies to charge extra during emergency declarations. (KFOR)
• Texas lawmakers prepare legislation to penalize insurers with environmental, social and corporate governance policies that disadvantage the oil and gas industry. (Dallas Morning News)

EFFICIENCY: South Florida municipalities replace street lamps with LED lights that are more energy efficient but also significantly brighter, resulting in concerns about light pollution. (WLRN)

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CLIMATE:  A study finds the loss of Louisiana wetlands south of New Orleans has been driven largely by oil and gas activity and construction of levees along the Mississippi River. (NOLA.com)

POLITICS: Analysts expect Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will deliver a speech tonight that’s devoted less to storm response and rising seas than to cultural wedge issues as he considers a possible 2024 presidential campaign. (WTVJ)

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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.