PIPELINES: The long-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn two court orders that froze construction despite congressional passage of a law to force its completion. (Roanoke Times, WV Metro News)

EFFICIENCY: Emails reveal the North Carolina Home Builders Association helped write a bill to delay new energy efficiency standards, which the state legislature passed but governor vetoed, and could come up for an override vote this week. (WFAE)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• The Georgia Supreme Court declines to hear a case challenging roughly $700 million in tax breaks for Rivian’s planned electric vehicle factory, effectively clearing the way for construction to begin. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, subscription; Capitol Beat News Service)
• Tesla announces workers at its Texas factory are building its first Cybertruck, two years behind schedule. (CNN)
• A study ranks Tennessee and Georgia as the top states in the U.S. for jobs making electric vehicles and batteries, with projects projected to create 37,700 jobs. (Chattanooga Times Free Press, subscription)

SOLAR:
• Entergy moves forward with construction of a 180 MW solar farm in Arkansas after previous delays due to tariff and supply chain issues. (Arkansas Business)
• Arkansas officials and residents argue that more than 2,000 acres optioned for a solar farm in a district bustling with transportation projects could be better used to complement those facilities. (Arkansas Business)

CLIMATE:
• A third of all West Virginia properties and more than half its critical infrastructure are at risk of flooding over the next 30 years. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• South Florida struggles through a record-breaking heat wave with the heat index hovering between 105 and 110 degrees. (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
• A historic Louisiana church has struggled to recover from damage by Hurricane Ida two years ago, largely because of its history and requirements that repairs be made using specialized materials. (NOLA.com)
• West Virginia residents organize against a proposed U.S. Forest Service project to clearcut 3,500 acres because they’re concerned it will undermine the forest’s ability to store carbon and reduce water runoff. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

GRID: Lack of transmission and battery storage capacity led Texas’ grid manager to curtail 5% of the state’s wind generation and 9% of solar generation in 2022, federal data shows. (PV Magazine)

COAL: Miner advocates hail a federal proposal to limit miners’ exposure to silica dust, a major contributor to black lung disease, but criticize its reliance on coal companies to collect dust sampling data. (Kentucky Lantern)

COMMENTARY:
• Louisiana taxpayers benefitted from savvy state business managers who halted a budget amendment to purchase 2,400 acres of swampland appraised as a “mitigation bank” for carbon offsets even though it wasn’t certified as such, writes an editorial board. (NOLA.com)
• An editorial board praises the U.S. EPA’s proposal to close loopholes in its coal ash rule, which would require a Florida utility to move a 175–foot coal ash pile. (Orlando Sentinel)

More from the Energy News Network: Midwest | Southeast | Northeast | West

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.