POLITICS: North Carolina lawmakers override five of Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes, passing bills to loosen requirements for a proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline spur into the state and define nuclear power as “clean energy” to help meet the state’s emissions-reduction goals. (Raleigh News & Observer, Winston-Salem Journal)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Striking United Auto Workers target Ford and its partnership with South Korean battery companies in the Southeast as negotiations continue. (Associated Press)

SOLAR: 

  • The U.S. Energy Department finalizes a $3 billion loan guarantee to a solar company with a requirement that at least 10% be issued in Puerto Rico, which has struggled with an unreliable grid, high energy prices, and destructive storms. (Grist)
  • BP Oil partners with a global solar company on a 187 MW Texas solar farm that’s expected to lead to more solar projects in the future. (KIII)

STORAGE: A battery maker announces it will invest $3 billion into a Michigan plant that will supply batteries for electric vehicles built at a Toyota factory in Kentucky. (Utility Dive)

TRANSITION: 

COAL: 

PIPELINES: 

GRID: 

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: The U.S. EPA opens an investigation after local advocates complain Alabama has hindered rural Black residents from obtaining federal funds to upgrade their wastewater systems. (Grist)

EMISSIONS: A new report suggests Austin, Texas, could reach its net-zero carbon emission goals by increasing housing density and relying more on mass transit. (Austin Monitor)

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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.