ELECTRIC VEHICLES: North Carolina officials respond angrily to a company’s plan to mine lithium for electric vehicle maker Tesla, charging the mining plans could cause local wells to run dry. (Reuters)

ALSO:
• Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast moved rapidly in choosing North Carolina for an EV and battery factory. (Raleigh News & Observer)
• Electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian opens a showroom in Atlanta, Georgia, as it prepares to build a nearby factory. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• An electric truck and bus maker with a South Carolina factory files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy but says it will continue to function normally and is using the process to separate its business units. (WKRN)
• A Kentucky school system wins a 1-in-60 lottery draw for grants to pay for an electric bus and charging infrastructure. (WDKY)

CARBON CAPTURE:
• Louisiana officials and a company argue over whether its seismic testing for a proposed carbon-capture injection well caused a groundwater well to implode. (The Advocate)
• West Virginia officials consider a $62.5 million forgivable loan for a complex that would include a hydrogen production facility, biomass power plant and carbon capture infrastructure. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

SOLAR:
• Dominion Energy is using about 1,000 sheep to graze at six Virginia solar farms and reduce costs and emissions from landscaping. (Virginian-Pilot)
• A Virginia county board will consider a 71 MW solar farm for a second time after it previously voted against approving the project but did not technically vote to deny it a permit. (Smithfield Times)
• A planned 240 MW Texas solar farm will help power a nearby data center that’s being built for social media company Meta. (Temple Daily Telegram)
• A Virginia county board prepares to consider the sixth solar farm in the county, though its location directly adjacent to another solar facility conflicts with planning documents. (WHSV)

COAL: A Tennessee coal company files seven WARN Notices to lay off 135 workers at coal mines in Virginia. (WJHL)

CRYPTOCURRENCY: Kentucky’s utility regulator approves more than $4 million in power discounts for a Bitcoin mining subsidiary of a coal company. (Kentucky Lantern)

NUCLEAR: Although a federal judge dropped charges against the final executive accused of lying about a failed South Carolina nuclear plant, another judge says prosecutors could file another indictment. (Associated Press)

GRID:
• Thousands of people in Virginia and Maryland still don’t have power as crews work to restore service after damaging storms. (Loudoun Daily Voice)
• Florida Power & Light officials say they hit peak demand due to heat waves in June and July but say there’s enough power and do not plan rolling blackouts. (WPBF)

EMISSIONS:
• West Virginia regulators condemn the U.S. EPA’s proposed air quality emission standards as “unconscionable” as the state’s attorney general leads a coalition of 21 states opposing the changes. (WV Metro News)
• West Virginia U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin says federal regulators have agreed to hold a reliability technical conference to scrutinize the U.S. EPA’s proposed rules for power plant emissions. (Beckley Register-Herald)

WORKFORCE: Georgia relies on corporate-backed programs and technical colleges to train construction workers as the state sees a boom in clean energy and electric vehicle manufacturing projects. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

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.