POLITICS: North Carolina lawmakers consider five clean energy-related bills to lower utility costs, expand access to rooftop solar and energy efficiency, and boost electric vehicles. (Energy News Network)

COAL:
• Nearly a decade after dozens of Tennessee coal-ash cleanup workers sued over illnesses they believe were caused by exposure, none have made it to court, but workers and their families still wait for a consequential pair of court rulings. (Associated Press, Oak Ridger)
• Georgia regulators are poised to make pivotal decisions on Georgia Power’s long term energy plans, including sealing coal ash in groundwater at 11 coal fired-plants. (Georgia Recorder)
• South Carolina prepares to remove 40,000 tons of toxic coal tar from a stretch of the Congaree River this summer. (The State)

SOLAR:
• Mon Power and Potomac Edison begin offering solar renewable energy credits to West Virginia customers as they plan five solar projects in the state. (WV Metro News)
• A 5-year-old solar startup in Arkansas commits a third of its profits to its customers based on how much carbon dioxide their solar systems mitigate. (Arkansas Business)
• An Arkansas city begins construction of 4.6 MW of solar arrays and $5 million in energy efficiency improvements. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

WIND: A Biden administration proposal to develop 30 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for offshore wind near Texas and Louisiana comes as the oil and gas industry eyes carbon emission reductions and alternative energy sources. (Politico)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Delays in a lease-purchase agreement push back the opening date for an electric bus factory in West Virginia. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• An Australian mining company encounters opposition in North Carolina as it buys up land to develop a large lithium pit mine. (Financial Times)
• Southern Virginia officials say the region just missed out on a Hyundai electric vehicle factory that’s been announced for Georgia. (Danville Register & Bee)

STORAGE: Florida Power & Light’s solar energy storage facility is the largest in the world and the type of project experts say is becoming an integral piece of large-scale renewable energy investments. (Palm Beach Post)

OIL & GAS:
• Dozens of activists participate in a multi-day walk across West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina to spotlight efforts to fight the Mountain Valley Pipeline. (WDBJ, WVTF)
• A 96-year-old Louisianan recalls generations of joy and tears, hopes and betrayals, and money and lawsuits from a cluster of oil and gas plants in his backyard. (The Advocate, subscription)

UTILITIES: A growing number of West Virginia communities send letters of opposition against Appalachian Power’s request for a $297 million rate hike in the state. (WV Metro News)

GRID: Texas grid management officials project the growing number of crypto mining companies in the state could use 5 GW of power by 2023. (KXAN)

CLIMATE:
• Houston has built flood-management projects since Hurricane Harvey in 2017, but some still fail in the face of increasing storms, and don’t protect the city’s most vulnerable residents. (Architectural Record)
• A federal study finds aggressive efforts to reduce particle emissions let more sunlight reach the ocean surface, contributing to warming oceans and increased hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean. (Wilmington StarNews)

JOBS: A new report finds the climate crisis is creating green jobs in Mississippi, but not as rapidly as the rest of the country as a whole. (GreenBiz)

COMMENTARY: Houston illustrates how communities at risk from climate change need to go beyond rebuilding after natural disasters and adopt climate resilience measures, write energy fellows at the University of Houston. (Forbes)

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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.