WORKFORCE: A North Carolina clean energy youth apprenticeship program that serves community colleges and high schools across eight counties seeks to fill thousands of clean energy jobs. (Energy News Network)

PIPELINES:
• The Mountain Valley Pipeline announces it will reapply for federal permits it was previously denied while further delaying its projected completion and increasing estimated costs. (Roanoke Times)
• A natural gas company announces it will expand a pipeline from Texas to Louisiana to meet growing export demand along the Gulf Coast. (S&P Global)

SOLAR:
• Louisiana regulators approve a 98 MW solar farm to provide power to five electric utility cooperatives. (The Advocate, subscription)
• American Electric Power seeks approval for solar projects in Virginia and West Virginia as it aims to install 15 GW of renewables by 2030. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• An Eastern Tennessee municipal utility plans to install 502 MW of solar capacity through a program with the Tennessee Valley Authority. (Knoxville News-Sentinel)
• SpaceX begins expanding a Texas solar farm to a planned 1.6 MW, with additional battery storage. (CNBC)

EMISSIONS:
• The Tennessee Valley Authority reports it has reduced carbon emissions by 57% from 2005, but generated more in 2021 than in 2020 due to power demand rebounding from the pandemic. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• Virginia regulators consider making permanent an air permit for an asphalt plant even as neighbors complain of air pollution, truck and plant noise and chemical odors that are causing health problems. (Virginia Mercury)

CARBON CAPTURE:
• Texas’ oil regulator advances amendments to its carbon dioxide rules in a step toward taking over federal permitting and enforcement oversight for carbon capture and storage wells. (Reuters)
• Chevron and two other energy companies sign an agreement to develop a carbon capture and sequestration hub off the Texas coast. (KBMT)

OIL & GAS: A veteran-sponsored Oklahoma nonprofit launches to raise money to plug abandoned or orphaned oil wells. (Journal Record)

WIND: A German wind firm announces it will partner with a New Orleans nonprofit to accelerate Louisiana’s participation in the offshore wind supply chain. (MarineLink)

GRID: Alabama Power pledges to build a new substation and transmission lines at a planned mega-site once companies begin to commit to locating there. (Gadsden Times)

CLIMATE: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs legislation to formalize the creation of a state resiliency agency to address rising seas. (Florida Politics)

BIOMASS: North Carolina residents complain about worsening quality of life near a wood pellet manufacturer that’s part of an industry rapidly growing to meet European demand. (Al Jazeera)

COMMENTARY:
• Virginia might do well to issue statewide solar guidelines as counties struggle to balance energy needs against land use, writes an editorial board. (Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star)
• A proposal to mine gold in a rural Virginia county would benefit the mining company but expose the local community and areas downstream to negative environmental impacts, writes a professor. (Virginia Mercury)
• Virginia’s doubling of solar energy output from 2020 to 2021, and the prospect of much more to come, is leaving some rural, Republican-leaning localities feeling overwhelmed, writes an editor. (Cardinal News)

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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.