OIL & GAS: Entergy reports 20,000 gallons of oil were spilled into marshes and the Gulf of Mexico from a Louisiana substation that’s been de-energized since March, likely resulting from vandalization or theft at the substation. (WDSU, WWL-TV)

ALSO: The debate over four deepwater crude export facilities proposed for the Gulf of Mexico show the Biden administration’s challenge in trying to address climate change while also helping supply energy to Europe amid Russia’s war in Ukraine. (E&E News)

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CLIMATE: Hurricane Ian barrels toward Florida, prompting evacuations in low-lying, flood-prone Tampa Bay. (Tampa Bay Times, Washington Post)

UTILITIES: A Memphis, Tennessee, city council member says he expects the board will follow the recommendation of the municipal utility’s president and renew a long-term contract to buy electricity from the Tennessee Valley Authority. (WATN)

SOLAR:
• After a prominent solar installation company closes in the wake of numerous complaints, its disappointed customers wonder what to do with their malfunctioning and underperforming panels. (WBTV)
• A Tennessee company begins operation of a solar farm that was directly funded with carbon offsets. (news release)

PIPELINES:
• A new report finds that a major push to build out capacity in the Permian Basin “is arguably a make-or-break moment for the industry” as public opinion turns against fossil fuels. (Guardian)
• A Virginia natural gas company reports it’s reduced methane emissions 27% by modernizing its pipeline infrastructure. (Natural Gas Intelligence)
• Virginia residents in the path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline want the U.S. Supreme Court court to curtail federal regulators’ ability to delegate eminent domain powers to pipeline developers. (E&E News, subscription)

ENERGY EFFICIENCY: Louisville, Kentucky, spends millions of dollars to improve energy efficiency in downtown renovation projects. (WLKY)

COAL ASH:
• An environmental group sues to block a decision by Alabama Power to leave millions of tons of coal ash along a riverside, where critics say it’s vulnerable to a spill. (Alabama Today)
• Dozens of workers involved in the clean-up of a 2008 coal ash spill in Tennessee have died in the years since, which advocates blame on a contractor who didn’t provide adequate safety equipment and prevented workers from wearing their own. (Marketplace)

GRID: Georgia Power plans to use drones and smart grid technology to provide a faster response to storm-induced power outages like those expected during Hurricane Ian. (WXIA)

POLITICS:
• A Texas Republican endorses the Democrat in the general election for a state oil and gas regulatory post over the Republican who defeated her in the GOP primary earlier this year. (Houston Chronicle)
• Texas Democratic candidates seek to find a balance between endorsing clean energy while also protecting jobs in the state’s oil sector. (Texas Tribune)
• Environmentalists line up against U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s legislation to streamline energy permitting because they say it weakens environmental protections for communities. (Charleston Gazette-Mail, subscription)

COMMENTARY:
• A college student recounts Kentucky’s July flooding and lauds residents who sued a coal company for environmental damage that made the flooding worse. (Daily Trojan)
• The unwanted, unnecessary Mountain Valley Pipeline will be only the first in decades of harmful projects forced into frontline communities if federal energy permitting reform legislation is passed, writes a policy advisor at the Indigenous Environmental Network. (Native News Online)

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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.