OIL & GAS: Drilling permits in the Permian Basin hit an all-time high, pointing to a likely surge in production due to soaring oil and gas prices and demand driven by Russia’s war in Ukraine. (Houston Chronicle, Bloomberg)

CLIMATE:
• Louisiana’s attorney general says he will appeal a ruling that allowed the Biden administration to resume using its interim social cost metric for greenhouse gas estimates. (E&E News)
• New studies find that climate change intensified the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, and will make the current season worse as well. (Grist, Associated Press)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• San Antonio approves $562,500 in incentives for DeLorean Motor Co. to build its planned headquarters, though its manufacturing facilities will be located elsewhere. (Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Report)
• A Florida startup places reservations on 50 Tesla electric trucks to use at ports in Tampa and Jacksonville. (Commercial Courier Journal)

COAL:
• Appalachian Power asks Virginia regulators again to let it share wastewater upgrades costs with West Virginia to keep two coal-fired plants operating past 2028. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
• An environmental law firm alleges the Tennessee Valley Authority is not being transparent as it decides whether to replace a coal-fired plant with natural gas. (WTVF)

COAL ASH: A lawsuit from workers who say they were sickened by cleaning up a Tennessee coal ash spill depends on two different rulings regarding whether a contractor is immune from lawsuits and whether coal ash qualifies for cases under a particular state law. (Knoxville News-Sentinel)

SOLAR:
• North Carolina trailed Florida, Virginia and Georgia in new solar capacity in 2021, adding only 770 MW in a drop from recent years. (Charlotte Business Journal, subscription)
• A South Carolina county board considers incentives for a solar project, having previously rejected two other proposals. (Horry News)
• A Dallas startup partners with a redevelopment firm to build a 15 MW solar system to power 16 “all bills paid” apartment communities in Texas. (Dallas Innovates)

UTILITIES: Dozens of Atmos Energy customers in Texas flood 911 with complaints about smelling natural gas after the company put too much mercaptan in the mix. (KTVT)

GRID: Duke Energy officials meet with western North Carolina residents to discuss a solar facility and community microgrid project. (Asheville Citizen-Times)

STORAGE: A Texas company and industry experts call for investment in battery storage technology to enable wind and solar power to play a bigger role in providing power. (WFAA)

COMMENTARY:
• Historically Black colleges and universities can offer training to diversify the workforce building the clean energy economy, writes U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. (Charleston Post and Courier)
• Cryptocurrency miners increasingly moving to Texas and promising to bring grid stability may actually drive up electricity costs unless they plan appropriately, writes an energy columnist. (Houston Chronicle)
• Georgia residents should keep pushing Georgia Power to move coal ash from unlined ponds exposed to groundwater, writes the owner of a Southeast newspaper chain. (Georgia Recorder) 

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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.