CLIMATE: Ministers and faith leaders across the Southeast increasingly advocate for mobilizing against climate change as a Christian duty, re-framing  the climate crisis as a values-based issue rather than a political one. (Guardian)

ALSO: Virginia’s efforts to secure long-term funding to relieve flooding in mountain and coastal areas are complicated by Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s efforts to withdraw from a regional carbon market that’s currently paying for flood protection and resilience programs. (Cardinal News)  

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• More than 80 Virginia school districts are considered “priority” funding recipients for the U.S. EPA’s program to cover the purchase of electric school buses and charging infrastructure, but many officials still have questions. (WTVR)
• A Korean company partnering with Ford to build battery plants in Tennessee and Kentucky announces plans to invest $22 billion into U.S. semiconductors, green energy and bioscience. (Associated Press)

SOLAR: An energy company completes installation of a 26.6 kW solar array at the University of North Carolina Asheville. (news release)

PIPELINES:
• North Carolina regulators have issued multiple warnings to the Colonial Pipeline this year about unacceptable concentrations of a gasoline additive, which are likely linked to a 2020 leak that spilled an estimated 2 million gallons. (Winston-Salem Journal)
• A Kentucky city will receive a $3 million federal grant to build a high-pressure natural gas line to support manufacturing. (Spectrum News)
• Comments received so far on the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s request for a four-year extension reveal Virginia residents, officials and organizations are still deeply split over the project. (Virginia Mercury)

HYDROGEN: Florida-based NextEra Energy says it will convert 16 GW of its natural gas-fired power plants to run on green hydrogen. (Natural Gas Intelligence, subscription)

OIL & GAS:
• Natural gas prices surge amid high temperatures, even as the temporary closure of an export facility due to a fire has stranded more gas in the domestic market. (Bloomberg)
• A retired general calls on Louisiana’s oil and gas industry to invest in more refinery capacity and slow down liquified natural gas exports to ease fuel prices. (The Advocate, WVLA)
• A Texas university works to train dogs to sniff out tar and crude oil on the Texas coast. (Corpus Christi Caller-Times)

UTILITIES:
• Jacksonville, Florida’s municipal utility grants a six week grace period for residents and businesses who fall behind on electrical bills amid scorching heat and high power rates. (Florida Times-Union)
• San Antonio, Texas, residents see their June utility bills jump more than 50% due to high heat and rising gas prices. (San Antonio Express-News)

GRID:
• Texas officials consider applying for federal infrastructure funds to strengthen the state’s power grid, despite a previous letter from Gov. Greg Abbott warning against potential strings attached. (Spectrum News)
• Texas’ grid manager projects power prices will continue to rise into September after a brutal July heat wave pushed real-time prices sky high while the grid operator kept extra capacity in reserves. (S&P Global)

COMMENTARY: Florida Power & Light’s fortunes have recently soured as it failed to obtain Jacksonville’s municipal utility, saw its attempt to gut net metering vetoed, and is now ensnared in scandal over aggressive political tactics, writes a columnist. (Florida Times-Union)

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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.