ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: A new federal study will examine two Texas cities to unpack how air pollution, increased flooding risk, and environmental justice tie together for communities of color and low-income residents. (Inside Climate News)

CARBON CAPTURE:
• Louisiana residents continue to push back against potential carbon capture projects by imposing two moratoriums against the technology. (The Advocate)
• Documents reveal a Louisiana power plant’s proposed $900 million carbon capture retrofit would reduce energy production by 30%, while studies suggest it also could increase the plant’s water use by about 55%. (The Lens)

SOLAR:
• A Virginia county considers revising its zoning ordinance to allow businesses to use their buildings for solar development and lay out rules for larger, utility scale solar projects. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• A Virginia town council sets a public hearing on a proposed 5 MW solar farm. (News & Record)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Critics question a North Carolina city’s plan to spend $1.7 million on gas-powered vehicles for its police department when other state law enforcement agencies are purchasing hybrid or electric vehicles. (Winston-Salem Journal)
• The University of Miami purchases its first two electric vehicles for its campus fleet as it builds EV charging infrastructure. (news release)
• Arkansas begins to accelerate installation of electric vehicle infrastructure as a new study shows it ranks 45th in the country for EV infrastructure but 14th for interest among state residents. (Talk Business & Politics, KLRT)
• An Arkansas transit agency in Walmart’s hometown will test an electric van. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

GRID: More than two weeks after Hurricane Ian, power is restored to the first homes in a particularly hard-hit Florida town. (News-Press)

COAL: A North Carolina town council discusses concerns about a coal-fired power plant at the University of North Carolina and the coal ash it has generated. (Daily Tar Heel)

EFFICIENCY: A small Arkansas town replaces its streetlights with LEDs to cut down on light pollution. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

NUCLEAR: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announces he’ll include a $10 million line item in his proposed budget for energy research, with half of it to develop a small modular nuclear reactor in Southwest Virginia. (Cardinal News)

CLIMATE:
• North Carolina feels the effects of climate change, from urban heat islands to farmers trying to roll with the changing weather. (WFAE)
• North Carolina and federal agencies hold a webinar to improve resilience in the state’s shellfish aquaculture industry against climate change. (Coastal Review)
• Hurricane Ian hit Florida’s agricultural industry hard, including citrus groves, its cattle industry, dairy, vegetables and even hundreds of thousands of bees essential to many growers. (Associated Press)

POLITICS: Texas stands to reap a huge windfall in federal tax credits for what is  the largest wind and solar grid in the U.S., but its elected leaders still lean against renewables in favor of “cheap, plentiful” fossil fuels. (Capital & Main)

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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.