CLEAN ENERGY: Just as federal subsidies are set to supercharge Texas’ booming wind and solar industries, Republican state lawmakers consider new rules and permitting requirements to restrict renewables while bolstering natural gas. (Washington Post, Texas Monthly)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott attend the groundbreaking of Tesla’s $375 million lithium refinery in South Texas. (Corpus Christi Caller Times)
• Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp visits Hyundai’s planned electric vehicle factory to sign the state budget and roughly $1 billion in tax exemptions for the automaker. (Coastal Courier)

SOLAR:
• Duke Energy begins construction on a nearly 1 MW floating solar project at a Florida gas plant. (Ledger)
• A Texas county sets a public hearing on rezoning farmland for a solar farm that’s also up for a tax abatement and road use agreement. (KXXV)
• A solar company takes one of its final steps toward obtaining regulatory approval for a Kentucky solar farm by filing a decommissioning plan. (WSMV)
• Louisiana lawmakers advance a resolution to study how solar energy development is affecting farmland. (LSU Manship School News Service)

WIND: An energy company releases plans for a 180 MW wind farm in Arkansas, with construction set to begin as early as next year. (KUAF)

POLITICS: More than 80% of voters in El Paso, Texas, voted against an aggressive climate charter that was heavily opposed by local officials, energy companies and the fossil fuel industry. (Inside Climate News)

HYDROPOWER: A company partners with Shell in Louisiana to install up to three modular demonstration projects that will use Mississippi River currents to generate roughly 40 kW of power per unit. (NOLA.com)

COAL: West Virginia regulators release a report finding Appalachian Power did not “exercise common sense and prudency” in its operation of three coal-fired power plants. (Beckley Register-Herald)

OIL & GAS:
• A Shell refinery in Texas that caught fire last weekend malfunctioned at least four times since 2022, sparking criticism of a state law that relieves companies of liability for pollution events if they’re reported as accidents or emergencies. (Inside Climate News)
• An energy company announces a deal with a Texas electric cooperative to acquire three natural gas-fired power plants totaling 2,145 MW. (news release)

CARBON CAPTURE: Business and industry groups in West Virginia and four other states press the U.S. EPA for more clarity about permitting timelines for carbon capture injection wells. (Dominion Post)CLIMATE:
• Extreme heat, tidal flooding and hurricanes accelerate demographic changes in the Florida Keys, driving out longtime residents and raising the cost of living. (E&E News)
• Rapidly rising seas and increasingly strong hurricanes push North Carolina officials to reconsider how they calculate erosion rates to determine building guidelines. (Wilmington StarNews)
• Federal and state officials prepare to re-evaluate the Florida Everglades’ historic water management infrastructure to address rising seas, violent storms and a continuing influx of people. (Inside Climate News)
• Virginia cities face hefty price tags to upgrade their sewer systems in response to heavier rainfall driven by climate change. (VCU Capital News Service)

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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.