GRID: Texas lawmakers announce a package of nine bills to strengthen the state power grid by restricting renewables and paying to build more gas-fueled power plants in an effort to add 10,000 MW of new generation. (Dallas Morning News, KDFW, Texas Tribune)

ALSO: A former Enron trader claims in a lawsuit that Texas energy firms schemed to divert natural gas supplies and cut off production to artificially drive up prices before the 2021 winter storm that crippled the state grid and left at least 200 people dead. (Houston Chronicle)

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SOLAR:
• Critics complain Mississippi’s limited net-metering programs suffer from demand caps, a low reimbursement rate and geographic limitations. (Gulf States Newsroom)
• A former Republican attorney general candidate runs into an outdated Florida building code when he and his spouse seek to add an elevator and stairwell to access solar panels on the roof. (Palm Beach Post)
• A North Carolina county board approves a permit for a 74 MW solar farm. (WNCT)
• Virginia state police launch an investigation of missing video from a county planning commission meeting in which it approved a permit for a 125 MW Dominion Energy solar farm. (Chatham Star-Tribune)

WIND:
• A North Carolina official touts the prospect of offshore wind energy development to a coastal county board. (WNCT)
• A Swedish company redeveloping land in Virginia for a staging port for Dominion Energy’s offshore wind farm calls for more women to enter the construction industry. (WVEC)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Volkswagen’s revamped electric vehicle subsidiary Scout Motors took just two months to select a South Carolina plant site while considering 74 locations across the U.S. (The State, subscription)
• A Texas fire department acquires a new tool to assist with electric vehicle fires. (KIII)

OIL & GAS:
• Louisiana Congress members and other fossil fuel advocates criticize the Biden administration for delaying the next long-term plan for federal offshore oil and gas leasing until December. (The Advocate)
• An empty coal train derails in West Virginia, spilling diesel fuel and oil into the New River. (CBS News)

NUCLEAR: Arkansas lawmakers pass a bill allowing state officials to move forward with planning for construction of a recycling facility for spent nuclear fuel. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

COAL:
• A Kentucky school district prepares to close the state’s last school that uses a coal furnace for heat. (WLEX)
• West Virginia state senators prepare to pass bills to identify viable sites for coal-fired generation projects and to develop an educational program to support the state’s coal industry. (Charleston Gazette-Mail, subscription)
• West Virginia lawmakers spar over the wording of a bill to cap financial damages of coal miners and injured workers who can prove employers deliberately cut corners on safety measures such as dust monitoring. (WV Metro News)

HYDROGEN:
• West Virginia lawmakers pass a bill to form a task force to study hydrogen energy after adding a provision to orient it more toward fossil fuels. (Charleston Gazette-Mail, subscription)
• A South Korean firm expands its investment in a North Carolina company that makes “blue” hydrogen using carbon-capture technology. (news release)

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COMMENTARY:
• Florida’s attempt to ban banking with firms that consider environmental and social factors in investment decisions amounts to a secret tax on city and county budgets, writes an editorial board. (Florida Sun-Sentinel)
• Republican criticisms of Virginia’s clean cars law ignore rising demand for electric vehicles and automakers’ commitment to the transition, writes an editorial board. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

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Mason Adams

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.