RENEWABLES: Conservative Texas lawmakers pursue legislation to boost natural gas and add obstacles to wind and solar projects, which critics fear could dampen the state’s status as a renewable energy powerhouse. (E&E News)

UTILITIES: 
• Houston residents complain CenterPoint hasn’t adequately communicated about its plans for building the nation’s largest urban solar farm or grid hardening projects that have resulted in massive utility poles popping up unexpectedly in residential areas. (Houston Chronicle)
• Arkansas’ attorney general calls on state regulators to block Summit Utilities from resuming late fees and disconnections amid an investigation into its billing and purchasing practices. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
• A Kentucky nonprofit offers assistance paying power bills for people with incomes near the poverty line. (Louisville Public Media)

OIL & GAS:
• Virginia regulators cite Appalachian Power after they say its natural gas plant violated emissions standards. (Roanoke Times)
• A federal judge denies an attempt by the nation’s largest gas and oil well owner to dismiss a class-action complaint by more than two dozen West Virginia landowners. (Charleston Gazette-Mail, subscription)
• South Florida slowly regains gasoline supplies after a shortage caused by flooding and subsequent panic buying. (Miami Herald)

COAL: West Virginia regulators consider whether to approve a rate hike for FirstEnergy utilities to take temporary possession of a coal-fired power plant slated for closure despite criticism by the state ratepayer advocate and lingering questions from the utilities themselves. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Electric and hybrid vehicle registrations surge in Arkansas but still represent a tiny fraction of vehicles on the road and face opposition from the state’s Republican leaders fighting Democrats’ plans for more. (Arkansas Business)
• North Carolina officials study the feasibility of switching from diesel to electric-powered ferries at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. (Wilmington StarNews)
• A Virginia police department acquires an electric off-road vehicle to patrol a wooded trail. (Martinsville Bulletin)

TRANSITION:
• Officials in Charlotte, North Carolina, admit the city is unlikely to achieve its goal of powering its operations and vehicle fleet from 100% zero-carbon sources by 2030, while environmental advocates decry the city’s lack of transparency about the process. (Axios Charlotte)
• Two Democratic Florida lawmakers file bills to require the state to generate all of its electricity from renewables by 2040. (Orlando Weekly)

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: Industrial redevelopment in Louisiana’s river region increasingly unearths the graves of slaves, complicating those projects and reopening discussion of the state’s difficult past. (NOLA.com)

EMISSIONS:
• The University of North Carolina Greensboro works to offset its commuters’ emissions with a fee that goes toward energy-efficiency projects. (North Carolina Health News)
• Austin, Texas’ city council approves resolutions to accelerate the transition to low-carbon concrete. (Austin Monitor)

CLIMATE: A Georgia neighborhood unveils a mural depicting a grandmother encouraging a child to fight climate change by referencing the struggles of the past. (WSB)

COMMENTARY:
• South Florida’s gasoline shortage after an unexpectedly heavy rainstorm cripples gas-powered vehicles and undercuts rhetoric arguing electric vehicles will be useless in extreme weather, writes the CEO of a clean energy publication. (CleanTechnica)
• State lawmakers in Florida and South Carolina make their case for legislation intended to protect consumers and give their respective states a leg up in the transition to electric vehicles. (Tampa Bay Times, Post and Courier)
• Editorial boards in Arkansas and Oklahoma eye their respective states’ hundreds of orphan oil and gas wells as opportunities for economic development. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Oklahoman)

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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.