COAL ASH: Fifteen years after more than 1 billion gallons of slurry spilled from a coal ash pond at a Tennessee power plant, federal regulators work to update a 2015 coal ash rule to cover hundreds of inactive legacy sites where the toxic substance mingles with groundwater. (Grist)

OIL & GAS:
• The Tennessee Valley Authority lays out plans to build a 900 MW methane gas plant, 12-mile pipeline and a battery system in Tennessee. (WPLN)
• Federal regulators dismiss U.S. EPA concerns about greenhouse gas emissions as they approve a permit for a 24-inch gas pipeline in West Virginia. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

GRID:
• Texas’ grid operator asks residents to conserve electricity as a heat wave drives up power demand, which has already hit record levels twice this week. (KTBC)
• Wind generation has dipped and an unusually high number of coal- and natural gas-fired power plants in Texas have been offline, but overall gas generation has been well above average. (Texas Tribune, S&P Global)
• Severe storms knock out power to nearly 140,000 Oklahoma residents, with restoration for some not expected until the weekend. (Oklahoman)
• Storm recovery and power restoration also continues in Texas and Mississippi. (KLTV, Mississippi Public Broadcasting)

SOLAR: A Virginia planning board narrowly votes to recommend a permit for a 252-acre solar farm while also voting to find the project doesn’t conform to the county’s long-term plan. (Culpeper Star-Exponent)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• North Carolina researchers study ways to improve electric vehicle batteries at a state-funded university research center. (Spectrum News)
• A contractor installing a water main at Toyota’s planned North Carolina electric vehicle battery factory contaminated a nearby creek with chlorine while flushing a line. (Greensboro News & Record)

TRANSPORTATION: A city prepares to host the “Georgia Clean Energy Roadshow” next week, showcasing alternative-fuel technologies such as compressed natural gas, electric and propane vehicles. (Augusta Chronicle)

BIOMASS: A judge removes more than two dozen Georgia residents from lawsuits over noise from a biomass plant because they haven’t offered evidence. (Law360, subscription)

POLITICS: White House adviser John Podesta defends the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s inclusion in a congressional deal to raise the debt limit, saying the long-delayed, over-budget pipeline’s completion was “inevitable.” (The Hill)

COMMENTARY:
• A recent dip in wind power could significantly affect the Texas’ electric grid’s ability to hold up through the high temperatures of summer’s peak demand season, writes a columnist. (Reuters)
• A planned Florida community’s success weathering Hurricane Ian last year with community solar power and homes built to withstand severe storms provides an example for the rest of the state, writes the president of the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. (Miami Herald)
• The U.S. EPA’s slow pace in approving injection well permits shows why oversight of carbon capture permitting should be handled by Louisiana and not federal officials, writes the head of a state oil and gas association. (NOLA.com)

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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.