OIL & GAS: Even as federal climate legislation is making wind and solar cheaper, the Tennessee Valley Authority is building or has proposed about 6 GW of new generation from natural gas instead. (WPLN)

CLEAN ENERGY: A West Virginia solar installer and a Toyota electric-vehicle factory in Kentucky are among clean energy projects in states that are benefitting from a federal climate law despite their Republican congressional representatives’ opposition to it. (NPR)

SOLAR:
• A Virginia county planning commission delays a vote on a 50 MW solar farm after some residents expressed concerns about how it would affect their views. (Lynchburg News & Advance)
• Developers of a planned 130 MW solar farm have paid a Virginia county government more than $1 million already, including $75,000 for county fire departments, with more than $2 million still to come. (Kenbridge Victoria Dispatch)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Virginia school system adds 16 new electric buses to its 750-bus fleet. (Loudoun Times-Mirror)

GRID: Texas’ grid manager issued its second notice within a week for residents to reduce energy use Sunday evening as coal and natural gas generation dipped. (Austin American-Statesman)

WIND: Federal officials announce two offshore wind sites near North Carolina won’t be leased after military leaders warned they could interfere with supersonic flights and air combat training. (Carolina Journal)

CARBON CAPTURE: State and national groups ask the U.S. EPA to deny West Virginia’s efforts to take regulatory authority over a carbon capture operation proposed by a company that plans to become the state’s largest natural gas user as part of a $2 billion hydrogen production plant. (WTAP)

NUCLEAR: Two nuclear-related technology hubs in Virginia seek to win federal funding for their projects. (Cardinal News)

COAL: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announces more than $104,000 will be paid to 28 counties from yearly mining permit and acreage fees paid by surface coal mining companies. (Floyd County Chronicle)

HYDROGEN:
• Critics question a pair of hydrogen projects involving West Virginia and Kentucky, which they say will benefit the oil and gas industry more than the climate. (Energy News Network)
• The U.S. Energy Department awards Virginia Tech $1.5 million to research the potential for storing hydrogen underground in depleted Appalachian gas fields. (Cardinal News)

BUILDINGS: A homebuilder is recognized for a Florida development that uses solar arrays and batteries to generate more energy than it uses. (Business Observer)

EFFICIENCY: Energy justice advocates tout a energy-efficiency program in Virginia to limit electric bill payments to no more than 10% of a household’s income. (Williamsburg Yorktown Daily)

CLIMATE:
• Texas and the U.S. Gulf Coast continues to see extreme heat that’s testing the power grid and endangering residents, especially outdoor workers. (Associated Press)
• Scientists worry continued record high ocean temperatures could result in a global bleaching event that will damage coral reefs from Florida to Colombia, including the only barrier reef in the U.S. (Inside Climate News)
• Virginia’s Tangier Island and other low-lying communities along the East and Gulf coasts face uncertainty over whether lawmakers will act to protect them against rising seas. (Wall Street Journal, subscription)

COMMENTARY: State voters must block Gov. Glenn Youngkin from withdrawing the state from a regional carbon market to preserve its climate progress, writes an environmentalist. (Virginian–Pilot)

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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.