OVERSIGHT: Virginia regulators ask state lawmakers for more power over decisions to retire fossil fuel plants, which state law requires to happen by 2045, though regulators say that threatens their ability to ensure reliable and secure electric service. (Virginia Mercury)

PIPELINES: Critics of the Mountain Valley Pipeline worry about sensitive pipe coating that’s not supposed to sit out for more than six months, but which has laid above ground for more than four years due to lengthy construction delays. (Roanoke Times)

SOLAR:
• A North Carolina man can’t come to agreement with his homeowners association on where to place 23 solar panels despite a court ruling that HOAs cannot ban solar panels on houses. (WSOC)
• A Virginia county approves the construction of a 5 MW solar farm. (WRIC)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Volkswagen is still evaluating the likely effects of the newly passed federal climate package on its plant in Tennessee and plan to source batteries from SK Innovation in Georgia. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• A lithium company announces it will build a processing plant in Tennessee to supply the electric vehicle industry. (Reuters)
• A Virginia police department adds three hybrid vehicles to its fleet, with five more expected next year. (Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star)
• North Carolina will use 32 of the 61 low-emission and electric transit buses approved for state funding as prisoner transport vehicles. (Winston-Salem Journal)

HYDROGEN: Federal officials announce a $50 million grant for an effort to develop south Louisiana into a “green hydrogen energy cluster.” (NOLA.com)

OIL & GAS:
• The U.S. EPA rejects a permit for a Texas offshore oil export terminal after determining it would significantly increase air pollution. (Corpus Christi Caller Times)
• The largest dedicated producer of U.S. natural gas nears a deal to buy a gas company and its pipeline infrastructure in West Virginia for $4 billion, including debt. (Reuters)

EMISSIONS: The U.S. EPA will review flare rules for petrochemical plants, petroleum and chemical storage tanks, and marine loading tanks after determining they do not eliminate emissions as well as previously purported. (The Advocate)

COAL: Appalachian Power asks West Virginia regulators to reconsider a requirement that its coal-fired power plants run at a high capacity the company and clean energy advocates consider uneconomic. (Huntington Herald-Dispatch)

UTILITIES:
• Duke Energy appoints a new chief financial officer as it considers the potential sale of its commercial renewable energy business. (Wall Street Journal, subscription)
• A U.S. Senate subcommittee prepares to consider President Joe Biden’s nominees for the Tennessee Valley Authority’s board, which only has five out of nine seats filled on its board. (E&E News, subscription)

CRYPTOCURRENCY: Three cryptocurrency companies announce bitcoin mining hubs in Arkansas, while a fourth has already begun quietly operating and another planned near a neighborhood was rejected by a local government. (Arkansas Business)

COMMENTARY: Democrats should back up their talk about boosting labor by supporting Alabama coal miners who have been on strike against Warrior Met Coal for more than 500 days, writes a labor activist. (Alabama Political Reporter)

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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.