ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Volkswagen’s Tennessee factory gears up to make an electric SUV as a regional industrial development board considers awarding it a $50 million grant to defray expenses on the $800 million expansion. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

ALSO:
• Officials representing the Tennessee megasite where Ford will build an electric vehicle factory hold a public meeting with area residents. (Jackson Sun)
• A new Virginia law that directs state officials to consider a vehicle’s lifetime costs instead of its sticker price could accelerate a shift toward electric vehicles in the state government fleet. (Virginia Mercury)

WIND: Virginia’s fishing industries express wariness about the buildout of wind farms off the state’s coast. (Virginia Mercury)

SOLAR:
• A solar company announces plans for 620 MW of solar projects and a 200 MW battery storage project in Texas. (news release)
• Virginia’s energy agency issues a request for proposals for a company to finance and install residential solar on moderate and low-income housing in a coal-producing county. (Cardinal News)
• A University of Virginia team prepares to race its solar car against other universities in a three-day grand prix in Kansas. (Cavalier Daily)

PIPELINES:
• A Canadian energy company holds a public meeting about its plans to build a 125-mile pipeline in Tennessee if the Tennessee Valley Authority replaces a coal-fired power plant with natural gas. (WVLT)
• A judge dismisses a lawsuit by Virginia landowners challenging Mountain Valley Pipeline’s use of eminent domain after ruling that a lower court did not have jurisdiction to hear the case. (Roanoke Times)

UTILITIES: Florida Power & Light officials say they won’t disconnect customers during an extreme heat wave as summer arrives. (WKRG)

EMISSIONS:
• Louisiana environmental justice groups eye a provision in federal legislation to require assessing the cumulative health impact industrial projects have on residents in areas such as the state’s “Cancer Alley” corridor. (WWNO)
• Western Kentucky air officials say regional ozone pollution has improved enough to meet U.S. EPA standards. (WFPL)

OIL & GAS: The U.S. Gulf Coast oil and gas industry responds to growing European demand by securing deals to buy liquefied natural gas in Louisiana and expand a Texas export terminal. (Bloomberg)

COAL: West Virginia regulators approve the creation of a task force to investigate why the state’s utilities aren’t running their coal-fired plants harder. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

MINING:
• A lithium mining company confirms that it sees a proposed North Carolina mine that faces community opposition as its “flagship” operation but is meanwhile pursuing supply lines in Canada and Ghana. (WCNC)
• Virginia officials declare an emergency after runoff from an abandoned coal mine fills a culvert and blocks entry to a nearby house. (Cardinal News)

BIOMASS: West Virginia researchers test the resiliency of elephant grass grown on farmland and abandoned mine lands as a possible source of clean energy. (WBOY)

POLITICS:
• U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s opposition to the transition to electric vehicles and paying refundable clean energy credits directly to developers become the latest sticking points in negotiations over a reconciliation package to fund climate initiatives. (E&E News, subscription; Bloomberg)
• North Carolina lawmakers pass a resolution opposing federal climate-disclosure requirements for public companies as a threat to small farms. (Winston-Salem Journal)
• West Virginia’s governor and two U.S. senators express skepticism that President Biden’s proposed gas tax holiday will have long-term effects on prices. (Parkersburg News and Sentinel)

COMMENTARY: A self-proclaimed car junkie describes his experiences buying and driving an electric Mercedes. (Charleston City Paper)

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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.