WIND: Texas’ state grid operator often instructs wind turbines in the High Plains region to shut down during times of high power demand because the state’s transmission network lacks the infrastructure needed to ship the energy elsewhere. (Texas Tribune)

PIPELINES:
• Experts react with surprise and skepticism to news that Democrats’ national climate bill includes provisions to boost completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. (Bloomberg Law)
• A Sierra Club official says environmentalists “want everything” in the Democrats’ climate package, but to secure U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s vote, “they literally threw Southwest Virginia under the bus.” (Virginia Mercury)

SOLAR:
• Silicon Ranch plans to build a 200 MW solar farm that would be the largest in South Carolina for state-owned utility Santee Cooper. (Coastal Observer)
• A company plans a 74 MW solar farm in North Carolina. (Salisbury Post)
• A solar developer contributes a $9,000 grant to a Virginia community college to fund a career coaching program and a scholarship for its solar worker training program. (Cardinal News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Memphis, Tennessee’s municipal utility is one of 12 entities that will receive state funding to upgrade their electric car fast chargers on major highways. (Daily Memphian, subscription)

OIL & GAS:
• Chesapeake Energy’s CEO says it will sell off its oil assets in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas as it pivots to more profitable natural gas holdings elsewhere. (Bloomberg)
• Two Permian Basin oil producers increase their production projections and capital budgets due to inflation and better-than-expected well performance. (S&P Global)

NUCLEAR:
• The Tennessee Valley Authority reaches an agreement with a nuclear manufacturer to pursue a small modular reactor design in eastern Tennessee and will likely seek a construction permit to build a couple of the 300 MW reactors. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• New Orleans’ city council declines Entergy’s offer to settle a dozen pending cases involving a nuclear power plant, even after Mississippi officials accepted the settlement. (WDSU)

CLIMATE: Federal officials warn Louisiana may soon see a week’s worth of “sunny day” flooding with water levels reaching as much as 2 feet above normal high tides, with global warming expected to exponentially increase the frequency of such events. (NOLA.com)

UTILITIES: Several western North Carolina residents file a complaint with the U.S. EPA after they say Duke Energy sprayed harmful chemicals around their neighborhood. (WLOS)

FINANCE: A Virginia county explores creating a “green bank” to offer public funding for clean energy technologies in residential and commercial settings. (FFXnow)

COMMENTARY:
• The president of a propane trade group argues that shifting school buses from diesel fuel to propane instead of electric makes more sense from a cost perspective. (The Tennessean)
• Provisions to ensure completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Democrats’ climate package illustrate uncomfortable truths about politics, writes the editor of a Virginia news site. (Cardinal News)
• A West Virginia Congress member calls for more development of carbon capture and hydrogen technology to boost coal and natural gas production while driving down energy costs and reducing carbon emissions. (RealClearEnergy)
• Richmond, Virginia’s municipal utility should look to electrification instead of using revenue bonds to replace an aging network of gas lines, write two climate activists. (Virginia Mercury) 

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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.