GRID: Texas utility regulators assure residents the grid is ready for winter despite recent reports from federal officials and the state grid manager acknowledging the possibility of forced outages in extreme weather. (Austin American-Statesman)

OVERSIGHT:
• A U.S. Senate Committee narrowly votes to recommend the former chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore for a seat on the Tennessee Valley Authority board. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• Records show power companies, lobbyists and others have spent $28,000 over the past five years buying meals and gifts for Louisiana power regulators — a slower pace than before new disclosure rules were implemented. (NOLA.com)

SOLAR: A 275 MW solar and battery facility begins operation in Texas. (PV Magazine)

WIND: A Texas county board approves a reinvestment zone that marks a step toward an oil and gas company’s plan to build a wind farm to power its fossil fuel operations. (KWES)

POLITICS: Two Louisiana Democrats, including a 17-year incumbent, compete in a runoff election for a seat on a state regulatory commission. (WVLA)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: An Alabama city uses state grants to build two electric vehicle charging stations at gas stations along a major highway. (Sylacauga News)

CLIMATE: Environmentalists criticize a provision in Louisiana’s coastal rebuilding plan that’s built around a company’s plans to construct a coal export terminal at the same site where state officials had hoped to place a sediment diversion structure. (NOLA.com)

COAL ASH: The U.S. EPA’s denial of an Ohio coal plant’s request to continue dumping coal ash in an unlined pond carries ramifications for Georgia Power’s plans to leave coal ash buried in place at several large plants. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

COAL:
• Virginia regulators reverse their previous decision and approve wastewater treatment and compliance upgrades at two Appalachian Power-operated coal-fired power plants in West Virginia. (Huntington Herald-Dispatch)
• The vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association speaks to a rotary club about why coal prices have spiked even as production remains relatively low. (Beckley Register-Herald)

UTILITIES:
• South Carolina regulators consider a settlement agreement that would result in a smaller rate increase for Dominion Energy than what it had first requested. (WIS)
• Oklahoma regulators approve a rate increase for a natural gas company. (KOKH)
• Georgia regulators hear the final rounds of expert testimony in their consideration of Georgia Power’s request to hike rates to upgrade the grid and bump shareholder returns. (Georgia Recorder)

COMMENTARY: An editor finds it ironic that U.S. Joe Manchin’s legislation to force completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline is under fire not so much by Democrats but Republicans who wish to deny the conservative Democrat a political victory. (Cardinal News)

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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.