EMISSIONS: North Carolina’s new climate plan says that increasing support for low-income housing weatherization, upgrading energy efficiency in government buildings, and other measures to trim energy usage could get the state 60% of the way to its 2030 emissions reduction target. (Energy News Network)

ALSO: 

OVERSIGHT: A South Carolina energy regulator resigns in protest of legislation to facilitate a natural gas-fired power plant that critics warn limits public engagement and offers a blank check to the power industry. (The State, Post and Courier)

BIOMASS: Wood pellet producer Enviva files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and plans to restructure after reaching agreements with creditors to significantly reduce its debt. (Wilmington StarNews, Associated Press)

CLEAN ENERGY: 

SOLAR: Rural health centers in Tennessee consider applying for a federal grant to install solar microgrids to maintain critical services during power outages. (WPLN)

OIL & GAS: 

GRID: An Arkansas electric cooperative receives nearly $50 million in federal funding to install hundreds of miles of power lines and fiber-optic lines. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 

CLIMATE: A lawyer representing one of the landowners suing a Texas utility over a downed power line says damages from the enormous wildfires that resulted could exceed $1 billion. (KXAN)

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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.