Southeast Energy News is taking a break for the Fourth of July. We’ll be back Monday, July 8.

COAL: Unprecedented federal funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is helping Southwest Virginia diversify its economy through redevelopment of abandoned mine land sites. (Virginia Mercury)

CLIMATE: Austin, Texas’ city council considers asking voters to approve a climate bond to help pay for projects related to the city’s climate goals, but the mayor wants to delay the process until 2026. (KXAN)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Rivian reports that it sold more electric vehicles than it manufactured in the last quarter, during which the company also reiterated its plans to build a factory in Georgia. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

SOLAR:

  • A solar developer withdraws its application to build a large solar farm and says it will come back with a smaller proposal after a Virginia county planning commission denied a permit. (Cardinal News)
  • The developers of a planned Alabama solar farm hold an open house to answer questions for local residents, not all of whom are happy about the project. (Moulton Advertiser)

OIL & GAS: Texas oil and gas regulators ask the state’s attorney general to sue the U.S. EPA over its decision to list the dunes sagebrush lizard as endangered. (E&E News, subscription)   

UTILITIES: Entergy New Orleans promotes a new vice president of regulatory and public affairs who will lead the company’s engagement with the New Orleans City Council. (news release) 

POLITICS: Florida Congressmember Anna Paulina Luna has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into a political donor’s oil and gas company. (Tampa Bay Times)

COMMENTARY:

  • Move over Michigan: Georgia is “quietly but confidently emerging as the undisputed national leader in the electrifying auto sector,” writes a clean transportation advocate. (Georgia Recorder)
  • As North Carolina’s electric vehicle industry takes off, the oil industry is airing misleading ads to stoke fear about the opportunities EVs offer the state, writes an environmental advocate. (WRAL)

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Dan has two decades' experience working in print, digital and broadcast media. Prior to joining the Energy News Network as managing editor in December 2017, he oversaw watchdog reporting at the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, part of the USA Today Network, and before that spent several years as a freelance journalist covering energy, business and technology. Dan is a former Midwest Energy News journalism fellow and a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and mass communications from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.