OVERSIGHT: Texas prepares to launch a new set of business courts overseen by a panel of judges who have previously represented oil and gas companies, raising questions about whether the new courts lean too far toward fossil fuel favoritism. (The Lever)

ALSO: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear appoints eight members to a new energy planning commission ostensibly intended to slow the retirement of fossil fuel-fired power plants, including officials from two utilities that opposed the new board’s creation. (Kentucky Lantern)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 

CLEAN ENERGY: Along with the addition of 15 GW of solar, battery and wind over the last year, Texas added 6.6% more clean energy jobs to rank second in the U.S. after Idaho. (Houston Chronicle)

SOLAR: 

COAL: Alabama residents voice their concerns about a coal mine’s operations in the first public meeting since a fatal explosion that a federal lawsuit blames on a methane leak. (Inside Climate News) 

BIOMASS: Georgia Power asks Georgia regulators to approve its plan to add three biomass-burning plants totaling 80 MW to its existing 350 MW fleet of plants. (Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)

OIL & GAS: 

STORAGE: 

NUCLEAR: Federal regulators approve 20-year extensions for two reactors at a Dominion Energy nuclear power plant in Virginia that were originally licensed in the late ‘70s. (Virginia Business)

UTILITIES: 

COMMENTARY: Jacksonville and other Florida cities should lead the way in incentivizing community microgrids and rooftop solar installation to address climate change and accelerate the clean energy transition, writes a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral. (Invading Sea/Florida Times-Union)

More from the Energy News Network: Midwest | Southeast | Northeast | West

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.