Will Charleston’s climate lawsuit go forward?

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Southeast Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

CLIMATE

• Charleston, South Carolina’s lawsuit against oil companies over climate change is set for hearings in court this week, with major questions about how President Trump’s executive order calling such lawsuits a threat to national security will affect the case. (New York Times, Post and Courier)

• Rising seas accelerated by climate change threaten a Georgia island that’s home to one of the country’s last remaining communities of Gullah Geechee people, the descendants of enslaved people brought from West Africa. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Texas lawmakers approve a bill granting legal protection to oil and gas companies, landowners, and others to treat fracking wastewater and make it available for reuse to help address the state’s growing water shortage. (Texas Tribune)

• Texas lawmakers pass legislation to require oil and gas wells be plugged after 15 years of inactivity, rather than allowing companies to avoid the roughly $30,000 cost of capping wells indefinitely and often leaving the cost to state regulators. (Houston Chronicle)

• Sources say natural gas flows have decreased to a large Texas liquified natural gas export terminal that’s known for causing global price swings, possibly pointing to a gas price drop in the U.S. and an increase in Europe. (Reuters)

RENEWABLES

• Texas lawmakers approve legislation to accelerate the installation of home solar and battery energy systems by allowing authorized third parties to review documents and conduct inspections. (PV Magazine)

• North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein worries the elimination of renewable energy tax credits by Trump and the Republican majority in Congress will cost the state billions in clean energy investment and tens of thousands of new jobs. (WRAL)

SOLAR

• A Virginia county board will offset a projected $3 million budget shortfall by using $3.4 million in revenue from six solar projects totaling 1,507 MW it’s approved over the last seven years. (WSET)

• Austin, Texas’ city council approves a resolution directing staff to make recommendations to maximize solar installations on public buildings, parking lots, and open spaces. (Austin Monitor)

• A frustrated North Carolina homeowner is still making payments on a non-working solar system installed by a company that’s now bankrupt. (WWAY)

GRID

• The Tampa Electric Company invests in storm hardening as it gears up for hurricane season after last year’s Hurricane Milton knocked out power to nearly 600,000 customers for days. (WFLA)

UTILITIES

• A study finds 70% of residents in a metro Houston county are having trouble affording housing costs, with utility bills cited as the biggest factor. (KTRK)

• Northeast Georgia residents worry lower water levels resulting from the Tennessee Valley Authority’s planned repairs to an aging dam will adversely affect the tourism and recreational economy around Lake Chatuge. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

• The Sierra Club’s West Virginia chapter announces a series of meetings about American Electric Power’s proposed rate increase. (Wheeling News-Register)

EMISSIONS

• A new report finds federal officials are undercounting greenhouse gas emissions from paper mills as much as 350% because the U.S. EPA doesn’t track biogenic CO2 emissions that come from ​“natural sources” such as wood. (Grist)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Startup OCOchem wants to clean up the traditional chemical-making process by replacing large, fossil fuel-powered machines with more, smaller machines powered by electricity, Jeff St. John reports.

• A new Ohio state law aimed at expanding gas and nuclear power plants includes some technology-neutral provisions that could also benefit clean energy, Kathiann M. Kowalski reports.