Energy News Network (https://energynews.us/category/uncategorized/page/2/)
Conservatives for Clean Energy, a Raleigh based non-profit, recently expanded into Virginia where it will continue its efforts to “educate the public on the benefits of clean and renewable energy sources.”
OFFSHORE DRILLING:
• Activists and their attorneys cheer the Obama administration’s denial of applications for seismic testing off the Mid- and South Atlantic coastlines. (The Post and Courier)
• While it may be possible, President-elect Trump will find it difficult to reverse the bans on seismic testing and offshore drilling off the Atlantic Coast. (Newsweek)
COAL:
• The TVA’s spurning of Tennessee’s demand for ground water data is central to a federal trial over coal ash set to begin in February. (Nashville Public Radio)
• As its price tag rises above $7 billion, Southern Co. says its long-delayed, over-budget Kemper “clean coal” power plant in Mississippi will be fully operating by Jan.
COAL ASH:
• Tennessee’s Attorney General demands the TVA hand over data showing the contamination of a river that feeds Nashville’s water supply. (The Tennessean, Southern Environmental Law Center)
• An environmental group urges a Georgia county to halt the expansion of coal ash disposal there. (WTOC)
MICROGRIDS: Two microgrid projects sprout in Virginia following a trail blazed by a dairy plant that was financially vulnerable to power outages. (Southeast Energy News)
POLICY: Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia praises President-elect Trump’s pick to run the EPA. (The Hill)
COAL:
• Watch to see what 30 years of mountaintop removal for mining coal looks like in southern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky.
Following a trail blazed by a large dairy plant, a private college and a U.S. defense agency have collectively embarked on the second and third microgrids in Virginia while overcoming challenges integrating with their utilities.
COAL: A federal appeals court upholds a ruling by a federal judge in West Virginia that coal operators must limit water pollution of streams. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
ALSO:
• The Stream Protection Rule is high on the list of regulations the Republican-controlled Congress is set to repeal. (The Hill)
• A rural power cooperative in Mississippi withdraws its 15% ownership in the Kemper “clean coal” plant which now is expected to begin operating by month’s end. (Mississippi Business Journal, WDAM)
• TechHire Eastern Kentucky helps a 40-year-old former miner find a new job. (WYMT)
COAL ASH: An environmental group cites a possible spill of ash into a river in North Carolina as the latest evidence Duke Energy needs strict oversight. (Charlotte Business Journal)
SOLAR:
• Virginia issues permits for two 20-megawatt solar farms. (Virginia Business)
• A county on North Carolina’s Outer Banks approves a 60-day moratorium on new solar farms. (The Outer Banks Voice)
• Bulk-purchasing co-ops launch in Sarasota and Alachua County, Florida.