OFFSHORE DRILLING: The heads of seven national environmental groups urge President Obama to block drilling off the Atlantic coast. (The Hill)
PIPELINES:
• Colonial Pipeline says it has completed a work-around for its ruptured gasoline pipeline in Alabama and that supplies to distributors should resume today. (Wall Street Journal)
• The rupture of the Colonial gasoline pipeline in Alabama triggers more than 600 complaints of price gouging in Middle Tennessee and several in North Carolina. (Nashville Business Journal, Associated Press)
• The Virginia Supreme Court agrees to hear an appeal of a ruling authorizing developers to survey property without owners’ permission. (WVIR)
WIND:
• Development of a large wind farm off Kitty Hawk, North Carolina is the subject of a public information session in Nags Head today. (Raleigh News & Observer)
• According to a recent report, there are nearly 6 gigawatts of wind energy systems in development in the Carolinas and Georgia. (Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis)
CLEAN POWER PLAN:
• All of the highly-anticipated legal arguments for and against the plan are to be boiled down to less than four hours when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit hears them next Tuesday. (Greenwire)
• Here is one primer on the pivotal arguments in court next week. (Utility Dive)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: BMW, Volkswagen and ChargePoint collaborate to boost the number of charging stations along the I-95 corridor. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
GRID: A Duke Energy microgrid in Charlotte, North Carolina powered by solar and backed up by a large battery survives a real-world test. (Greentech Media)
COAL:
• Regulators order Mississippi Power to extend the comment period to field any ratepayer complaints about the impact on their rates tied to the overdue and over-budget Kemper “clean coal” power plant. (SunHerald)
• The CEO of a company with operations in Appalachia and elsewhere says miners must be able to vary their production in step with declining demand if they want to survive. (Platts)
EFFICIENCY:
• A $6.75 million grant from the TVA enables a health system in Chattanooga, Tennessee to generate electricity more efficiently and with lower emissions. (The Chattanoogan)
• Fayetteville, North Carolina urges neighboring jurisdictions to switch to LED bulbs for their street lights. (Fayetteville Observer)
SOLAR: The public is invited to a Norfolk, Virginia “listening session” tomorrow about making solar power more widely available to residents. (The Virginian-Pilot)
NUCLEAR: Court records indicate the Department of Energy has no plan for meeting its obligation to ship radioactive waste for recycling into fuel for nuclear power plants out of South Carolina anytime before July 2017. (Aiken Standard)
NATURAL GAS: Harrison County, West Virginia moves to facilitate development of a gas-fueled power plant. (The Exponent Telegram)
COMMENTARY:
• The rupture of the gasoline pipeline in Alabama is the latest sign of the risks of perpetuating the nation’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)
• Why Virginia’s monopoly utilities are trying to stop customer-owned solar. (Powered by Facts blog)
• Georgia Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols outlines how to link nuclear power with intermittent wind and solar energy systems. (The Energy Times)
• Florida and other Southeast states should replicate North Carolina’s impressive growth in solar energy. (Natural Resources Defense Council)
CORRECTION: The $300,000 Duke Energy is slated to spend on a solar for schools program in North Carolina is the total amount, not the amount earmarked for each school.