CLIMATE: Last month was the hottest April on record, the latest in a string of shattered global temperature records. (The Guardian)

ALSO:
• Federal officials might deny a public land lease to a climate activist who pledges not to tap oil and gas resources on the land. (Palm Springs Desert Sun)
• Protests over the weekend target the Aliso Canyon natural gas facility, a Chicago-area refinery, a New York oil hub, and a railway in Washington state. (Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Associated Press)
• The Union of Concerned Scientists warns that suing oil companies over their grasp of climate change would not be legally sound. (Washington Free Beacon)

CARBON CAPTURE: The Energy Department suspends funding for a Texas carbon capture project. (InsideClimate News)

SOLAR:
• The debate over Maine’s solar legislation pitted large companies against local installers. (Portland Press Herald)
• An Arizona utility backs away from plans for a demand charge for solar customers. (Arizona Daily Star)
• A Nevada utility’s claim that solar customers are subsidized draws skepticism from fact-checkers. (Politifact)
• Solar is slow to catch on in sun-baked southwest Colorado. (Durango Herald)
• A former rural airstrip in Maine becomes a community solar farm. (Portland Press Herald)
• Albuquerque’s city council will consider a resolution today to get 25 percent of the city’s electricity from solar. (Associated Press)

WIND:
• A Colorado utility proposes a $1 billion wind project, the state’s largest. (Denver Business Journal)
• An Ohio utility seeks proposals for 500 MW of new wind energy. (Columbus Business First)

PIPELINES: A spill from an oil pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan could cost as much as $1 billion to clean up, according to state documents. (MLive)

OIL AND GAS:
• A drilling proposal in New York could bypass the state’s fracking ban. (Politico)
• The West Virginia Attorney General takes aim at the Obama administration’s new rules to reduce methane emissions. (The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register)
• Health officials say metals, including barium, in emissions from a southern California natural gas leak may be causing illness. (KPCC)
• Railroad officials say a worst-case-scenario oil spill in Washington state could cost $775 million to clean up. (Spokane Spokesman-Review)
• Producers grow impatient with pipeline delays. (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

COAL: 
• Coal mining states prepare to challenge Obama administration stream protection rules. (Greenwire)
• A Virginia environmentalist could be the top buyer for Alpha Natural Resources’ mines. (Casper Star Tribune)
• Colorado mining towns reel from the coal industry’s decline. (Denver Post)

CLEAN POWER PLAN:
• Coal burning in Arkansas declined so much in 2015 that carbon emissions are below the level that would be required if the Clean Power Plan survives court challenges. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
• Environmental groups prepare to defend the Clean Power Plan from coal industry challenges. (Public News Service)
• Republicans say the EPA is violating the Supreme Court’s order to stop enforcing the rule. (The Hill)

HYDRO: A bill in Massachusetts would encourage repowering small dams for hydropower. (Boston Globe)

BIOFUELS: A biodiesel plant in Hawaii is the first in the U.S. to be certified as sustainable. (New York Times)

POLITICS: A loophole for LLCs in Indiana’s campaign finance law enabled a firm tied to an Ohio coal company to donate $95,000 to Gov. Mike Pence. (Associated Press)

COMMENTARY: How clean energy can help family farms. (Rochester Democrat-Chronicle)