CLEAN ENERGY: A bipartisan group of 17 governors sign an accord committing their states to clean energy and clean transportation solutions. (Associated Press)
OIL AND GAS:
• Oklahoma regulators direct well operators to cut the amount of wastewater injected underground by 40 percent in response to the recent surge in earthquakes there. (Associated Press)
• “Keep it in the Ground” advocates say author and activist Terry Tempest Williams won bids for more than 1,500 acres of federal land in Utah designated for potential oil and gas development. (Deseret News)
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EMISSIONS: New research says the U.S. alone may be responsible for 30 percent to 60 percent of the global growth in methane emissions since 2002, potentially linked to the rise in oil and gas drilling. (Climate Central)
SOLAR:
• Maine lawmakers grapple with the competing interests of utilities and solar advocates over the direction of the state’s solar policy. (Portland Press Herald)
• Community solar is poised to become a multi-billion-dollar industry. (Greenbiz)
• While a recent report shows there are more jobs in the solar industry than coal nationwide, that’s not the case in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. (Pittsburgh Business Times)
NATURAL GAS: Crews may be within days of sealing a natural gas leak in California, but the episode has exposed storage vulnerabilities across the country. (Los Angeles Times)
EFFICIENCY: A compact among four Northwest states will rely heavily on energy efficiency to meet demand over the next 20 years. (Utility Dive)
CLIMATE: U.S. Climate envoy Todd Stern says the U.S. will sign the Paris Agreement this year despite the setback at the Supreme Court. (Reuters)
COAL:
• Opponents continue to challenge a scandal-plagued coal gasification plant in Indiana, saying a recent settlement agreement doesn’t go far enough to protect ratepayers. (Midwest Energy News)
• Connecticut will demolish its last coal plant and replace it with natural gas. (Republican American)
WIND: Offshore wind navigates “unchartered” waters amid low oil and gas prices and its own declining costs. (Coastal Review Online)
NUCLEAR: A bill to lift Wisconsin’s moratorium on new nuclear plants heads to Gov. Scott Walker’s desk. (Wisconsin Radio Network)
CLEAN POWER PLAN:
• Michigan joins the list of states that have suspended work on a Clean Power Plan compliance strategy following last week’s Supreme Court ruling. (Midwest Energy News)
• A Minnesota agency launches a website with information about the federal rules and the state’s compliance strategy. (Midwest Energy News)
• State officials who had been mulling the future of the rules are left “reeling and uncertain” following the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. (ClimateWire)
• But one legal scholar says Scalia’s death means the odds of the rules surviving the court process “have gone up significantly.” (EnergyWire)
UTILITIES: A new report on the industry shows utilities realize their business models need to change, but what it will look like and how they get there remains up for debate. (Utility Dive)
2010 GULF OIL SPILL: Lawyers for BP and federal prosecutors present their opening arguments in what is likely the last trial involving a rig worker. (Associated Press)
COMMENTARY:
• Exporting coal from the Powder River Basin to Asia is no longer a viable option. (Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis)
• Unlike in Congress and in the courts, renewable energy is “finding more friends than foes in corporate boardrooms.” (Huffington Post)