CAP-AND-TRADE: California lawmakers approve a last-minute deal to spend $900 million from the state’s cap-and-trade program to fund programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including measures to help disadvantaged communities. (Los Angeles Times)

NUCLEAR: A fire forces the shutdown of a new Tennessee nuclear reactor, the latest setback for the plant after 42 years of construction. (Bloomberg) 

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SOLAR:
• Nevada regulators refuse to allow SolarCity to participate in a proceeding to decide how customers will be compensated for the excess energy from their rooftop solar panels. (Greentech Media)
• Residents on Hawaii’s Big Island say a local utility shouldn’t have allowed “feed-in tariff” permits to be issued to the developers of a large solar project in their neighborhood. (Pacific Business News)
• Businesses like Kaiser Permanente are using power-purchase agreements, virtual power-purchase agreements and renewable energy credits to scale solar. (GreenBiz)
• The investment bank that advised SolarCity on its $2.6 billion sale to Tesla Motors made an error in its analysis that discounted the value of the solar energy company by $400 million. (Reuters)

TECHNOLOGY: Engineers at MIT create 3D printed structures that may be able to turn solar panels to track the sun. (TreeHugger)

GEOTHERMAL: The University of Utah is one of two final candidates in a nationwide hunt to develop an underground laboratory tapping ways to harness man-made geothermal reservoirs. (Deseret News)

BIOFUELS: The expansion of corn and soybean cropland in the Northern Great Plains could threaten honeybee colonies, according to a new study. (Washington Post)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Utilities in Washington and Kansas are focusing on charger placement to drive electric vehicle adoption. (Utility Dive)
• Facing a severe cash crunch, Tesla Motors plans to raise additional money to help fund its new Model 3 sedan and build out a massive battery factory. (Reuters)
• California is off-track on its clean-car sales goals, with Toyota only selling about 270 hydrogen fuel cell cars in the state. (Reuters)

WIND:
• A major wind project approved in Iowa recently “may be just the first in a series of mega wind projects to advance in the coming months.” (Greentech Media)
• Despite a $40 million federal grant, hurdles remain for a wind farm on Lake Erie. (Great Lakes Echo)

OIL & GAS:
• A propane company quietly ends a five-year contract at a Philadelphia-area crude rail terminal, which would have allowed it to move at least 65,000 barrels of Bakken crude daily through Pennsylvania. (Reuters)
Colorado’s governor says he wants to “continue the discussions” after anti-fracking measures failed to make the November ballot. (Denver Post)
• Pollution from oil and gas industry activity will trigger hundreds of thousands of asthma and acute respiratory attacks in Texas each year unless methane emissions are reduced, according to a new study. (Star-Telegram)

PIPELINES:
Activists are arrested in Iowa for disrupting construction on the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline. (Des Moines Register)
• Representatives of the United Nations say the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe must have a say on the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which could disturb sacred sites and impact drinking water for 8,000 tribal members. (Associated Press)

COAL:
• Retrofitting Montana’s largest coal-fired power plant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would cost at least $1.2 billion, according to Department of Energy officials. (Associated Press)
• An Oregon coal plant will test running on 100 percent biomass. (Eastern Oregonian)
• Charlotte-based Duke Energy will pay for new water lines or filtration systems for 1,000 households after a coal ash spill contaminated residents’ drinking wells in North Carolina. (WJZY)  

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ENERGY EFFICIENCY: A Virginia business owner is helping residents minimize their energy use through home makeovers. (Southeast Energy News)

COMMENTARY:
State policies are fundamental for increasing the adoption of renewable energy. (Huffington Post)
• The U.S. has a winning climate model: It’s simultaneously the top producer of oil and natural gas and the world leader in reducing emissions. (Energy Tomorrow)

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