CORRECTION: A BP refinery is not connected to a Washington county’s decision to suspend new permits for oil exports, as incorrectly stated in an item in yesterday’s digest.
NUCLEAR: A California utility submits a formal proposal calling for the shutdown of the state’s last remaining nuclear power plant. (Los Angeles Times)
SOLAR:
• In a decision praised by solar advocates, Arizona regulators delay a decision on whether to increase fees and reduce payments for one utility’s rooftop solar customers until more data on costs and benefits can be compiled. (PV Magazine, Arizona Republic)
• California generates more solar power than official numbers suggest. (Greentech Media)
• How one Washington, D.C., family uses solar and low-energy appliances to live almost entirely off the grid. (The Atlantic)
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EMISSIONS: A vast majority of voters in nine Northeastern states support their regional emissions reduction program, according to a new poll. (ThinkProgress)
OIL & GAS:
• An energy industry trade group is suing the Obama administration for canceling or postponing the sale of more than two dozen oil and gas leases. (Associated Press)
• Wind and solar power depend on fast-ramping natural gas plants, which fill in the gaps of intermittent power generation, according to a new study conducted by researchers in New York and Europe. (Washington Post)
FRACKING: Science advisers to the EPA conclude the agency’s report on whether fracking pollutes drinking water across the nation is “comprehensive but lacking in several critical areas.” (Washington Post)
PIPELINES: The government’s quiet approval of the 1,172-mile Dakota Access Pipeline from North Dakota to Illinois is drawing local opposition. (Mother Jones)
UTILITIES:
• Fire crews work through the night to extinguish a blaze at a coal-fired power plant along the St. Clair River in Michigan. (Associated Press)
• A chemical fire breaks out at a coal-fired power plant in New Mexico while crews work to decommission three generating units. (Daily Times)
EFFICIENCY:
• A set of proposed energy efficiency programs in Kansas could bring substantial energy savings to electric customers, but critics oppose the $30 million price tag. (Midwest Energy News)
• Automakers are using space-age adhesives to reduce the weight of automobiles and save fuel. (New York Times)
COAL: North Carolina’s state epidemiologist resigns amid a scandal over whether the government lied to residents about coal ash contaminating their well water, saying she can’t work for an administration “that deliberately misleads the public.” (Charlotte Observer)
GRID: Bill Gates invests $13 million in a cleantech startup to help utilities improve electric grid efficiency. (Puget Sound Business Journal)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• A renewable energy-focused nonprofit in Hawaii wants more than $3 million from the federal government to fund a major electric car-sharing project on Oahu. (Pacific Business News)
• Hot temperatures and a lack of public charging stations make it more costly to operate Tesla’s electric cars in southern Texas. (San Antonio Business Journal)
WIND:
• A candidate who favors industrial-scale wind development wins Vermont’s Democratic gubernatorial primary by a double-digit margin. (InsideClimate News)
• As the nation’s first offshore wind farm prepares to open off the coast of Rhode Island, other states have “suddenly woken up” to offshore wind’s potential. (Associated Press)
COMMENTARY:
• Thanks to fracking, the U.S. has reduced CO2 emissions to levels not seen in more than two decades. (Energy Tomorrow)
• As the solar industry changes its economic model, adoption will accelerate at a rate of 20 to 30 percent. (Renewable Energy World)