COAL:
• Canada says President Trump’s “Buy American” plan for oil and gas pipelines could hurt coal country because the country’s steelmakers rely on the U.S. for raw materials. (E&E News)
• Officials in a Kentucky county did not approve a first-of-its-kind business license fee for companies that extract oil, gas and coal that would have brought in revenue to counter the drop in coal severance tax collections. (Lexington Herald-Leader)
COAL ASH:
• With the possibility of weakened oversight of Kentucky’s coal ash, there are unanswered questions about how landfills will be dealt with, including one that may have been leaking for more than a decade and possibly contaminating water. (WKU)
• Duke Energy is planning to put a portable water treatment plant within an active ash basin in Goldsboro, North Carolina, but does not plan to build permanent facilities there. (Goldsboro News-Argus)
NATURAL GAS:
• A South Carolina lawmaker is asking Duke Energy and Clemson University to move its proposed power plant away from a residential neighborhood. (Charlotte Business Journal)
• A North Carolina entrepreneur seeks to deploy carbon capture technology on natural gas plants. (WLRN)
OIL:
• A change-of plea hearing has been set for later this month for Black Elk Energy over a deadly oil platform fire off Louisiana’s coast in 2012. (Associated Press)
• A high school student won an innovation competition at Georgia Tech with his plan to clean up oil spills and is now headed to a national competition. (Forsyth County News)
NUCLEAR:
• Toshiba reported unaudited results Tuesday that show a $9.2 billion loss for the fiscal year, which the company said is related to Westinghouse’s bankruptcy filing last month. (Associated Press)
• An analysis of the Westinghouse bankruptcy filing says it is “a rare instance in which a corporate breakdown has important geopolitical consequences.” (Stratfor)
PIPELINES: A group of residents and environmental activists are taking tours of Virginia and North Carolina communities along the path of the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline. (News & Advance)
POLLUTION: A new poll by the Virginia Environmental Endowment shows residents want more protection for the environment, including reduced carbon dioxide emissions by power plants, and are concerned about water quality. (WVTF)
CLIMATE: A U.S. lawmaker from Florida said Monday that it’s time for the Trump administration to stop its attack on climate science while in West Palm Beach to host a senate committee meeting on climate change that no senators attended. (Miami Herald, WLRN)
COMMENTARY:
• Louisiana’s strengths are exploration and production of oil and gas, but the state is “too dependent on extraction industries.” (The Advocate)
• Under President Trump’s proposed budget, North Carolina could lose between $10 and $50 million in federal assistance in the 2018 fiscal year, which would hurt environmental compliance efforts, sustainable development and more. (Progressive Pulse)
• Louisville Gas & Electric Co. seeks to nearly double its basic service charges with a monthly flat fee to ensure its profits without regard to “a cleaner, healthier and more sustainable Kentucky.” (Courier-Journal)
• A military adviser says wind farms in North Carolina do not reduce national security, but rather add resiliency to U.S. energy production and make the country more secure. (News & Observer)