ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Chattanooga launches one of the nation’s first electric vehicle sharing programs with help from the TVA; more background on the city’s clean transportation efforts here. (Times Free Press, Southeast Energy News archive)
COAL ASH:
• Critics say North Carolina’s plan to comply with EPA’s coal ash regulations represents the “bare minimum.” (Southeast Energy News)
• Unsafe levels of arsenic are found near a Duke Energy coal-fired power plant in North Carolina. (The Progressive Pulse)
• An environmental group says it found coal ash toxins leaking into recreational areas near a Dominion Virginia Power coal plant. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
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SOLAR:
• A group of homeowners in Louisiana sue the state over its cap on a tax credit for rooftop systems. (WWL)
• Chesapeake, Virginia postpones for a third time a vote on a proposed solar farm that would span 241 acres. (The Virginian-Pilot)
• A rift emerges in Alabama’s Public Service Commission over one regulator’s plan to lease his land for a solar project. (AL.com)
WIND: Engineers at the University of Virginia look to redesign and strengthen turbine blades to withstand hurricane-force winds. (WVTF Public Radio)
CLIMATE: Miami moves to reauthorize a Sea Level Rise Committee to assess the impacts of climate change and what it can do about it. (Miami Today)
COAL:
• During his visit to West Virginia, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz makes a case for incentivizing carbon capture and storage technology in power plants. (The Times Leader)
• Residential and commercial customers of Florida Power & Light move to block its proposed purchase of a coal-fired power plant. (News Service of Florida)
POLITICS: North Carolina philanthropist Jay Faison insists fellow Republicans are “evolving” on climate change with help from his super PAC. (The Hill)
OFFSHORE DRILLING: Thousands of businesses in South Carolina forge an alliance to fight seismic testing. (WPDE)
EFFICIENCY: Homeowners at all income levels in North Carolina can benefit by improving their energy efficiency, but will utilities help? (Independent Tribune)
TECHNOLOGY: Researchers at Georgia Tech develop a fabric that they say can harvest energy from sunshine and motion. (Georgia Tech News Center)
COMMENTARY:
• Here are three ways Jay Faison might actually move fellow Republicans to mitigate climate change, including urging a vote against Florida’s solar Amendment 1. (Vox)
• The national solar industry trade group weighs in against Florida’s solar Amendment 1. (EcoWatch)
• Property-assessed clean energy (PACE) financing deserves a chance to help homeowners and businesses in Northern Virginia. (Powered by Facts blog)
• Approval of a pipeline’s expansion in West Virginia can spur economic development in the state. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)