COAL ASH: The chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights says it will advocate for residents living near ash disposal sites in North Carolina and elsewhere. (Winston-Salem Journal)
ALSO: An investigation turns up more questions than answers about the health impacts of water contamination near coal ash ponds. (Carolina Public Press)
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SOLAR:
• Jacksonville’s utility weighs how to revamp its solar program including reducing how it compensates customers for excess power their systems send back to the grid. (Florida Times-Union)
• Advocates of a proposed tax break for businesses gear up to educate voters before Florida’s state primary election in August. (Florida Politics)
• Duke Energy opens its largest solar farm to date. (WITN-TV)
BLANKENSHIP TRIAL: Ex-Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship appeals his sentence as the judge signals it will not release him on a $1 million bond. (Associated Press)
UTILITIES:
• Federal auditors cite Duke Energy for overstating costs of merging with Progress Energy and projected a still-to-be-determined refund to ratepayers. (Winston Salem-Journal)
• A consumer group asks Louisiana regulators to revisit their approval Cleco’s sale to an asset management firm. (Baton Rouge Advocate)
WIND: A second round of bids appears to be lowering the price for two turbines off Virginia’s coast but Dominion isn’t committing yet to build them. (The Virginian-Pilot / Daily Press)
NUCLEAR: Natural gas and renewable sources increasingly are beating out reactors for competitively priced power. (National Public Radio)
COAL:
• A bill introduced by a West Virginia congressman to help displaced coal miners earmarks $100 million for retraining over the next five years. (Bluefield Daily Telegraph)
• Citing mining impacts, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services places crayfish found in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia on the endangered species list. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
POLICY: Another wealthy Republican North Carolina native – Julian Robertson – joins Jay Faison in pressing for cleaner energy policies in Congress. (Bloomberg)
PIPELINES: Environmentalists in Florida step up their opposition to the proposed Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline citing risks to wetlands. (WMNF Public Radio)
OIL & GAS: Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards intervenes in 39 wetlands damage lawsuits filed by local governments. (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
WASTE-TO-ENERGY: A $250,000 grant from Tennessee is helping a company develop and supply renewable energy to a municipal wastewater treatment plant there. (Electric Light & Power)
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TECHNOLOGY: An controversial Italian inventor is suing two North Carolina investors and their companies over licensing a cold-fusion technology. (Triangle Business Journal)
COMMENTARY:
• Coal country could benefit from a prudently-designed carbon fee. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• Be skeptical of utilities’ plans to brand utility-owned solar as “community solar for all.” (Southern Environmental Law Center)
• This is how we’re making clean energy a bipartisan issue in North Carolina. (Huffington Post)
• Parsing Georgia Power’s recently released coal ash data shows it plans to leave most of it in place, threatening existing ground and surface water. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)
• Why you should care about a multimillionaire ex-CEO of a coal company getting a year in prison. (Public Broadcasting Service)
• Florida voters should pay very close attention to the utility-backed, “smart solar,” Constitutional amendment. (Gainesville Sun)