FRACKING: Colorado environmental activists submit enough signatures to get referendums on November’s ballot that could severely limiting hydraulic fracturing in the state. (New York Times)
COAL ASH:
• North Carolina activists oppose “cap-in-place” methods for coal ash cleanup, and experts say other techniques may pose fewer risks to the public. (Southeast Energy News)
• Democratic leaders in North Carolina call for an independent probe of Gov. McCrory’s involvement in rescinding “do not drink” orders for residents near ash ponds. (Raleigh News & Observer)
***SPONSORED LINK: The Energy Storage Conference, August 30-31 at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, will discuss the past, present, and future of battery storage, with technological, regulatory, and marketplace perspectives. ***
POLLUTION: More than 640 oil and gas spills affected groundwater or surface water in the U.S. in 2015, according to a review of state and federal records. (EnergyWire)
CLIMATE CHANGE:
• Removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere may be necessary to stabilize the climate, according to University of Michigan scientists. (Climate Central)
• More than a dozen members of the California Assembly are renewing a request to audit the state’s primary spending program to combat climate change. (Los Angeles Times)
OIL & GAS:
• Two Dallas-based investment firms acquire 84,000 net acres of oil and gas assets in Texas and Louisiana. (Dallas Business Journal)
• Exxon is attempting to have a Texas court block a climate change investigation by Massachusetts’ attorney general, while the state’s top attorney fights back. (The Hill)
• Colorado-based SM Energy will pay more than $980 million to double its holdings in Texas, which will increase its inventory by 4,900 barrels of oil per day. (Reuters)
• Alaska officials are criticizing the federal government’s plan to open one-quarter of the land it manages in the eastern part of the state to mining and oil development, saying it restricts development. (Daily News-Miner)
SOLAR:
• A Harvard professor explains why he changed his mind about the viability of solar in the marketplace. (Yale Climate Connections)
• North Carolina could add over 1,000 megawatts of solar capacity this year. (Charlotte Business Journal)
• The U.S. has over 10 gigawatts of solar PV projects under construction, as the amount of projects in development grows “larger than it has ever been.” (Greentech Media)
• An obscure technology known as advanced inverters can help deploy more solar and assist in smoothing out an increasingly variable grid, if state policies can catch up. (Midwest Energy News)
GRID: California’s governor tells legislators he will not act on his interest for a new regional power grid until 2017 due to “important unresolved questions.” (Los Angeles Times)
RENEWABLE ENERGY:
• The California city of Del Mar makes an ambitious pledge to switch to 100 percent renewable power by 2035. (ClimateWire)
• New York offers $16 million to support the design and construction of new energy-efficient housing in an effort to reach its 50 percent renewable power mandate by 2030. (NYSERDA)
• A nonprofit housing developer in Minnesota is creating a net zero community that will include a solar garden in one of the St. Paul’s poorer neighborhoods. (Midwest Energy News)
NUCLEAR: At least seven states let utilities bill for nuclear power before construction projects begin, costing consumers $1.7 billion for reactors that so far exist only on paper. (Bloomberg)
WIND: Massachusetts’ governor signs a new energy bill that includes the nation’s biggest commitment to offshore wind energy, requiring 1,600 megawatts from offshore wind farms in just over 10 years. (Washington Post)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Electric car maker GreenTech Automotive has missed a $150,000 debt payment to the state of Mississippi. (Associated Press)
COAL: A Mississippi utility further delays and adds another $43 million to the cost of its multi-billion dollar “clean coal” project. (Sun Herald)
UTILITIES: Instead of waiting for large utilities to go greener, companies are buying renewable energy directly from the companies that produce it. (InsideClimate News)
COMMENTARY:
• West Virginia’s coal industry would continue shrinking under a Donald Trump presidency. (Vox)
• Americans need to improve their understanding of energy policies to ensure a positive energy future. (Clean Energy Leadership Institute)