WIND: Despite efforts by Republican lawmakers to kill the project, a new wind farm in North Carolina is “days away” from operation. (Triad Business Journal)

POLITICS:
• Republican-backed clean energy bills make their way through the Virginia legislature: “No conservative should ever be disappointed to call themselves a conservationist,” says one sponsor. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• The nomination of a South Carolina congressman to direct the Office of Management and Budget raises concerns about the future of the ARPA-E research program. (Greenwire)

CLIMATE:
• Scientists warn President Trump’s “Winter White House” in Florida is vulnerable to rising sea levels. (Sun-Sentinel)
• The Republican narrative on climate change shifts to acknowledging rising temperatures but downplaying the role of human-caused emissions. (New York Times)

SOLAR: Utilities continue to embrace clean energy as President Trump pushes for coal. (Associated Press)

COAL ASH:
• Virginia lawmakers advance a bill that would require utilities to study recycling or relocating ash before closing impoundments. (Virginian-Pilot)
• A Tennessee man says the TVA failed to note there is no state standard for hexavalent chromium, a chemical found in coal ash, when it told him his well met existing safety standards. (NewsChannel 5)
• Georgia researchers find toxins from fly ash accumulate in the livers of raccoons. (Athens Banner-Herald)
• Georgia lawmakers plan to introduce bills to make it harder to bury coal ash in landfills. (Florida Times-Union)

POLLUTION: A Kentucky advocate says that in voting to repeal the federal Stream Protection Rule, “Congress chose politics over what is needed in our backyards.” (WKMS)

PIPELINES: Federal regulators approve a $4.2 billion natural gas pipeline between West Virginia and Michigan. (Associated Press)

GEOTHERMAL: Virginia advocates study the different approaches North and South Carolina took on tax credits as they consider incentives for geothermal systems. (Southeast Energy News)

EPA: Four Southeast congressmen are co-sponsors on a bill to eliminate the EPA. (WMGT)

NUCLEAR: A federal judge rejects a challenge to nuclear waste shipments from Canada to South Carolina. (Carolina Public Press)

BIOENERGY: A TVA plant near Memphis will use biogas from sewage treatment to add to its electricity mix. (Memphis Commercial Appeal)

HYDRO: A Maryland company buys four North Carolina hydroelectric plants totaling 215 MW from Alcoa Corporation. (Charlotte Business Journal)

COMMENTARY:
• “Some might say that making it easier to poison their water and air is an odd way to protect coal families and communities.” (Lexington Herald-Leader)
• Why North Carolina should still care about the Stream Protection Rule even if coal mines are closed. (N.C. Policy Watch)

Ken is the director of the Energy News Network at Fresh Energy and is a founding editor of both Midwest Energy News and Southeast Energy News. Prior to joining Fresh Energy, he was the managing editor for online news at Minnesota Public Radio. He started his journalism career in 2002 as a copy editor for the Duluth News Tribune before spending five years at the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, where he worked as a copy editor, online producer, features editor and night city editor. A Nebraska native, Ken has a bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master's degree from the University of Oregon. He is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors.