NOTE TO READERS: Southeast Energy News is taking a break for Independence Day. The email digest will return on Monday, July 6.
UTILITIES:
• Dominion Virginia Power’s new integrated and “transitional” resource plan contemplates its fifth nuclear reactor and utility-scale solar systems. (Associated Press)
• Dominion Virginia Power has applied to build a $1.3 billion, 1.6-megawatt, natural gas-fired power plant. (Associated Press)
• Despite lingering coal ash challenges, the retiring president of Duke Energy’s North Carolina operations asserts it faces no “outstanding” issues. (Charlotte Business Journal)
NUCLEAR: With five new reactors under construction in the Southeast U.S., a chorus of voices is stepping up calls for a nuclear “renaissance” to mitigate global warming. (ClimateWire)
SUPREME COURT ON EPA’S MERCURY RULE: Monday’s 5-4 decision leaves unanswered questions on how the agency’s regulations quantify costs and benefits. (Greenwire)
SUSTAINABILITY: The new sustainability manager of Sarasota, Florida offers insights on how it can become more environmentally conscious. (Sarasota Observer)
PIPELINES: Two lawsuits addressing property owners’ rights to block Dominion’s bid to survey land for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline shift to a new judge. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
FRACKING: Wells fracked in the Marcellus Shale region, which includes West Virginia, require enormous volumes of water to flush natural gas out of its rock formations. (Pittsburgh Business Times)
COAL: Murray Energy has sued the federal government over an new EPA rule designed to protect waterways from pollution by coal mining and other operations. (Wheeling News-Register)
GULF EXPLORATION: Royal Dutch Shell has begun building its eighth and largest deepwater drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico. (Baton Rouge Advocate)
EFFICIENCY: A Morgantown, West Virginia project funded by the Appalachian Stewardship Foundation aims to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
COMMENTARY:
• Appalachian Power in Virginia tries to quell well-founded criticism of its customer-unfriendly solar policies. (Power to the People VA blog)
• Kentucky lawmakers are ignoring a golden opportunity to grow the state’s economy with clean energy initiatives – opinion. (Lexington Herald-Leader)
• We need to think outside of our air-conditioned homes, cars and offices to grasp the affects of climate change on the rest of the world – opinion. (Palm Beach Post)
• Monday’s Supreme Court ruling on mercury pollution is not a game-changer because utilities have been complying with it. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy blog)