COAL ASH:
• Duke Energy appeals $25 million fine by North Carolina environmental regulators over coal-ash pollution. (Associated Press)
• Activists at North Carolina State University complaining about Duke Energy’s “dirty energy” disrupted a speech to business students by Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good. (Triangle Business Journal, North Carolina)
• Judge seals motion by Duke Energy to delay sentencing on coal ash charges. (Charlotte Business Journal)
• North Carolina taking public comments, slate public hearings on coal-ash storage in open-pit clay mines. (News & Record, Raleigh, NC)
UTILITIES: The parent company of Duke Energy’s utilities in the Carolinas and Florida is repurchasing about 19.5 million of it shares. (Charlotte Business Journal)
SOLAR: Two Florida bills designed to provide tax savings for residents who install solar on their homes appear dead in the 2015 Legislative session. (Saint Peters Blog, Florida)
CLIMATE:
• North Carolina and other states that do not recognize climate risks in hazard mitigation plans face losing Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance. (WSOC-TV, Charlotte)
• NASA images show decrease in West Virginia’s air pollution but increase in surface mining throughout the state. (West Virginia Public Radio)
• The West Virginia Board of Education voted 6-2 to allow classroom debates on climate change starting in 2016. (The Charleston Gazette, West Virginia)
• Climakaze Miami festival this weekend aims to engage artists, environmental activists and the public to address and inspire action on climate change. (Miami Herald)
ENERGY EFFICIENCY: Power distributors question costs of TVA’s proposed energy efficiency initiatives (The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Knoxville, TV)
COAL:
• Southern Coal seeking to hire a total of 100 mining workers in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia. (The Roanoke Times, Virginia)
• The start of ex-coal baron Don Blankenship’s criminal trial on whether he conspired to violate coal mining safety standards in West Virginia has been bumped back to July. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
OIL & GAS:
• With draft report, a Virginia task force is seeking if and how the state can prevent and respond to derailment of trains carrying volatile crude oil. (Daily Press, Virginia)
• U.S. House majority whip Steve Scalise, R-LA, steps up Congressional tours of offshore oil and natural gas drilling rigs aimed at expanding exports of natural gas from the Gulf of Mexico. (The News, Brunswick, Georgia)
• Georgia’s two U.S. Senators have joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers asking for Georgia and other coastal states to share in the profits from developed offshore energy. (Fierce Energy)
• Concerned landowners and other activists send Virginia Gov. McAuliffe 5,000-signature petition demanding to stop the Atlantic Coast Pipeline slated to run through Central Virginia. (WWBT-TV, Richmond, VA)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Here is where to charge an EV in Athens, GA. (Athens Banner-Herald)