COAL:
• Government statisticians project coal plant closures will more than double under the Clean Power Plan. (EnergyWire)
Alpha Resources has notified 439 workers it expects to idle an underground mine and processing plant in West Virginia. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
West Virginia’s governor blames the EPA and tougher regulations for coal’s declining market. (Wheeling News Register)
• A non-profit tackles a legacy of the coal industry’s boom-and-bust nature in many Appalachian communities: empty buildings. (Associated Press)
Blackhawk Mining of Lexington, Kentucky is the reported would-be buyer of Patriot Coal’s assets in bankruptcy court. (Bloomberg)

COAL GASIFICATION: Southern Co. is evaluating its alternatives following the withdrawal of the South Mississippi Electric Power Assn. from its coal gasification project. (The Wall Street Journal)

OIL & GAS:
• The oil sheen from the now-extinguished fire on an oil production platform offshore Louisiana “is dissipating.” (The Times-Picayune)
• Calling on fellow lawmakers to “ignore Big Oil’s greed, ” Florida Sen. Bill Nelson is fighting legislation that would allow drilling off Florida’s coast. (Tallahassee Democrat)
• Public input is sought about leasing tracts in the Gulf for oil exploration from 2017 to 2022. (Gulfport Sun Herald, Mississippi)
• The deadline for filing claims due to the 2010 BP oil spill is June 8. (The Tampa Tribune)
Some credit BP for helping draw beach lovers back to the Gulf for the Memorial Day holiday weekend. (Associated Press)

PIPELINES:
• The Obama administration is resisting a congressional push to establish new natural gas pipelines on federal lands in the eastern U.S. (The Hill)
• The Kentucky Supreme Court rules natural gas liquids pipelines cannot use eminent domain. (WFPL Louisville Public Radio)

NUCLEAR: Areva and other industry leaders are eyeing 100-year life spans for new nuclear reactors. (Charlotte Business Journal)

NORTH CAROLINA:
• The state Senate quickly approved a bill to speed construction of a natural gas-fired power plant to replace a shuttered coal plant in Asheville. (Charlotte Business Journal)
• Some lawmakers in North Carolina say it’s time for solar to rise or fall without incentives or mandates. (Associated Press)

SOLAR: A solar bulk-purchasing coop in Georgia has netted 35 residential contracts thus far in front of Friday’s deadline. (Savannah Morning News)

RENEWABLE ENERGY: A student coalition pushes for passage of a bill requiring Kentucky’s utilities to increase investments in renewable energy. (WKMS Western Kentucky Public Radio)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Lexington, Kentucky resident claims to be the first Tesla P85D owner to drive coast-to-coast using its supercharger network. (Lexington Herald-Leader)

POLLUTION: The Charleston port is fighting efforts to develop a cleaner source of shore-side power for cruise ships docked there. (Charleston Post and Courier)

EFFICIENCY: The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians’ Choctaw Health Center has been awarded the LEED Gold designation. (The Meridian Star, Mississippi)

TRANSPORTATION: The Tuscaloosa city schools join Mobile County as second school system in Alabama to power its buses with propane. (Tuscaloosa News)

COMMENTARY:
Serious questions remain over Duke Energy’s and regulators’ handling of coal ash rules. (The Virginian-Pilot)
• Elected officials should be more wary of coal-ash safety claims by utilities. (The Daily News, Jacksonville, North Carolina)
•  Florida lawmakers should loosen utilities’ control of solar power(Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
• The former Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers who championed solar power is the same Jim Rogers who neglected its coal ash challenges. (Greensboro News & Record)

Jim Pierobon

Jim Pierobon, a policy, marketing and social media strategist, was a founding contributor to Southeast Energy News. He passed away after a long battle with pancreatic cancer in 2018.

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