CLEAN POWER PLAN: Industry leaders and environmental activists say the Trump administration could delay replacing the Clean Power Plan for years. (New York Times)
ALSO:
• The EPA formally begins the process of rescinding the Clean Power Plan, ending an Obama-era rule designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector. (Washington Post)
• The Clean Power Plan would have averted up to 3,600 premature deaths and saved up to $34 billion in health costs each year, and abandoning it deals “a one-two punch to human health and the environment.” (Vox, Quartz)
• Climate advocacy groups and the state of New York are pledging to take the EPA to court for repealing the Clean Power Plan. (Albany Business Review, Common Dreams)
• A new analysis shows how each state will be affected by the Clean Power Plan repeal. (New York Times)
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MICROGRIDS: California’s energy agencies want to boost the state’s microgrid market. (Greentech Media)
SOLAR: Behind-the-meter solar makes financial sense in New York, according to a study on how long solar will take to reach grid parity in different cities. (Greentech Media)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• California’s governor signs a dozen bills to boost the use of zero- and low-emissions vehicles, including an extension of incentives for low-income residents to buy electric vehicles. (Associated Press)
• Virginia’s governor is seeking proposals to create a statewide electric vehicle charging network. (Associated Press)
BIOFUEL: The Department of Energy is investing nearly $1.5 million in two projects that will help make biofuel out of seaweed. (NBC)
OIL & GAS: Green groups and a Colorado county are suing the federal government for selling oil and gas leases leases on public land in southwestern Colorado, saying it didn’t conduct required reviews. (Associated Press)
PIPELINES:
• Government attorneys say a federal judge can’t interfere with President Trump’s permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline because the Constitution gives him authority over matters of foreign affairs and national security. (Associated Press)
• The Dakota Access pipeline has boosted North Dakota’s tax revenues by $18 million in its first three months of operation. (Bismarck Tribune)
• An activist convicted in North Dakota of targeting an oil pipeline says a judge’s decision disallowing the threat of climate change as a defense would be grounds for an appeal. (Associated Press)
COAL:
• The Supreme Court rejects an appeal to overturn the conviction of former Massey Energy CEO Donald Blankenship, who went to prison over a 2010 mine explosion that killed 29 coal miners. (Reuters)
• It is not clear how much the Trump administration’s repeal of the Clean Power Plan will actually help the coal industry, and it may only slow its decline. (NPR, CBS News)
• A plan by the Trump administration to rescue uneconomic coal plants has done little to ease the pall of anxiety hanging over two Ohio River counties. (Midwest Energy News)
NUCLEAR:
• The trend of retiring nuclear plants will test how well funding levels match decommissioning cost estimates. (Utility Dive)
• SCANA is accusing its utility partner Santee Cooper of misleading state leaders for years about its role in the now-failed Summer nuclear project in South Carolina. (Post and Courier)
COMMENTARY:
• A lawmaker from Georgia says the U.S. needs to let the world know nuclear energy is going to continue to be part of our domestic energy production. (The Hill)
• A columnist questions the timing of the Trump administration’s repeal of the Clean Power Plan. (Mother Jones)
• Scrapping the Clean Power Plan will hurt U.S. climate change efforts by undermining the the principle that emissions need to be regulated, says a writer for Vox.