NATURAL GAS: A group of students, faculty and staff says Duke University’s proposed new campus power plant should be fueled from methane from hog waste, not natural gas. (Southeast Energy News)
ALSO:
• Meanwhile, Clemson residents and members of the city council voiced their opposition to Duke Energy’s proposed generating station, although its site is owned by Clemson University and not subject to city oversight. (Greenville Online)
• The fate of the natural gas industry’s controversial bill to help force drilling on unwilling land owners in West Virginia was up in the air Tuesday. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• A chemical leak at a natural gas facility made residents in a poor Alabama community sick. (Los Angeles Times)
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SOLAR:
• Following layoffs, Georgia’s Suniva says domestic solar manufacturers “face attack” from overseas manufacturers that are dumping cheap solar panels in the U.S. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• The city of Tampa has been named one of the country’s “solar builders” for its potential solar capabilities. (Tampa Bay Times)
• North Carolina officials are working with solar developers to establish guidelines for pollinator-friendly plants around solar arrays. (Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald)
WIND: No federally leased Wind Energy Area has gone from lease to full production, so how will Avangrid’s offshore wind power get to the grid? (Coastal Review)
COAL:
• A bill in West Virginia to reduce water-quality restrictions for coal industry advanced in the House on Tuesday, moving closer to passage. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• Three counties in Virginia’s coal region support Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s budget amendment that blocks the transfer of funds from a local economic development to draw more jobs to the coal region. (Roanoke Times)
• Regulators are still not fully implementing reforms for responding to coal mine emergencies seven years after the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
COAL ASH:
• Dominion Virginia Power says it won’t oppose a temporary pause in coal ash permitting. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• As the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection moves forward with new regulations to weaken the state’s prior review of coal ash landfills, documents show the department was against such efforts in 2010. (WFPL)
PIPELINE: Republican and Democratic lawmakers from Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina together are supporting the controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline project. (The News Virginian)
UTILITIES:
• Legislation that would create performance-based incentives for utilities and bring new measures of accountability to Florida’s Public Service Commission passed a House committee on Tuesday. (SaintPetersBlog)
• A settlement that will lead to rate increases for customers of Florida’s Gulf Power was approved by state utility regulators Tuesday. (Pensacola News Journal)
NUCLEAR: Toshiba confirmed Tuesday that it has replaced the chairman of Westinghouse following its bankruptcy filing. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
RENEWABLE ENERGY:
• Since announcing its commitment to 100 percent renewable energy, Abita Springs, Louisiana wonders how President Trump will affect the country’s rural renewable power renaissance. (Curbed)
• Carolina Public Press is hosting a free public forum on the role of renewable energy in North Carolina. (news release)
COMMENTARY:
• A newspaper editorial says Florida’s lawmakers are letting the state down on fracking. (Naples Daily News)
• A Bloomberg editorial says despite Westinghouse’s bankruptcy filing, nuclear power is worth saving. (Bloomberg)
• Kentucky lawmakers say a bill they’ve introduced, Reclaim Act 2017, represents a massive environmental and economic revitalization of Appalachia. (The Hill)