HYDRO: While a bill to push pumped hydro storage in eastern Virginia passed with strong support, experts say the technology has yet to be proven in former coal mines. (Southeast Energy News)
UTILITIES: A Florida senate committee will consider on Tuesday two recently filed bills that address court rulings that dealt significant blows to Florida Power & Light. (Miami Herald)
POLITICS: A Florida congressman is among a growing number of Republicans – now 14 – on the House Climate Solutions Caucus. (E&E News)
SOLAR:
• A Georgia bill would exempt property owners from penalties if they allow solar arrays on land covered by agricultural covenants. (Macon Telegram)
• A spokesperson for a Florida utility defends the state’s slow adoption of solar power. (WGCU)
• A Virginia county’s requirement for a tree buffer could significantly alter plans for a solar farm there. (Central Virginian)
NATURAL GAS: Environmental and community groups oppose a proposed, but stalled, Duke Energy natural gas plant at Duke University; more background on the project here. (Raleigh News & Observer, Southeast Energy News archive)
COAL ASH:
• A public hearing tonight will discuss closure of a Duke Energy coal ash impoundment in North Carolina. (Asheville Citizen-Times)
• Samples of water near Dominion Virginia Power’s coal ash ponds at the Chesterfield Power Station show iron and arsenic. (Roanoke Times)
• Louisiana is resuming the testing of mercury levels in fish, which are thought to be contaminated by coal ash. (The Advocate)
COAL: Owners of a shuttered Virginia coal plant seek a buyer for the facility. (Roanoke Valley Daily Herald)
OIL AND GAS: A new West Virginia facility to supply components for the gas industry is expected to employ about 100 people. (The Intelligencer)
PIPELINES:
• An environmental group wants the Dominion Carolina Gas Transmission project be reconsidered, saying the federal approval was “rushed” and an existing gas pipeline route could be used instead. (Spartanburg Herald-Journal)
• West Virginia residents were divided during the last public hearing on Thursday on the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline. (Associated Press)
POLLUTION: Residents of a county in Kentucky hope President Trump’s infrastructure plan will fix their water system that has been contaminated by coal and gas extraction. (NPR)
COMMENTARY:
• Environmentalists say fracked gas may be low cost for the world, but it comes at a high cost for West Virginia. (The Herald-Dispatch)
• “The Department of Energy’s decision to partner with Clean Line Energy is a perfect example of everything wrong with the federal government,” says an Arkansas senator. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
• A Tennessee environmentalist makes the case for the federal government to keep rules that cut natural gas waste. (Knoxville News Sentinel)
• A county’s solar proposal “would potentially unravel Virginia’s electric utility regulatory structure.” (Bacon’s Rebellion)
• A newspaper editorial says Kentucky’s lawmakers “owe it” to the state to rescind a moratorium on construction of nuclear power plants. (The Paducah Sun)