CLIMATE: A Florida mayor’s challenge in New Hampshire helps spur Sen. Marco Rubio and former Governor Jeb Bush to agree to meet with municipal leaders on climate change. (Climate Progress)
SOLAR:
• Dominion Virginia Power agrees to buy solar-generated power from a system funded in part by NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin. (Charlotte Business Journal)
• North Carolina holds on to its #4 national ranking for installed solar energy systems, barely ahead of Nevada. (Clean Technica)
RENEWABLES: Several bills in Virginia try to remove barriers to wind and solar energy and clean energy financing. (The Energy Collective)
CLEAN ENERGY JOBS: Energy software company Opower opts to keep its headquarters in Virginia after Arlington County offers a first-ever cash incentive to stay. (Washington Business Journal)
EFFICIENCY: Entergy Arkansas achieves a significant milestone by helping its customers conserve electricity, reducing prior-year sales by at least 1%. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)
NUCLEAR: In his budget being presented today, President Obama proposes abandoning a half-built nuclear fuel fabrication plant in South Carolina. (The New York Times)
UTILITIES:
• Utilities’ growing reliance on natural gas poses big risks as more long-term projections point to demand catching up with supply, boosting prices. (Utility Dive)
• Duke Energy Florida applies to reduce rates about 5% for the typical residential customer. (Orlando Business Journal)
• The removal of smokestacks at a South Carolina utility’s coal fired power plant symbolizes a future pegged to nuclear, renewables and efficiency. (The Post and Courier)
CLEAN POWER PLAN: Alabama delays writing its compliance plan, saying it is confident a court will uphold a stay. (EP Newswire)
COAL:
• The TVA finishes installing scrubbers at its Gallatin power plant. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
• A new study by Duke University spotlights the effects of mountaintop mining in West Virginia. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
COAL ASH: Dominion Virginia Power acknowledges releasing 33 million tons of untreated coal-ash water into a creek next to the Potomac River. (Inside NoVA)
OIL & GAS: Mississippi officials are looking for oil that leaked from a barge damaged on the Mississippi River. (Associated Press)
LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS: Shell agrees to buy LNG for export from a planned export terminal in Louisiana. (Baton Rouge Advocate)
PIPELINES: A Virginia Senate committee votes down a bill to protect landowners’ property rights. (WVIR-TV)
COMMENTARY:
• Are the bills of Georgia Power customers about to be nuked – again? (Atlantic Journal-Constitution)
• The federal government is opening up to a privately-operated, long-term, disposal facility for commercial nuclear power plants. (Augusta Chronicle)
• The scheduled shipment of the first U.S. liquefied natural gas exports in March is the next sign of America’s energy renaissance. (The Hill)
• Executing the Clean Power Plan in Virginia should wait until all legal challenges have been addressed. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
CORRECTION: Here is a corrected link to yesterday’s article about a Kentucky trade group leader calling to end the “war on coal” rhetoric.