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SOLAR: Utilities’ campaign to pass the solar Amendment 1 on Florida’s ballot spends more than $760,000 on advertising and direct mail in one week. (SaintPetersBlog)

ALSO:
• A Tennessee energy company jumps into community solar. (Knoxville News Sentinel)
• Atlanta-based Suniva snags a $1.25 million grant from the Department of Energy to boost solar cell efficiency. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)

COAL:
• Mississippi Power logs another $33 million in cost overruns for its Kemper “clean coal” power plant and pushes out its projected startup date into November. (Mississippi Today)
• Florida Power & Light plans to buy and shut down another coal-fired power plant. (Miami Herald)

POLITICS: Louisiana’s Public Service Commission faces significant changes depending on who’s elected in November and any subsequent runoffs. (Utility Dive)

OFFSHORE DRILLING: A new guide outlines how to reduce potential harmful effects of seismic surveys. (Coastal Review Online)

PIPELINES: Dominion is set to boost its ownership of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

WIND: Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson balks at taking a position on the Clean Line transmission project. (Associated Press)

COAL ASH:
• Virginia regulators request more groundwater testing for Dominion’s ash ponds. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• In approving a new ash management permit for a power plant in Virginia, the state requires Dominion to study the impact of hot water discharge. (Chesapeake Bay Journal)

NATURAL GAS: Economists say it will take time for natural gas to begin replacing coal as an engine for West Virginia’s economy. (WDTV)

NUCLEAR: Florida Power & Light begins fixing a saltwater plume from its Turkey Point plant that threatens public water supplies. (WDBO / Key West Citizen)

GRID:
• A review of the capacity market in PJM is put on hold. (RTO Insider)
• Federal regulators reduce the authorized profit of MISO transmission grid operators. (RTO Insider)

UTILITIES: Dominion is to begin using drones to inspect power lines on the Virginia Peninsula (Daily Press)

VIRGINIA: Environmentalists are staging a three-day protest in Richmond urging Gov. Terry McAuliffe to better protect residents from coal ash and natural gas pipeline operations. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

COMMENTARY:
• Where he has met with resistance from state lawmakers, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is using his executive authority to combat climate change. (The Virginian-Pilot)
• Kentucky can shape a cleaner energy future. (Lousiville Courier-Journal)
• Direct your outrage over the 2010 BP Gulf oil spill to the culture that allowed safety to be marginalized. (Slate)
• A grassroots activist makes the case for voting against Florida’s solar Amendment 1. (Pensacola News Journal)