SOLAR: A Florida utility announces plans for more than 600 MW of new solar. (SaintPetersBlog)
ALSO:
• A North Carolina county is considering a permanent ban on new solar farms. (Elizabeth City Daily Advance)
• The Florida League of Women Voters and the Florida Solar United Neighborhoods organizations are partnering to establish two solar co-ops. (PV Magazine)
CLIMATE:
• How a spat between two North Carolina scientists fueled a climate denial conspiracy theory. (New York Times)
• Clean energy and climate change will be the focus of conferences in Alabama later this month and in South Carolina next month. (AL.com, SCnow)
COAL: A union official doesn’t expect any new hiring as a result of the repeal of the federal stream protection rule, but says some jobs will be protected. (WDTV)
COAL ASH: Kentucky regulators approve a coal ash landfill after it was stalled for more than five years due to ecological preservation concerns. (WFPL)
OIL AND GAS: A closer look at Mississippi’s fossil fuel industry and whether it can be revived. (Mississippi Today)
EFFICIENCY:
• A new Tennessee welcome center on I-55 is designed to eventually produce more energy than it consumes. (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
• The Department of Energy awarded Virginia a $500,000 grant for its commercial PACE programs. (news release)
GRID: At a conference, officials dispute whether southern states have been fully integrated into MISO. (RTO Insider)
NUCLEAR: Operators of the Vogtle plant set a company record for completing a scheduled outage. (Power Engineering)
ADVOCACY: The Virginia chapter of the Moms Clean Air Task Force urges state and federal officials to protect clean air and water. (WTVR)
COMMENTARY: By confirming Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA, “the U.S. Senate effectively announced it’s cool with Miami becoming a modern-day Atlantis.” (Miami New Times)