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)

Ken is the director of the Energy News Network at Fresh Energy and is a founding editor of both Midwest Energy News and Southeast Energy News. Prior to joining Fresh Energy, he was the managing editor for online news at Minnesota Public Radio. He started his journalism career in 2002 as a copy editor for the Duluth News Tribune before spending five years at the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, where he worked as a copy editor, online producer, features editor and night city editor. A Nebraska native, Ken has a bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master's degree from the University of Oregon. He is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors.