SOLAR: Despite having strong potential, a confluence of policy barriers is still holding back solar growth in Alabama. (Southeast Energy News)

ALSO:
• Florida’s largest utility wrote portions of a bill creating new requirements for rooftop solar on homes and businesses. (Miami Herald)
• Duke Energy is asking regulators to cut prices it pays to independent solar power producers by 30 percent. (Triangle Business Journal)
• A Virginia county considers changing its zoning law to allow a proposed 11 MW solar project. (Charlottesville Tomorrow)

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COAL ASH: 
• Virginia lawmakers upheld Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s changes to a bill that will delay Dominion’s plans to shut down coal ash ponds until it provides more information about alternatives as well as contamination possibilities. (Associated Press)
• A landfill in Georgia has decided against storing coal ash and is pulling its permit applications to do so after residents were “very vocal and very expressive” with their disapproval. (WABE)
• Two North Carolina legislators filled a bill requesting an expanded environmental study of drinking water near some coal ash ponds. (News & Record)

NUCLEAR:
• The Trump administration is concerned that Chinese investors will try to purchase the bankrupt Westinghouse nuclear division. (Bloomberg)
• Florida Power & Light will hold a hearing on its proposal to inject wastewater and chemicals from its Turkey Point nuclear reactors into the boulder zone of an aquifer. (Palm Beach Post)

COAL:
• The U.S. House listened to testimony from experts from Kentucky, West Virginia and other states about diversifying economies in coal regions as part of the 2017 Reclaim Act. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
• Lawmakers from coal country reintroduced bills in Congress that would better protect the health and safety of coal miners, including those with black lung disease. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• Yesterday was the seventh anniversary of the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion that killed 29 coal miners in West Virginia. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
• Researchers are visiting health clinics and medical schools in Appalachia in support of their efforts to fight a resurgence of black lung disease. (WKU)
• There is a divide in one Kentucky community about bringing back coal jobs, with many saying coal is the past, not the future. (CNN Money)
• A coal mining museum in Kentucky is installing solar panels this week to save money on energy costs. (Washington Post)

FRACKING: A statewide ban on fracking appears to be stalled in the Florida legislature. (WLRN)

OIL & GAS: Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Florida are appealing the inclusion of its waters in the Trump administration’s plan to open the Gulf of Mexico to oil and natural gas drilling. (NWF Daily News) 

PIPELINES:
• New documents show water, land and animals in North Carolina would be affected by the construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. (Progressive Pulse)
• Louisiana’s controversial Bayou Bridge oil pipeline was granted a coastal use permit on Wednesday. (Acadiana Advocate)

GRID: The leader of the Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Corp. testified before a U.S. Senate committee that the industry needs more help from federal officials to protect the energy grid. (Arkansas Online)

UTILITIES: In light of billion-dollar losses and increased bills for consumers, Florida regulators will hold a hearing in the fall to consider whether the state’s electric utilities should discontinue hedging on the price of natural gas. (Tampa Bay Times)

COMMENTARY: A solar small-business owner and a veteran says proposed legislation in South Carolina would create jobs for other veterans and benefit the state’s economy. (SC Now)