SOLAR: The Florida Supreme Court sets May 5 for oral arguments on a utility-backed solar constitutional amendment. (Florida Politics)

OCEAN ENERGY: Scientists at the University of North Carolina’s Coastal Studies Institute try to harness energy from the Gulf stream off Cape Hatteras. (The Virginian-Pilot)

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NUCLEAR:
• A federal lab in Tennessee acknowledges receiving spent fuel rods from a Dominion Virginia Power reactor to study how to reduce radioactive waste. (Knoxville News Sentinel)
• Georgia Power releases photos of Plant Vogtle, which is now 60% complete. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)

CLEAN POWER PLAN:
•The plan’s future effectively could be in the hands of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. (Greentech Media)
• The plan faces less legal peril than it did with the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. (Vox)

COAL:
• The Virginia Senate, with a veto-proof margin, passes coal tax credits which critics contend would do little to help the industry. (The Roanoke Times)
• West Virginia’s coal country wrestles with hazardous wastewater. (WNYC Public Radio)

OFFSHORE DRILLING: The congressman who represents a large swath of coastal Georgia maintains his support for drilling despite increasingly vocal opposition. (Savannah Morning News)

UTILITIES: Critics sharpen their attacks on Duke Energy’s proposed power plant in Asheville, North Carolina. (Charlotte Observer)

METHANE GAS: Three Democratic Louisville Metro Council members propose banning methane gas plants for at least six months. (WKU Public Radio)

COAL ASH: A North Carolina judge says a state coal ash settlement with Duke Energy does not resolve environmental cases before him. (Charlotte Business Journal)

COMMENTARY:
• Destructive mountaintop mining has forever grossly disfigured Appalachia. (The New York Times)
• Congress should pass the proposed RECLAIM Act to repay and revive coal-dependent communities. (Lexington Herald-Leader)
• West Virginia’s U.S. senators split on allowing a full Supreme Court to decide on the future of the Clean Power Plan. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)