OFFSHORE DRILLING: A lease sale for offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico generated $178 million in high bids from oil and gas companies, but bidding still remains near historic lows. (Daily Comet)
MORE: A national coalition backed by state and federal oil industry groups pushes offshore drilling in Tallahassee, Florida. (Fox 35 Orlando)
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SOLAR:
• As solar prices become competitive with fossil fuels, member-owned electric cooperatives in Virginia begin to embrace renewables. (Energy News Network)
• Solar energy becomes increasingly popular among Florida residents who want to lower their power bills. (CBS Miami)
• Tampa Electric plans to open one of four new solar projects next month that will generate 74.4 MW of energy. (Tampa Bay Times)
• Wells Fargo says it will fund a 52 MW solar project in Florida that is set to be completed by the end of the year. (Renewables Now)
• Suffolk, Virginia officials approve the city’s third solar farm. (Suffolk News-Herald)
NUCLEAR: Attorneys for SCE&G customers say the South Carolina utility should refund $452 million it collected over the past year for its failed nuclear project. (Post and Courier)
PIPELINES:
• Dominion Energy pushes federal regulators to allow continued work on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in West Virginia and North Carolina while environmentalists urge them to cease all construction. (Roanoke Times)
• The head of Jefferson National Forest is temporarily reassigned to the U.S. Forest Service’s regional office in Atlanta in the midst of controversy over plans to run a natural gas pipeline through the forest. (Daily Progress)
OIL AND GAS:
• As oil field workload increases in West Texas, so have the number of accidents injuring or killing workers. (KWES)
• Texas environmental regulators should coordinate oil refinery shutdowns during major storms to avoid air pollution releases like what happened during Hurricane Harvey, an environmental group’s report says. (Reuters)
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WIND: U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) wins a wind leadership award from Tri Global Energy. (North American Windpower)
COMMENTARY:
• An editorial board argues that federal and state agencies should focus on retraining coal miners because coal jobs aren’t coming back. (Grayson Journal-Enquirer)
• Texas landowners should anticipate they will be visited by solar development companies, says a real estate lawyer. (Denton Record-Chronicle)