OIL & GAS:
Elected officials of both parties in Louisiana join lawsuits against oil companies seeking money to repair ecological damage. (Associated Press)
• A lawsuit filed by environmental groups in Florida seeks to ensure seismic testing won’t lead to fracking. (Eco Daily)

COAL ASH:
• Two environmental groups file a public records request seeking facts about North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory’s coal ash regulatory tactics. (WSOC)
Experts see utilities shifting from wet to dry coal ash storage to minimize its potential environmental and health impacts. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)

SOLAR: Modules made in Mississippi are powering clean energy for a school district in New York state. (Mississippi Business)

PIPELINES:
• More residents in the path of current and proposed pipelines in Appalachia ask about the growing risks of accidents. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
• The growing network of natural gas pipelines in West Virginia pose increased risks of potent methane leaks. (PRI)

SMART GRID: A research center at North Carolina State University focuses on the challenges and benefits of smarter power distribution networks. (CleanTechnica)

UTILITIES: An updated report by North Carolina State University’s Clean Energy Technology Center finds regulators are largely denying utilities’ requests for fixed charge increases. (PV Magazine)

COAL:
• A worker in West Virginia dies from injuries incurred during an ignition in the shaft of an underground mine. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
• Here’s how a small, founder-run mine in West Virginia evolved during three different sales and two corporate bankruptcies. (Reuters)

NATURAL GAS: The Marines’ Camp Lejeune in Florida illustrates the armed forces’ shift from coal to cleaner sources of power. (Jacksonville Daily News)

NUCLEAR: A Virginia company prospers by making steel and concrete casks for storing spent nuclear fuel rods. (Virginian-Pilot)

WEST VIRGINIA: Have the impacts of coal’s decline combined with low natural gas prices run their course on the state’s economy? (Bluefield Daily Telegraph)

COMMENTARY:
• The staff of North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory acted badly by trying to silence a state toxicologist. (Raleigh News & Observer)
Duke Energy leads investor-owned utilities making the transition to a cleaner energy future while capitalizing on the comforts of its monopoly. (Forbes)
• The decline of coal in Appalachia signals myriad challenges nationally coming with the transition to cleaner energy. (MIT Technology Review)
• The Obama administration’s so-called “stream protection” rule is too weak. (Roanoke Times)

Jim Pierobon, a policy, marketing and social media strategist, was a founding contributor to Southeast Energy News. He passed away after a long battle with pancreatic cancer in 2018.

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