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)