OFFSHORE DRILLING: The White House is expected to announce as early as today that it will withdraw plans to allow permits for oil and gas drilling off the southeast Atlantic coast. (New York Times)
FRACKING: Environmentalists and oil companies gird for a rematch over who should regulate hydraulic fracturing in Florida. (EnergyWire)
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CLIMATE:
• Nearly half of the U.S. population threatened by rising sea levels resides in Florida, the most of any state. (The New York Times / Miami Herald)
• A climate consultant identifies ten Florida zip codes expected to suffer the most from a one-foot rise in sea levels. (Broward-Palm Beach News Times)
• New research by a University of Georgia demographer shows which coastal areas are most at risk from rising sea levels. (Time)
• This is how Miami Beach, with little support from state and federal officials, is trying to mitigate rising sea levels. (Politico)
UTILITIES:
• Dominion Virginia Power paid about $3,400 to host the chief of the state agency that regulates coal ash at the 2013 Masters golf tournament in Georgia. (WAMU Public Radio)
• Tennessee regulators approve Duke Energy’s acquisition of Piedmont Natural Gas. North Carolina is expected to decide in late July. (Charlotte Business Journal)
SOLAR:
• A project developer selects a panel supplier for 14 large systems totaling 84 megawatts in North Carolina. (PV Tech)
• Augusta, Georgia eyes joining the Georgia Power Advanced Solar Initiative. (The Augusta Chronicle)
COAL:
• Researchers at the University of Kentucky and Virginia Tech win nearly $1 million grant to study how to cleanly recover rare-earth elements from coal. (The Lane Report)
• Virginia has its first mine accident rescue team. (Bluefield Daily Telegraph)
• Coal’s worsening prospects pose heightened challenges to a pair of coal barons. (Bloomberg Business)
OIL & GAS: Louisiana lost about 12,100 energy-related jobs from January 2015 to January 2016 due to slumping prices. (The Baton Rouge Advocate)
LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS: Federal regulators authorize Cheniere Energy to boost its LNG exports from its newly opened shipping terminal in Louisiana as it prepares to load its second cargo. (SNL / Platts)
POWER GENERATION: A wholesale supplier in North Carolina secures financial commitments to build a natural gas-fueled, “combined-cycle” power plant. (Charlotte Business Journal)
COMMENTARY:
• A North Carolina Democrat urges voters to reject lawmakers unwilling to stiffen the state’s coal ash disposal regulations. (The Huffington Post)
• The decommissioning of two Duke Energy power plants in North Carolina and their coal ash waste by 2024 needs to happen sooner. (Fayetteville Observer)
• Virginia can reduce the cost and time needed to comply with the Clean Power Plan with relatively inexpensive energy efficiency programs. (Natural Resources Defense Council)
• Eastern Kentucky deserves more of the state’s coal severance tax revenue to offset the decline in mining. (Lexington Herald-Leader)