COAL: Kentucky coal mines produced the smallest amount in 62 years in 2015 and in-state jobs declined 28% from 2014. (Louisville Courier-Journal)
ALSO:
• Alabama-based Walter Energy reaches a deal to sell its remaining non-core assets, including a West Virginia mine, to a Virginia non-profit. (Birmingham Business Journal)
• Coal mines are supposed to increase sampling for the dust that causes breathing problems under a new federal rule now in effect. (Associated Press)
• Murray Energy in West Virginia broadens its attack on mining regulations, this time on coal dust rules. (The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register)
• Virginia-based Alpha Natural Resources says it has laid off 93 more workers in West Virginia. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
CLEAN POWER PLAN: A poll by an environmental group shows strong support in North Carolina for the Clean Power Plan. (Coastal Review Online)
SOLAR:
• The second bulk-purchasing co-op in Georgia marks its first residential installation. (Athens Banner-Herald)
• Duke Energy Renewables sets a pact to sell about one-third the output of a large North Carolina solar farm it developed to a defense contractor in Maryland. (Charlotte Business Journal)
• Residents of Staunton, Virginia gather to consider how to improve their local solar options. (Staunton News Leader)
CLIMATE: Roanoke, Virginia exceeds two goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. (The Roanoke Times)
UTILITIES:
• Georgia Power proposes a formula it wants regulators to adopt for comparing the costs and benefits of renewables to fossil fuels and nuclear. (Savannah Morning News)
• Dominion Resources agrees to buy a Utah-based natural gas distributor in the third such acquisition by a utility company in the last six months. (Charlotte Business Journal)
• Residents and environmental activists protest Duke Energy’s plans for a new gas-fired power plant near Asheville, North Carolina. (The Blue Banner)
OVERSIGHT: The West Virginia House approves a bill that would prohibit the federal government from regulating coal mined and used in-state. (The Dominion Post / Energy Central)
NUCLEAR: The two reactors under construction in Georgia pass the halfway mark towards their planned full operation by 2020. (WJBF-TV)
COAL ASH:
• Groundwater contamination declines significantly along a South Carolina river after coal ash was removed by a utility. (YubaNet / Southern Environmental Law Center)
• Duke Energy is now pumping water from a coal ash pond into a North Carolina lake that is the main source of drinking water for Charlotte. (Time Warner Cable News)
• A court fight looms over Dominion Virginia Power’s plan to flush coal ash water into a large creek near the Potomac River. (Inside NoVA)
• Tennessee and the TVA agree to determine the extent that coal ash has contaminated the soil and water around its Gallatin power plant. (The Tennessean)
• An advisory board created by Duke Energy says nearly all of the company’s coal ash ponds in North Carolina can safely be capped in place. (WUNC Public Radio)
OIL & GAS: Nearly 1,000 scientists are meeting this week in Tampa to dissect data now available about the 2010 Gulf oil spill. (Tampa Bay Tribune)
PIPELINES: A county judge in Virginia allows builders of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to survey private land over the owners’ objections. (The News Virginian)
COMMENTARY:
• Despite the repeal of favorable policies, clean energy continues to grow in North Carolina. (Greensboro News & Record)
• Natural gas only make sense for generating electricity if methane leaks are kept very low. (Asheville Citizen-Times)