COAL ASH: A legal battle is brewing in Virginia over Dominion’s plans to store coal ash at a site plagued by toxic pollutants leaking into local waterways. (The Virginian-Pilot)

OIL & GAS:
• House members from North Carolina and Virginia call for new environmental impact studies of seismic testing off their coasts. (Associated Press)
• Fracking creates a new lifeline for a Hare Krishna community in West Virginia. (Toledo Blade)

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SOLAR:
• Despite an aggressive campaign backed by the state’s utilities, backers of a solar choice amendment in Florida are still optimistic about getting on the ballot. (Florida Politics)
• Plans for a large solar farm on a retired Florida doctor’s family land progress with a unanimous vote from local officials to annex the property. (Leesburg Daily Commercial)
• The industry battles a perception that solar is for the wealthy. (Reuters)

WIND: Beach towns along North Carolina’s coast are contesting studies about wind turbines offshore for not adequately weighing impacts on tourism and property values. (Wilmington Star-News)

TRANSMISSION:
• All six members of Arkansas’ congressional delegation met with Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz last week to raise concerns about a proposed wind-energy transmission line. (Arkansas Online)
• Plans for high-voltage transmission towers rile residents in High Point, North Carolina. (Greensboro News & Record)

COAL: “You’ve got to be an optimist to be in the coal business,” the president of the West Virginia Coal Association said at an event over the weekend. (Bluefield Daily Telegraph)

BIOMASS:
• North Carolina’s wood pellet industry is drawing scrutiny over whether cutting down trees is carbon neutral. (Western North Carolina Public Radio)
• A wood-pellet maker with plants throughout the Southeast launches a tree conservation program. (Asheville Citizen-Times)

CLIMATE: Residents of a historic Virginia island might become the first refugees of rising sea levels impacting the continental U.S.  (ClimateWire)

BLANKENSHIP TRAIL: A juror who was a long-time union member says certain other jurors began the trial wanting to convict the former CEO of Massey Energy on all counts. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

UTILITIES: Duke Energy seeks ways to boost profitability after missing earnings expectations in three of the last four quarters. (Charlotte Business-Journal)

COMMENTARY:
• Virginia’s solar market could grow 1,000% in 2016 but only if non-utility companies set the market price for utility projects. (Greentech Media)
• The federal government is right to protect Tennessee’s mountaintops from coal mining. (Knoxville News Sentinel)