COAL:
• Mississippi Power announces another $9 million in cost overruns for its Kemper “clean coal” plant. (Associated Press)
• Alpha Natural Resources says it has emerged from bankruptcy as a private company with operations and offices now only in Kentucky and West Virginia. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
CLIMATE:
• Rising sea levels and tidal flooding threaten 18 military bases along the East Coast and Gulf Coast, according to a new report. (Reuters)
• An Air Force base on Virginia’s peninsula faces the prospect of losing 90 percent of its land due to rising sea levels. (Daily Press)
UTILITIES:
• Utility customers in Virginia take their challenge of a 2015 law to the state’s Supreme Court. (The Energy Fix)
• Dominion Virginia Power struggles in containing a chemical byproduct tied to petroleum coke it once used to help fuel a power plant. (Daily Press)
• A county delays a highly-anticipated decision on a proposed high-voltage power line sought by Dominion Virginia Power. (Virginia Gazette)
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SOLAR:
• A West Virginia firm helps hospitals offer solar incentives to their employees. (Southeast Energy News)
• Florida utilities have spent almost $14 million of the roughly $16 million they have raised to promote their proposed amendment to the state’s constitution. (SaintPetersBlog)
• The FAA authorizes a solar farm at Tallahassee’s airport. (Tallahassee Democrat)
• Duke Energy brings a 17-acre solar system online in central Florida. (SaintPetersBlog)
• South Carolina Electric & Gas is recognized for its home solar education programs. (Moultrie News)
WIND:
• The National Park Service’s new ambient sound limits to protect its parks complicate efforts by opponents to block proposed wind farms. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)
• The future of wind energy in North Carolina is up in the air. (Public Radio East)
POLICY: A clash over different state policies flares up at a state regulators’ meeting in Nashville. (EnergyWire)
STORAGE: Duke Energy and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte collaborate in assessing how storage systems can work with various applications. (Transmission & Distribution World)
COAL ASH:
• North Carolina spells out plans for a new, lined landfill for long-term storage of ash near the site of a 2014 spill into the Dan River. (Associated Press)
• Anticipation continues to build over the impact of a judge’s ruling expected soon in ash litigation between Dominion Virginia Power and environmental groups. (Chesapeake Bay Journal)
OIL & GAS:
• The Coast Guard says a pipeline leak in Southeast Louisiana released up to 4,200 gallons of oil. (Associated Press)
• Environmentalists are lining up to oppose a new TransCanada pipeline that would link the oil sands with the East Coast, which would then be shipped by tanker to Gulf refineries. (Associated Press)
HYDRO: A new report says the U.S. could increase its hydropower capacity 50 percent by 2050. (Washington Post)
NUCLEAR: Total employment on the construction of two reactors by Georgia Power tops 6,000. (Augusta Chronicle)
NATURAL GAS: With gas prices 32% cheaper than in 2015, customers of Duke Energy in North Carolina are seeing the benefits of its lower fuel costs. (Charlotte Observer)
PIPELINES: A non-profit sets a public forum in Fayetteville, North Carolina this Thursday on the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline. (Fayetteville Observer)
CORRECTION: An item in yesterday’s digest about a study urging the closure of a coal-fired power plant in Kentucky was funded by the Energy Foundation, not two environmental groups.