NATURAL GAS: The CEO of the TVA, Bill Johnson, said he expects natural gas prices “to be low for 20 years.” (Reuters)
ALSO:
• Virginia regulators impose “precedent-setting” pollution controls on a gas-fired power plant sought by Dominion Virginia Power that would be the largest in the state. (Augusta Free Press)
• Virginia Tech moves to finish converting its coal-fired power generators to natural gas. (WDBJ)
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SOLAR:
• Republican Georgia regulator Lauren “Bubba” McDonald explains how he became one of the state’s leading solar proponents. (Southeast Energy News)
• Officials turn on the first of five planned solar facilities on Georgia military bases developed by Georgia Power. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
• Virginia regulators set an October 13 hearing in Richmond on Dominion Virginia Power’s revised proposal for a 20 megawatt solar farm near Remington. (Fauquier Now)
UTILITIES: Hearings about a proposed 24% rate hike for Florida Power & Light – one of the largest such requests ever – begin today throughout the state and run through June 29. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)
COAL ASH:
• A leading environmental group says arsenic levels have dropped significantly since Santee Cooper removed coal ash from a pond near Myrtle Beach. (The State)
• Many users of well water near Duke Energy’s coal ash ponds are confused over whether it is safe to drink or not. (WRAL)
• The TVA is seeking public comments through July 12 on plans for a new dry ash storage landfill adjacent to a power plant near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. (Associated Press)
COAL:
• An attorney for coal baron Jim Justice said his client needs at least through December to finish reclaiming strip mining sites in Eastern Kentucky. (Louisville Courier-Journal)
• A Virginia coal hauler pleads guilty to violating the Mine Safety Act for tipping off looming safety inspections. (Land Line)
• A trial in West Virginia is rescheduled for a water quality lab employee charged with taking part in a scheme to falsify water pollution testing at mining operations. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
NUCLEAR: Despite environmental deficiencies at the Turkey Point plant found by federal regulators in 2014, a panel of Florida judges finds no need to update the findings. (Palm Beach Post)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The Virginia Automobile Dealers Association calls on the state to sanction Tesla for operating an unlicensed gallery in a shopping mall featuring one of its cars. (Automotive News)
CLIMATE: Rising sea levels are finding their ways on to front lawns of Norfolk, Virginia area residents. (Voice of America)
FRACKING: West Virginia University strives to advance research about and the efficiency of hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale. (The Exponent Telegram)
COMMENTARY:
• The utility-backed solar Amendment No. 1 on Florida’s November ballot makes the “smoking-isn’t-harmful” propagandists for the tobacco lobby look like amateurs. (Naples Daily News)
• The federal government’s withdrawal of a $40 million grant for a pilot offshore wind project off Virginia’s coast prompts serious talk about energy policy. (Daily Press)
• Coal mines that have closed are not coming back. (The Register-Herald)
• Even if the TVA’s Bellefonte nuclear plant is sold at is appraised value, TVA customers will get less than a 2016 penny back for the $6 billion they’ve been charged over 46 years. (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)