SOLAR:
Brewers in western North Carolina are using peer pressure to persuade minds about solar and renewable energy. (Mother Nature Network)
• Here’s how the national solar lobby succeeded in persuading Congress to extend the Investment Tax Credit to 2022. (Greentech Media)
• Georgia and California are taking drastically different approaches to solar power. (National Public Radio)

POLICY:regulator friendly to solar energy is expected to chair Mississippi’s utility commission. (Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal)

CLEAN POWER PLAN:
Florida Power & Light calls on state regulators to set rates that will pay for cleaner power generation and allow it to sell possible emission credits. (Platts)
Virginia’s utility commission is challenging Dominion Virginia Power over its plan to reduce CO2 emissions, including its projected $19 billion cost for a fifth nuclear reactor. (Bacon’s Rebellion blog)
Health advocates in North Carolina blast the state’s response thus far to crafting its compliance plan. (Coastal Review Online)
• North Carolina holds its final hearing today on how it can comply with the plan. (Public News Service)

COAL: State officials are investigating a coal mine accident that killed a worker in southern West Virginia. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Representatives from utilities in Florida present perspectives on EV programs in their service territories. (EV Obsession blog)
Science students in Bentonville, Arkansas are retrofitting a gas-powered Chevy to run on electricity for the national EV Challenge in North Carolina in April. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

WIND:
• GE turns to a job fair to find operators qualified to work at its wind turbine manufacturing plant in Pensacola. (WEAR-TV)
• The federal government is holding public hearings beginning today in Charleston, South Carolina to gauge industry interest in wind energy off the state’s coast. (Associated Press)
• Florida-based Gulf Power begins operating its first wind energy system this week. (Crestview News Bulletin)

SUSTAINABILITY:
• A regional sustainability program centered around Memphis includes solar systems installed by prison inmates. (Memphis Flyer)
• A newly renovated county building in Wilmington, North Carolina is equipped with a green roof that decreases energy costs and extends its lifespan. (Port City Daily)

BIOENERGY:
• A Greensboro, North Carolina-based company is working with a biomass joint venture to make bedding for poultry farms. (Winston-Salem Journal)
• A Charlotte-based anaerobic digestion and renewable energy developer closes a $3 million round of financing to continue acquisitions. (Waste Management World)

CLIMATE: Some of Jacksonville, Florida’s signature real estate could be underwater if projected sea-level rise occurs. (Florida Times-Union)

COAL ASH:
• Criticism heats up over Dominion Virginia Power’s plans to release water from coal ash ponds into the Potomac River. (Public News Service)
• A South Carolina county rejects a company’s plans to dump coal ash into a local landfill. (WCSC-TV)
• North Carolina has yet to issue Duke Energy the required permits to clean up coal ash ponds at the site of a 2014 ash spill along the Dan River. (The Roanoke Times)

UTILITIES: Duke Energy is nearing approval of a proposed 280-megawatt gas-fired power plant in North Carolina. (Hendersonville Lightning)

OIL & GAS:
• An oil operator in Louisiana files for bankruptcy. (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
• The company responsible for a decade-old leak in the Gulf of Mexico is set to hold a public meeting this month about its efforts to stop slicks off Louisiana’s coast. (Associated Press)

2010 GULF OIL SPILL: In an interview, the CEO of BP recounts the spill as a “near-death experience.” (BBC)

PIPELINES:
• Backers claim thousands of jobs in West Virginia are at stake over federal approval of proposed pipelines. (Logan Banner)
• Roanoke Gas seeks to tap into the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline in Virginia. (The Roanoke Times)

COMMENTARY:
• Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia struggle to deal with growing drug addiction tied to the loss of coal-mining jobs. (Forbes)
Biomass energy deserves a closer look in South Carolina. (Greenville Online)
Virginia loves nuclear but hates uranium. Why? (The Energy Collective)

Jim Pierobon, a policy, marketing and social media strategist, was a founding contributor to Southeast Energy News. He passed away after a long battle with pancreatic cancer in 2018.

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