CLIMATE:
• A North Carolina mom helped lead a mothers’ march on Washington to urge Congress to improve air quality by reducing power plant and auto emissions. (McClatchy Newspapers)
• The Pope’s encyclical is likely to transform investment policies of religious institutions across America. (The Nation)
• The Clean Power Plan will survive even if a Republican is elected the next President, the head of the EPA asserted. (The Guardian)
• The head of the EPA said the Supreme Court’s mercury and air toxics ruling will not affect the agency’s push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (Associated Press)
POWER CAPACITY: The West Virginia PSC ordered Appalachian Power to maintain a recently closed, coal-fired, power plant so it could be converted to natural gas. (The Charleston Gazette)
SOLAR:
• Some Florida mayors take issue with the state’s municipal league’s opposition to a proposed amendment to the state’s constitution enabling consumer solar choice. (Palm Beach Post)
• Obama’s new plan aims to help renters’ access to solar and triple capacity of solar and other renewable energy systems on federal housing by 2020. (The New York Times)
• Target’s plan to power its stores with 100 megawatts of solar energy by 2016 includes eight stores in North Carolina. (Charlotte Business Journal)
WIND: Duke Energy said it expects to buy a 50 percent share of a large wind farm in Texas. (Charlotte Business Journal)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The Jacksonville electric utility is expanding its network of charging stations and has received requests from 30 organizations. (Jacksonville Business Journal)
POLITICS: A panel of conservatives at a Washington seminar agreed Republicans are damaging themselves by surrendering the issue of climate change to Democrats. (ClimateWire)
COAL:
• West Virginia’s U.S. Senators and others introduced a bill Tuesday to protect miner’s pensions and health benefits by shifting money from reclaiming abandoned mines. (Wheeling News-Register)
• The mountaintop removal of coal from Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia has dropped 62 percent over the last six years. (The Hill)
• The parent company of Tampa Electric disclosed that an agreement to sell its unregulated coal business has expired. (Tampa Bay Business Journal)
GULF OIL LEAK: A federal judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit against Taylor Energy over a decade-old oil leak. (Gulfport Sun Herald, Mississippi)
BP OIL SPILL SETTLEMENT:
• Sarasota County, Florida is to receive $14.2 million as its share of the settlement announced last week. (Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
• Dothan, Alabama is to receive about $676,000 as its share of the settlement. (Dothan Eagle)
PIPELINES: The federal government has asked a judge to approve a consent decree between Arkansas and Exxon Mobil over a 2013 oil spill from the Pegasus Pipeline. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
COMMENTARY:
• Alabama Power is falling behind as other Southern utilities invest in solar. (Southern Environmental Law Center blog)
• The PBS News Hour brought some much needed attention to the vulnerability of Charleston, South Carolina to rising sea levels. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy blog)