SOLAR: North Carolina regulators will hold a hearing over whether Duke Energy is violating state and federal law by failing to three of a private developers solar projects to the grid. (Charlotte Business Journal)
ALSO:
• A state court of appeals hears a case over a North Carolina nonprofit’s effort to sell solar power to a church. (Greensboro News & Record)
• A North Carolina county’s solar ban fuels a legal dispute over a proposed project at a former golf course. (Elizabeth City Daily Advance)
• A community college in Virginia is developing a solar/renewable energy curriculum “TCC Solar Ready Veterans” to educate and employ military veterans. (WVEC)
NUCLEAR:
• Southern Company’s CEO says “we have every reason to believe Toshiba will remain viable” amid growing concerns about the company’s nuclear projects. (Atlanta Journal Constitution)
• How Toshiba wound up on the hook for cost overruns at two South Carolina reactors. (The Mainichi)
COAL:
• Kentucky coal producer Alpha Natural Resources sold its idled mines to a Georgia company that plans to reopen them. (Associated Press)
• More than 20 Kentucky counties are receiving $2 million grants from the U.S. Department of Labor to help displaced coal workers find employment. (WKMS)
• At a Lousiana conference, a Dynegy executive says subsidies for nuclear and renewables are a threat to coal generation. (Platts)
• West Virginia’s governor proposes a tiered severance tax for the coal and natural gas industries. (WV Metro News)
OIL AND GAS:
• The Georgia House approves a bill that would establish new regulations for fracking. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
• A Texas investment firm is negotiating with the state of Kentucky for incentives to build a $70 million natural gas plant. (Commonwealth Journal)
• South Carolina lawmakers delayed action on the oil and gas industry’s push to overturn legislation that protects property owners from unwanted surveys and other activities on their land. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• The federal government announced $9.5 million in penalties for safety violations and pollution from a 2012 Gulf of Mexico platform fire. (Associated Press)
• A Virginia county passes a fracking ban. (WVIR)
PIPELINES:
• The North Carolina Economic Development Association endorses the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. (Wilson Times)
• An Army veteran and former state trooper is among landowners fighting the use of eminent domain for the Rover pipeline. (Herald-Star)
EFFICIENCY: Food manufacturer Tate & Lyle plans a $60 million combined heat and power facility at a Tennessee plant. (Energy Business Review)
COMMENTARY:
• “Trump should look to the industry of the future, rather than the past.” (Environmental Defense Fund)
• For clean energy advocates, this year’s Virginia legislative session “could have been worse.” (Power for the People VA)