CLIMATE: In an implicit rebuke to Gov. Rick Scott and other elected officials in Florida, President Obama accused those who deny the man-made causes of climate change of sticking their heads in the sand during an Earth Day visit to the Everglades. (Saint Peters Blog)

CLEAN ENERGY JOBS: Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe signing into law six measures designed to help advance solar energy and energy efficiency in the state and extend a tax credit for green jobs. (Daily Press)

UTILITIES:
• The Florida House unanimously backed imposing term limits on future state utility regulators while some lawmakers called for far-reaching reforms to better oversee investor-owned utilities. (News Service of Florida)
Charlotte-based Duke Energy is among utilities that profit — and boost customers’ bills — by expanding regulator-imposed earnings caps. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities win higher fixed charges in rate settlement. (Western Kentucky Public Radio)

SOLAR:
• A North Carolina House committee has killed the latest effort to curtail the state’s renewable-energy requirements. (Charlotte Business Journal)
• Duke Energy Progress expects to have 900 workers on the job during peak construction this summer at three solar farms it is building in North Carolina. (Triad Business Journal)
Solar panels in Columbus County, North Carolina are expected to generate more power than the county’s 58,000 residents use, according to a local economic developer. (WECT-TV, Whiteville)
• Virginia’s Attorney General affirms a new state law that limits prohibitions homeowners associations can impose on solar energy systems. (Power for the People VA blog)

COAL ASH: Residents of Gaston County, NC are demanding answers about the safety of their drinking water near a coal ash pond after a state health advisory warned them to avoid it. (WSOC-TV, Charlotte)

OIL & GAS: After several previous violations, Trans Energy of West Virginia has admitted to three additional criminal violations of the federal Clean Water Act and fined $600,000. (The Charleston Gazette)

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY: Advocates assert it would be a mistake for North Carolina to step back from efforts to expand its bioenergy market. (Triad Business Journal)

NUCLEAR: Federal regulators proposed an $11,200 fine Tuesday against Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. because its workers covered up the faulty handling of materials for the V.C. Summer nuclear power plant in South Carolina. (Associated Press)

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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