OFFSHORE DRILLING:
• Is President Obama trying to have it both ways by trying to reduce emissions while working to allow drilling offshore the lower East Coast? (Miami Herald)
• Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and Beaufort, Holly Ridge, and Morehead City in North Carolina all have voted against opening waters off their coast to offshore drilling. (Southern Environmental Law Center)

ENERGY STORAGE:
• Some states may look to energy storage and demand response to integrate wind and solar power into their Clean Power Plan compliance efforts. (Greentech Media)
• Duke Energy has joined an industry group working to get energy storage technologies communicating with utility control systems. (Greentech Media)

SOLAR:
• A subsidiary of an Arkansas electric co-op has agreed to provide a one-megawatt solar array for a co-op in Oklahoma through a new community power program. (Associated Press)
• The TVA has tentatively agreed to buy power for up to 20 years from an 80-megawatt solar system in Lauderdale, Alabama to be developed by Florida-based NextEra Energy. (Knoxville News Sentinel)

RENEWABLE ENERGY:
• Alabama Power testifies that it has been contacted by multiple customers, including military installations and private businesses, seeking to purchase renewable electricity for their facilities. (Alabama Media Group)

BIOMASS: The Gainesville, Florida regional utility has opted not to resume taking power at least until October from a biomass energy facility after it went offline due to a lightning strike. (The Gainesville Sun) 

POWER DEMAND: The operator that manages the power grid for much of Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi said demand for electricity Monday hit an all-time high peaking at 32,688 megawatts. (New Orleans Times-Picayune)

CLIMATE: Beaches are facing off against a changing climate, and they’re losing ground. Literally. (Climate Central)

CLEAN POWER PLAN:
• As ‘net’ losers under the Clean Power Plan, Kentucky and West Virginia could move to trade carbon emissions with nearby states, including Virginia. (EnergyWire)
• Construction firms in Southeast Louisiana could be big winners from the state’s efforts to lower emissions under the plan. (New Orleans Times-Picayune)

COAL ASH: North Carolina officials are trying to override a court settlement that commits Duke Energy to moving coal ash from three unlined and leaking pits. (Associated Press)

COAL:
• A big bet on mining metallurgical coal has backfired on several firms hoping to serve growing foreign demand that has not materialized.  (SNL)
• A 30-year-old mining technique is all that’s keeping some U.S. coal producers from joining their competitors in bankruptcy. (Bloomberg)
• A judge found that mountaintop coal removal by a Consol Energy subsidiary is liable for damage to streams in two West Virginia counties. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

POLLUTION:
• September hearings are set in Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia and three other states over decades-old regulations that strive to protect streams and forests. (Associated Press)
• Groundwater studies have identified contaminants that exceeded drinking water standards in three of 36 private wells sampled near the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Oak Ridge, Tennessee laboratory. (Knoxville News Sentinel)

PIPELINES: A federal judge approved a $5 million settlement between Exxon Mobil, Arkansas and the federal government after the 2013 rupture of its Pegasus pipeline spilled heavy crude oil into residential area of Mayflower, Arkansas. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

COMMENTARY: Yet another ‘no’ to drilling off the Southeast U.S. coast. (South Carolina Post & Courier)