COAL ASH:
• The dismissal of an ethics case earlier this year leaves unanswered questions about a 2015 meeting North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory had with Duke Energy. (Southeast Energy News)
ALSO:
• A spokesman defends McCrory’s debate claim that the meeting was to tell Duke Energy he would veto an ash bill that had yet to be introduced. (Triad Business Journal)
• A lot more waste from ash pits at a Duke Energy power plant spilled into a river after flooding than the utility or regulators previously reported, according to conservationists. (Winston-Salem Journal)
SOLAR:
• Opponents of Florida’s Amendment 1 say a recorded presentation leaked to the media shows “fraudulent” intent and “collusion” by utilities backing the ballot initiative. (POLITICO Florida)
• The head of a Florida think tank says his policy chief “misspoke” about utilities’ strategy behind Amendment 1 to deceive voters. (Miami Herald)
• Critics of Duke Energy say new interconnection rules in North Carolina undermine the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978. (PV Magazine)
• A unit of Dominion Energy acquires the development rights for a 60 megawatt solar farm in North Carolina that has agreements with three Boston institutions looking to reduce carbon emissions. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• Here’s what’s at stake in a highly-anticipated court decision expected soon in North Carolina on how power purchase agreements can help faith groups go solar. (Southern Environmental Law Center)
NUCLEAR: After 43 years of construction, the TVA says its $4.7 billion Watts Bar 2 reactor in Tennessee has entered full commercial operations. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
POLITICS: North Carolina philanthropist Jay Faison outlines opportunities the Republican Party can seize on clean energy. (E&E TV)
COAL: Mississippi Power admits it could cost a lot more to operate the Kemper “clean coal” power plant once it begins generating electricity, expected next month. (Watchdog.org)
PIPELINES:
• A Georgia commission tonight is to begin assessing how the state evaluates oil and natural gas pipelines. (Savannah Morning News)
• A survey by the Virginia Chamber of Commerce suggests significant support for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. (News Virginian)
• Conservationists claim a compressor station planned for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in Virginia will exceed regulated limits on noise and toxic emissions. (Augusta Free Press)
• Against long odds, foes in Virginia of the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline seek a revised environmental impact statement from federal regulators. (Roanoke Times)
• Landowners in Virginia prevail, for now, in blocking Mountain Valley Pipeline representatives from surveying their property. (Roanoke Times)
• An attorney for landowners along an oil pipeline that ruptured in Arkansas in 2013 tells a judge Exxon Mobil breached its contract to clean up their property. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
NATURAL GAS: Due in part to exports from Louisiana, entities in the U.S. during 2017 will likely sell more natural gas to the world than it buys for the first time in 60 years. (Bloomberg)
CLIMATE: A new study finds cooperation among federal and local governments is needed for military facilities in coastal Virginia to adapt to rising sea levels. (Virginian-Pilot)
GRID: The power grids in the Southeast largely stood firm during Hurricane Matthew. (Utility Dive)
FRACKING: Kentucky sets a Nov. 14 public forum on the dumping of out-of-state radioactive fracking waste in a county landfill. (Richmond Register)
COMMENTARY:
• Don’t pay too much attention to polls about the proposed pipelines in Virginia because each one is biased. (Bacon’s Rebellion)
• There’s nothing in this week’s poll by the Virginia Chamber of Commerce on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline that addresses environmental and property rights concerns. (Augusta Free Press)
• Is the new Sabal Trail pipeline an omen of a gloomy energy future in Florida? (Creative Loafing Tampa Bay)