CLEAN ENERGY: With support crossing party lines, Oregon’s House approves a measure to double the state’s renewable energy standard and eliminate coal; the bill now goes to the state Senate. (Portland Tribune)

SUPREME COURT:
• An evenly divided U.S. Supreme Court will likely have difficulty setting precedent as it takes up major energy cases later this term. (Greenwire)
• The Supreme Court will take up a Maryland case that could impact how power plants are subsidized nationwide. (Baltimore Sun)

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CLEAN POWER PLAN:
• Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker issues an executive order prohibiting state agencies from working on Clean Power Plan compliance. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
• The plan’s future effectively could be in the hands of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. (Greentech Media)

SOLAR:
• Despite ongoing concerns about the future of state-level policies, SunEdison proceeds with its push into rooftop solar. (Bloomberg)
• An Arizona utility has a 90 day backlog on solar approvals. (Arizona Republic)
• Arizona lost a third of its solar jobs in 2015. (Phoenix Business Journal)
• Neighbors fight a proposed Oregon solar project: “This is a rural neighborhood.” (Salem Statesman Journal)

OIL AND GAS:
• A Deloitte study finds a third of oil and gas producers are at risk of bankruptcy. (Reuters)
• Even prior to a weeks-long leak, the Aliso Canyon natural gas facility in California was a major polluter. (Investigative Newsource)
• A 5.1 earthquake in Oklahoma – the third largest in state history – hit Saturday just 75 miles from the Cushing oil hub. (OilPrice.com)
• Low oil and gas revenues prompt New Mexico lawmakers to cut the state’s budget for the first time in five years. (Albuquerque Journal)

COAL: Maryland’s attorney general plans to fight a plan by a Virginia utility to discharge treated coal-ash water into a Potomac tributary. (Washington Post)

DEMAND RESPONSE: Federal regulators say they don’t plan to revisit demand response rules following a Supreme Court decision last month upholding the policy. (RTO Insider)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Why Americans will soon be driving electric trucks and SUVs. (Quartz)

COMMENTARY:
• A Rockefeller explains why he’s dumping his Exxon Mobil shares. (Los Angeles Times)
Destructive mountaintop mining has forever grossly disfigured Appalachia. (The New York Times)

Ken is the director of the Energy News Network at Fresh Energy and is a founding editor of both Midwest Energy News and Southeast Energy News. Prior to joining Fresh Energy, he was the managing editor for online news at Minnesota Public Radio. He started his journalism career in 2002 as a copy editor for the Duluth News Tribune before spending five years at the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, where he worked as a copy editor, online producer, features editor and night city editor. A Nebraska native, Ken has a bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master's degree from the University of Oregon. He is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors.

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