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)