PIPELINE: A Colonial fuel oil pipeline explodes in Shelby County, Alabama – near the site of an earlier rupture in September – this time killing one and injuring five. (ABC33|40)

FLORIDA: A new poll shows falling support for solar Amendment 1, as Florida Power & Light contribute $2 million and Duke Energy about $1 million to push harder for passage. (Sunshine State News, Miami Herald)

COAL ASH:
• Regulators in South Carolina take pains to separate Duke Energy’s coal ash cleanup expenses there from its bigger challenges in North Carolina. (Charlotte Business Journal)
• Utilities move to boost certainty from new rules to avoid ash spills like those in Tennessee and North Carolina. (Utility Dive)
• Duke Energy implodes the coal plant that was the source of its 2014 ash spill along the Dan River in North Carolina. (Charlotte Business Journal)

SOLAR:
• Raleigh, North Carolina plans to lease more than 50 acres for a solar farm. (Triangle Business Journal)
• A Virginia county authorizes a rural electric cooperative to build a large solar farm. (WVIR)
• Atlanta streamlines its process for permitting solar systems. (news release)

UTILITIES:
• NextEra agrees to deals for total control of Dallas utility Oncor. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Customers of Piedmont Natural Gas today start paying 9.5% more based on a winter forecast colder than last year’s. (Charlotte Business Journal)
• A study spotlights the under-representation of minorities on the boards of rural electric cooperatives. (Institute for Local Self-Reliance)

WIND:
• Federal regulators conclude wind turbines planned for Botetourt County, Virginia will not pose a danger to passing aircraft. (The Daily Progress)
• A Southern Co. subsidiary makes its first acquisition in Texas. (Birmingham Business Journal)

OIL & GAS: A business accelerator in Louisiana hosts four new startups in the oil and gas sector despite an ongoing price slump. (New Orleans Times-Picayune)

POLLUTION: Dominion Virginia Power agrees with state regulators on a $260,000 fine and will reimburse cleanup costs for two oil spills in January, one in Arlington County near Washington, DC, the other in Augusta County. (Washington Post, The News Virginian)

NUCLEAR:
• Federal regulators cite the TVA for two errors in 2014 that caused equipment at an Alabama reactor to shut down. (Decatur Daily)
• Federal regulators are inspecting missteps identified in the restart of Entergy’s Grand Gulf 1 reactor in Mississippi now slated for mid-January. (Platts)

COAL:
• Production is up statewide in Kentucky but industry job losses continue. (Lexington Herald-Leader)
• An educator outlines how mining skills can transfer smoothly to operating drones for inspections, mapping and land surveys. (Fed Scoop)

OFFSHORE DRILLING: The Government Accountability Office finds federal oversight is lagging over needed safety improvements tied to the 2010 BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico. (The Hill)

EFFICIENCY: The Empower Chattanooga program is helping about 800 low-income households use energy more efficiently. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)

COMMENTARY:
• Amendment 1 is a “brilliantly evil scheme” by utilities to control solar in Florida. (Orlando Sentinel)
• Florida’s Amendment 1 will protect consumers against solar scams and rip-offs. (Cape Coral Daily Breeze)
• Kentuckians can handle the truth about coal and the likelihood it won’t recover no matter what politicians say. (Lexington Herald-Leader)
• The long-lived radioactivity of coal ash shouldn’t be lost on state regulators. (Progressive Pulse)