WIND: Regulators approve the nation’s largest offshore wind farm off the coast of Long Island, with plans for 15 turbines. (New York Times)
SOLAR:
• The Department of Energy’s SunShot goal to bring solar prices down to $1 per watt, once thought overly aspirational, has been achieved three years early. (Greentech Media)
• The solar industry employs more people in the U.S. than the coal, gas and oil industries combined, according to a new report from the Department of Energy. (Independent)
• More solar installation companies are interested in selling battery storage, according to a new survey that concluded “no other new product or service was nearly as popular.” (Greentech Media)
• Minnesota’s first state sustainability director talks about solar and where he sees opportunities for more clean energy investment. (Midwest Energy News)
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RENEWABLE ENERGY:
• State revenue declines are causing Wyoming lawmakers to push for fines against utilities that provide solar and wind energy to customers. (Associated Press)
• The Trump administration hasn’t said much about its plans for clean energy, but its massaging so far doesn’t look promising. (Greentech Media)
CLIMATE:
• A top executive at Exxon Mobil says the company supports the Paris climate agreement, calling it a “monumental” achievement. (Bloomberg)
• David Gelernter, a leading contender to be President Trump’s science advisor, is a climate change denier. (New York Magazine)
BIOFUEL: BNSF Railway will offer discounts of $300 per carload to shippers who use safer train cars to transport ethanol. (Reuters)
GRID: What policymakers in Ohio can learn from Germany’s aggressive path to integrate renewables on the grid. (Midwest Energy News)
NUCLEAR: Limited competition is making it easier for monopoly utilities in the Southeast to add nuclear capacity, often with willing support from lawmakers and regulators. (Southeast Energy News)
OIL & GAS:
• Gas is withdrawn from California’s Aliso Canyon natural gas storage field – the site of the worst methane leak in U.S. history – for the first time since January 2016. (Los Angeles Times)
• Low prices in 2016 helped to put six of the country’s biggest oil-producing states into a recession, according to a new report. (USA Today)
PIPELINES:
• As President Trump moves to revive the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, opponents are prepared to take their battles to court, but experts say it won’t be an easy fight. (EnergyWire, Reuters)
• Members of Greenpeace hang a massive “resist” banner from a construction site crane in Washington, D.C., to protest President Trump’s orders to revive the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. (The Hill)
COAL: Experts say weakening environmental regulations won’t help to revive the coal industry, because it’s “being pounded by market forces.” (CNN Money)
REGULATION:
• The New Mexico Supreme Court considers whether state regulators violated the law when they approved a decision to replace two units at a coal-fired power plant with a mix of coal, nuclear, natural gas and solar power. (Associated Press)
• Under orders from the Trump administration, the EPA says it is freezing 30 regulations until March 21. (The Hill)
POLITICS: The Trump administration reverses course on orders to remove the EPA’s climate change page from its website. (Greenwire)
COMMENTARY: President Trump is waging war against the environment, and the Dakota Access Pipeline could be the first major conflict. (Los Angeles Times)