COAL: Mississippi regulators tell Southern Co. to develop a plan to run the Kemper “clean coal” plant on natural gas instead, and to shield ratepayers from further cost overruns for “unproven technology.” (Bloomberg) 

NUCLEAR: Despite troubled nuclear projects, several companies are still considering future reactors in the Southeast. (Utility Drive)

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OIL & GAS:
• Tropical Storm Cindy has shut down one-sixth of the oil production in the Gulf and when the storm makes landfall, it could disrupt even more oil and gas operations. (Bloomberg)
• Louisiana’s sinking coastline threatens the state’s oil infrastructure. (Oilprice.com)

RENEWABLE ENERGY:
• A federal court of appeals this week upheld FERC’s approval of the PJM Interconnection’s new electricity market rules, which clean energy groups say could increase customers’ costs and also harm wind and solar power efforts. (Solar Industry Magazine)
• Major U.S. corporations, including Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, are some of the biggest buyers of renewable energy and are seen as key to helping the country reduce its carbon emissions. (Arkansas Business)
• The findings from a University of Arkansas study could lead to storage devices that improve the efficiency of wind and solar power. (news release)

PIPELINES: Environmental groups requested on Wednesday a hearing on the need for Dominion Energy’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline, saying it “is not needed to keep the lights on.” (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

NATURAL GAS: Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas are asking state regulators for an extension of gas purchase agreements they made with the Atlantic Coast Pipeline that are scheduled to expire at the end of the month. (Charlotte Business Journal)

CLIMATE: Officials from more than a dozen states, including several in the Southeast, asked California’s insurance commissioner to stop requesting that companies publicly disclose fossil fuel investments and divest from the coal industry. (Associated Press)

SOLAR:
• Solar panels have been installed at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, making it the first presidential library to do so. (WABE)
• A solar farm in Tennessee near the site of a former nuclear power project is now complete. (Times News)

UTILITIES: A question-and-answer with the Tennessee Valley Authority’s head of sustainability. (Chattanoogan)

COMMENTARY:
• A newspaper editorial supports proposed legislation in North Carolina that would let voters decide whether eminent domain should be permitted in cases such as the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project. (Wilson Times)
• Two nonprofits question Alabama Power’s fixed-rate options. (AL.com)