RENEWABLE ENERGY: Renewables are producing more power than ever, surpassing levels of previous years in every month of 2016, according to the Energy Department. (Greentech Media)
OVERSIGHT: Arizona’s top regulator subpoenas the state’s largest utility to determine whether it funded campaigns for regulatory seats. (Arizona Republic)
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CLIMATE: Advocates are hailing California’s new climate legislation as a breakthrough, calling the goals the “most aggressive” in North America. (Vice News)
EMISSIONS: Volkswagen will compensate 650 dealers who have been unable to sell the company’s diesel vehicles in the wake of its emissions testing scandal. (The Hill)
SOLAR:
• Arizona’s head utility regulator hopes to settle the state’s recurring solar debates on net metering by using evidence from a solar docket. (Utility Dive)
• Tesla wins antitrust approval to buy solar panel installer SolarCity, moving closer to its goal of creating a carbon-free energy and transportation company. (Reuters)
• A small power cooperative in Iowa is installing solar systems for other utilities as well as its own residential customers. (Midwest Energy News)
BIOFUEL: Replacing traditional gasoline with ethanol results in a net increase in carbon dioxide emissions, according to a new study, which biofuel backers reject as being biased by oil industry money. (The Hill, MLive)
OIL & GAS: A pair of environmental groups is suing the Obama administration to try to stop oil and natural gas production on federal lands, saying the drilling threatens the climate and public health. (The Hill)
UTILITIES:
• An Indiana utility company is planning to significantly reduce its coal-fired electricity generation, saying “the landscape for electric generation is shifting dramatically.” (NWI.com)
• Utility regulators approve a deal allowing Indiana’s largest electric utility to increase rates by 2 percent to help pay for its $3.5 billion coal-gasification plant. (Associated Press)
• Due to an increase in net metering customers, an Ohio utility is seeking to increase the share of distribution charges that all its utility customers must pay. (Midwest Energy News)
• How one utility responded to recent flooding in Louisiana that left more than 32,000 of its customers without electricity. (EnergyWire)
PIPELINES:
• As they wait on a decision by a federal judge, environmental groups send an open letter to President Obama asking for help to overturn permits for the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline. (Common Dreams)
• The Iowa Utilities Board denies a request by a group of landowners to halt construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline. (Associated Press)
FRACKING: New research links severe fatigue and migraine headaches to fracking. (New York Times)
COAL: A Pacific Northwest tribe is transporting a 22-foot-tall totem pole on a 4,800-mile road trip to oppose a coal export terminal in Washington. (Associated Press)
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POLITICS: A Republican senator from Colorado tells an oil group that candidates who oppose fossil fuel production on federal land are “not fit” to hold office. (The Hill)
COMMENTARY: Could a lithium shortage derail the electric car boom? (Oilprice.com)