SOLAR:
• A report finds at least 16 states are considering changes to net metering policies. (Solar Industry)
• Researchers say community solar is a middle ground between utilities and rooftop installers in the battle over net metering. (Washington Post)
• Solar supporters try again to extend Nevada’s existing net metering policies. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
• Arizona regulators delay a decision on increased fees for solar customers. (Arizona Republic)
• A survivor of the Lehman Brothers collapse aims to build a $12 billion solar empire. (Bloomberg)

WIND: A Vermont landowner’s proposed wind project is sparking a familiar debate with neighbors over aesthetic impacts. (Vermont Public Radio)

UTILITIES: California officials begin a sweeping investigation of PG&E’s corporate culture, part of a broader reaction to a 2010 pipeline explosion that killed eight people. (Bay Area News Group)

CLIMATE: Billionaire climate activist George Soros is found to have invested $2 million in struggling coal companies in recent months. (The Guardian)

CLEAN ECONOMY: Growth in green jobs in Georgia is in part because of an unlikely political partnership between liberal and conservative policy advocates. (Atlanta Public Radio)

COAL:
• Federal mine safety regulators are preparing the coal industry for the next phase of a landmark rule aimed at reducing workers’ exposure to coal dust. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
99 percent of U.S. coal mines are complying with the first phase of regulations to protect workers from coal dust. (The Hill)

PIPELINES: Landowners say in a new lawsuit that the Iowa Utilities Board does not have the authority to allow a company access to private property to build a pipeline. (Associated Press)

FRAC SAND: A frac sand company agrees to pay a Wisconsin county nearly $500,000 to settle a lawsuit related to road damages, a fear shared by many communities with such mining operations. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

OIL AND GAS:
• Industry officials push back on proposed methane rules, calling them “unnecessary and unproductive.” (San Antonio Business Journal)
• Colorado’s methane rules are already stricter than those proposed by the EPA. (Denver Business Journal)
• Environmentalists say it was hypocritical for the Obama administration to grant Shell a drilling permit in the Arctic Ocean while combating climate change. (EnergyWire)

FRACKING: The myths surrounding a provision in a 2005 energy law exempting fracking from parts of the Safe Drinking Water Act, known as the “Halliburton loophole,” continue to grow. (EnergyWire)

NATURAL GAS: A new natural-gas combined cycle plant will help expand a West Michigan city’s rare snowmelt system. (Midwest Energy News)

EFFICIENCY: A review finds California energy efficiency rebates were more effective in lower-income communities than in wealthier ones. (ClimateWire)

TECHNOLOGY: Colorado researchers develop a wastewater treatment process that can capture carbon dioxide while producing clean energy. (AlterNet)

MEDIA: Fox News has a moment of cognitive dissonance on climate change. (The Guardian)

COMMENTARY: A proposal to evolve net metering in California. (NRDC Switchboard)

Ken is the director of the Energy News Network at Fresh Energy and is a founding editor of both Midwest Energy News and Southeast Energy News. Prior to joining Fresh Energy, he was the managing editor for online news at Minnesota Public Radio. He started his journalism career in 2002 as a copy editor for the Duluth News Tribune before spending five years at the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, where he worked as a copy editor, online producer, features editor and night city editor. A Nebraska native, Ken has a bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master's degree from the University of Oregon. He is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors.

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