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)