OIL & GAS: Experts said spikes in seismic activity in Alabama, Arkansas and other states are caused mainly by oil companies injecting wastewater deep underground, which can activate dormant faults. (Associated Press)
WIND: Dominion Virginia Power is pausing development of two test wind turbines off the Virginia Beach coastline due to higher-than-expected cost projections. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
COAL ASH: Duke Energy’s pursuit of a coal ash landfill at the edge of a lower-income neighborhood near Eden has sparked protests, a petition drive and friction between activists and city officials. (News & Record, Greensboro)
UTILITY COMMISSIONS: A North Carolina Senate bill amendment to bar legislators from serving on the Public Service Commission within two years of leaving office has been withdrawn. (Charlotte Business Journal)
SOLAR: Residents of Montgomery County in southwest Virginia have access to a just-launched bulk-purchasing solar cooperative through June 22 (The Roanoke Times)
BP OIL SPILL:
• Frustrated by its TV commercials claiming the Gulf of Mexico is “better than ever,” protestors asserted BP still needs to “pay up.” (WWNO New Orleans Public Radio)
• Thousands of claimants in the BP settlement asked a federal court in New Orleans for a second chance to opt out of the agreement. (The Times-Picayune)
COMMENTARY:
• With more clean energy, a director of the Southern Environmental Law Center asserts that Virginia is positioned to meet its draft quota for carbon emission reductions under the U.S. EPA’s Clean Power Plan. (The Virginian-Pilot)
• What to make of Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s giving Obama the cold shoulder during the President’s Earth Day visit to the Everglades. (The Sun Sentinel)
• Virginia Gov. McAuliffe makes a dubious claim there are more new jobs with new natural gas and nuclear power plants than from renewables and energy efficiency. (Power to the People VA blog)