SOLAR:
• A solar panel manufacturer narrows its search to two sites in Tennessee for a large plant expected to support 1,200 jobs. (Kingsport Times News)
• Bills advancing in Florida’s legislature would reduce property taxes paid by solar system owners. (TC Palm)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• A Georgia lawmaker introduces legislation to reinstate a tax credit for buying or leasing electric vehicles. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
• A Virginia startup is emerging as a leading maker of wireless recharging technology, addressing a big drawback to electric vehicles. (Bacon’s Rebellion)
UTILITIES: Georgia Power will continue reducing its reliance on coal during the next two decades while increasing the roles of renewable power and energy efficiency. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
CLEAN POWER PLAN: Duke Energy says it hopes North Carolina will start a collaborative approach toward meeting the state’s emissions reductions under the Clean Power Plan. (Charlotte Business Journal)
NORTH CAROLINA: The state Supreme Court rules lawmakers tried wresting too much power from Gov. Pat McCrory when they created three commissions, one of which was to oversee coal ash cleanups. (WRAL-TV)
CLIMATE:
• The mayors of 15 Florida cities want Republican presidential candidates Sen. Marco Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush to see how climate change affects their home state. (Triple Pundit)
• A retired University of Tennessee scientist calls for a “social tipping point” to mitigate the impacts of climate change. (Tennessee Journalist)
OFFSHORE DRILLING:
• Calls against drilling off North Carolina’s coast are coming from both political parties. (New Bern Sun Journal)
• A group of South Carolinians makes its case against drilling off the Atlantic coast to the state’s Congressional delegation. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)
COAL ASH:
• A Virginia state senator wants Dominion Virginia Power to learn from challenges in the Carolinas and require coal ash to be disposed of in lined landfills away from water sources. (Inside NoVA)
• Rail deliveries of coal ash from North Carolina to a landfill in central Virginia are scheduled to double in February. (Culpeper Star-Exponent)
COAL:
• Mining companies are finding that structuring production so it flexes with demand may be key to their survival. (Platts)
• Alabama-based Walter Energy receives a $50 million lifeline. (Birmingham Business Journal)
• Six officials of a West Virginia-based maker of a coal cleansing agent that leaked into a river in 2014 face sentencing. (The Register-Herald)
FRACKING: Oil companies would be able to keep fracking chemicals secret under a bill progressing in Virginia’s General Assembly. (Daily Press)
OIL & GAS: At today’s prices, experts say there is no economic incentive to drill for natural gas in North Carolina. (Charlotte Business Journal)
PIPELINES:
• A new report funded by the Sierra Club finds greenhouse gas pollution from the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines would be almost double those from all smokestack industries in Virginia. (Augusta Free Press)
• The owner of the planned proposed Mountaineer Xpress Pipeline through West Virginia is seeking tax deals with counties there that could save it several hundred thousand dollars annually. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• The head of the Georgia Conservancy makes its case against the proposed Palmetto Pipeline. (Athens Banner-Herald)
• The company proposing the Palmetto Pipeline produces a new study claiming economic benefits to Georgia, Florida and South Carolina. (WSAV-TV)
COMMENTARY:
• Don’t block local limits on fracking. (Orlando Sentinel)
• Duke Energy is incurring serious risks in building new natural gas power plants. (Asheville Citizen-Times)
• South Florida is sinking, so where is Marco Rubio? (Newsweek)
• If presidential candidates were serious about national security, they should address risks posed by climate change. (Fayetteville Observer)