REGULATION:
• President Trump will travel to Michigan on Wednesday to announce plans to reassess Obama-era fuel economy standards, according to sources. (Washington Post)
• California promises to fight the Trump administration’s plan to weaken emissions regulations for cars and trucks. (San Francisco Chronicle)
SOLAR:
• Rooftop solar continues to decline on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, with permits dropping 66 percent since last February to the lowest number in over five years. (Pacific Business News)
• The residential solar company Sungevity files for bankruptcy and will sell its assets to the venture capital firm Northern Pacific Group. (Greentech Media)
• A promising microgrid experiment in Brooklyn allows residents and businesses to trade solar energy from a network of arrays spread across rowhouse rooftops. (New York Times)
• Utilities and solar companies file separate rate design proposals in New Hampshire. (Utility Dive)
***SPONSORED LINK: The 2nd Grid Modernization Forum, April 3-5 in Chicago, examines key lessons from top utilities including Eversource, Alliant Energy, Con Edison, National Grid, Ameren and many others. Enter MWEN when registering for 20% off.***
RENEWABLES: A bill to scrap Ohio’s renewable energy standards would jeopardize planned wind and solar installations by allowing customers to opt out of paying for the projects. (Columbus Business First)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A utility company in Spokane, Washington, starts a $3 million pilot project to install over 270 vehicle charging stations. (FuelFix)
OIL & GAS:
• An upcoming bill in Colorado will require oil and gas wells to be at least 1,000 feet away from school property lines. (Denver Business Journal)
• Environmental advocates speak out in support of two bills that are designed to prevent or mitigate spills from oil trains passing through Oregon. (Associated Press)
PIPELINES:
• Two Native American tribes ask a judge to “prevent the flow of oil through the Dakota Access Pipeline” while they appeal a court decision. (Associated Press)
• “The game has changed” for oil pipelines in Georgia and South Carolina as Republican-backed bills introduce tighter regulations for construction. (Southeast Energy News)
• Officials with Enbridge Inc. say a pair of underwater oil pipelines in Straits of Mackinac are safe, despite a protective covering wearing away in some spots. (Associated Press)
COAL: A group of coal industry advocates sends a letter asking President Trump not to cut funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy, saying the office “yields significant benefits” for the industry. (The Hill)
CLIMATE: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson used an alias email address to communicate about climate change while he was the CEO of Exxon, according to the New York attorney general. (Reuters)
NUCLEAR:
• An arbitration panel awards only $125 million of a possible $7.6 billion in a lawsuit against a Tokyo-based company that supplied faulty steam generators, contributing to the permanent closure of a California nuclear plant. (Los Angeles Times)
• Toshiba is considering selling its Westinghouse nuclear division after receiving an extension to files its earnings. Meanwhile, the CEO of the Charlotte-based Toshiba America Energy Systems has been replaced. (Reuters, Charlotte Business Journal)
UTILITIES: Most electricity cost increases in Ohio since 2008 stem from provisions that insulate utilities from competition, according to a new policy paper from Ohio State University. (Midwest Energy News)
COMMENTARY:
• The solar industry is likely to thrive without any help from the federal government, says the director of finance at Wunder Capital, an investment service company for the solar market. (Greentech Media)
• The executive editor of Autotrader says the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt is a game changer: “I drove an affordable EV for 5 days without plugging it in.” (Huffington Post)