SOLAR: A New York investment firm adds South Carolina, along with Georgia, to its targets for solar energy development. (Bluffton Today/Savannah Morning News)
ALSO:
• Bills moving through the Mississippi legislature would reduce regulators’ ability to check utilities’ moves against net metering and solar energy. (Jackson Free Press)
• Atlanta chooses the first 10 buildings for rooftop solar systems under its new renewable energy push. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
• A Chevrolet dealer in South Carolina expects to start making money on his solar investment after five years. (Gaston Gazette)
• Lease or buy a rooftop solar system? Here’s how to decide. (National Public Radio)
***SPONSORED LINK: Join resiliency stakeholders and problem solvers from state and local government, businesses, universities, and the military in the first statewide Resilient Virginia Conference, March 22-23 in Richmond, Virginia. Register today to build Virginia’s resilient future!***
CLIMATE:
• Two of Kentucky’s top climate and energy officials are dismissed. (Louisville Courier-Journal)
• Virginia is the lone Southeast state collaborating with 16 others in a new push for cleaner energy and transportation. (Associated Press)
• New research spurs a Florida county to step up planning for rising sea levels. (The Florida Times-Union)
WIND: Offshore wind navigates “unchartered” waters amid low oil and gas prices and its own declining costs. (Coastal Review Online)
NUCLEAR: Duke Energy’s Brunswick nuclear plant recovers from a brief outage to celebrate a record for generating electricity during a calendar quarter. (Wilmington Business Journal)
OIL & GAS: A supplier of natural gas to utilities throughout the Southeast relocates its headquarters to Columbia, South Carolina. (ColaDaily.com)
COAL ASH:
• South Carolina lawmakers move to restrict coal ash from other states. (Greenville News)
• Residents of Anson County, North Carolina prepare to fight a Duke Energy coal ash dump pegged for their county. (Anson Record)
• Opponents of Dominion Virginia Power’s plans to dispose of coal ash wastewater near the Potomac River have a new ally: Maryland. (The Washington Post)
COAL: Alabama-based Walter Energy closes the sale of certain assets to an affiliate of the nonprofit Virginia Conservation Legacy Fund. (SNL)
CLEAN POWER PLAN: State regulators in Virginia and West Virginia are among those caught in the crossfire of Clean Power Plan advocates and opponents since the Supreme Court’s stay. (Scientific American)
PIPELINES:
• Opponents of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in Virginia unveil a study asserting costs would outweigh the benefits to localities along its proposed path. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• The Virginia Supreme Court takes up an appeal by landowners in the southwest part of the state challenging companies’ rights to survey their land. (Associated Press)
• A newly-proposed route for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline spares national forests but would affect more landowners. (Climate Progress)
• West Virginia lawmakers advance a pipeline emergency response bill. (West Virginia Public Radio)
• Residents of a North Carolina county plead with officials to reject the proposed route for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline through their properties. (Fayetteville Observer)
2010 GULF OIL SPILL: Lawyers for BP and federal prosecutors present their opening arguments in what is likely the last trial involving a rig worker. (Associated Press)
LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS: Faulty terminal wiring is delaying the first-ever export shipments from Louisiana. (Bloomberg)
WEST VIRGINIA: The Mountain State is looking at annual revenue losses of more than $100 million if it cuts the coal severance tax from 5 percent to 2 percent. (The Intelligencer/Wheeling News Register)
COMMENTARY:
• The TVA has the power to go green. (Nashville Banner)
• Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe ‘gets’ how cleaner energy makes economic sense. (NRDC Switchboard)
• Former NRG CEO David Crane outlines how clean tech might be able to save clean coal. (GreenBiz.com)
• How a Virginia-based, bankrupt coal producer is putting its balance sheet ahead of 4,500 workers’ health and other benefits. (Climate Progress)
• Don’t underestimate the influence of surfers in Florida to illuminate the risks of offshore drilling. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)