NUCLEAR:
• South Carolina utilities say they have contingency plans in place to complete a nuclear expansion if Toshiba is unable to fulfill its obligations. (Charleston Post and Courier)
• Virginia lawmakers advance a bill that would enable Dominion to raise rates to cover nuclear expansion costs. (Hampton Roads Daily Press)

EFFICIENCY: Eight years after the state passed a law allowing PACE financing, the first local program is finally about to get underway. (Southeast Energy News)

WIND:
• The Southwest Power Pool set a record Sunday, becoming the first regional transmission operator in the U.S. to get more than 50 percent of its electricity from wind. (Arkansas Business)
• A North Carolina committee may have violated an open meetings law by refusing to proceed with a wind opponent’s presentation while a reporter from a conservative publication was present. (Raleigh News & Observer)

UTILITIES: An Alabama utility says the use of “selective criteria” pushed it to the bottom of a report ranking corporate access to clean energy by state. (AL.com)

COAL ASH: Virginia lawmakers remove a key provision from legislation requiring more information about coal ash sites. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

COAL: Efforts to retrain miners are up against “a real Depression-like economic environment” in West Virginia. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

OIL AND GAS:
• A Louisiana pipeline fire started by an explosion Thursday is finally extinguished; a worker missing in the blast is believed to be dead. (Houma Today)
• At an industry conference in Louisiana, there was an “odd mixture of apprehension and anticipation” about the Trump administration. (Greater Baton Rouge Business Report)
• A new documentary highlighting the work of pipeline opponents debuts in Virginia this week. (WVTF)

SOLAR: The League of Women Voters promotes solar purchasing cooperatives in Florida. (Sarasota Herald-Tribune)

POLLUTION: A plan by South Carolina officials to leave polluted coal tar in place in the Congaree River draws a strong rebuke at its first public hearing. (The State)

OVERSIGHT: A controversy over the TVA’s plans to drill into a Tennessee aquifer to cool a new power plant will likely lead to improved public notices and better mapping of area water resources. (Memphis Daily News)

WASTE TO ENERGY: A Texas company plans a $30 million facility to capture methane from a Kentucky landfill. (Inside Louisville)

GRID: Virginia Tech researchers are studying how to use “big data” to develop a smarter grid. (Electric Light & Power)

COMMENTARY:
• A student newspaper says the “environmental impacts of natural gas outweigh the economic justifications for building a large-scale pipeline through Virginia.” (Cavalier Daily)
• Why environmentalists should reach out to Republicans. (Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star)

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Ken Paulman

Ken is the director of the Energy News Network at Fresh Energy and is a founding editor of both Midwest Energy News and Southeast Energy News. Prior to joining Fresh Energy, he was the managing editor for online news at Minnesota Public Radio. He started his journalism career in 2002 as a copy editor for the Duluth News Tribune before spending five years at the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, where he worked as a copy editor, online producer, features editor and night city editor. A Nebraska native, Ken has a bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master's degree from the University of Oregon. He is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors.