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)