OIL BY RAIL: Advocates across the U.S. continue to pressure officials to shut down oil trains, three years after a deadly accident in Quebec. (Grist, Associated Press)

RENEWABLES: The economics of developing renewable energy is “growing more attractive for states across the political divide.” (The Atlantic)

CLIMATE:
• A Republican U.S. House chairman threatens to subpoena attorneys general and environmental groups that are investigating Exxon Mobil’s climate change activities. (The Hill)
• Author and climate scientist Michael Mann discusses his forthcoming book, a satire on climate denial. (Midwest Energy News)

OIL AND GAS:
• Due in part to low oil prices, California’s gasoline consumption has increased despite Gov. Jerry Brown’s pledge to cut gas use in half by 2030. (San Francisco Chronicle)
• A Texas regulator says small oil and gas companies would be hit the hardest by new U.S. EPA methane emission rules. (Houston Chronicle)
• Another leak was detected but quickly shut down at the same California natural gas storage facility that leaked methane for months before being capped. (Los Angeles Daily News)

WIND: The Northeast’s grid operator uses forecasting to better integrate wind generation into regional grid. (Portland Press Herald)

SOLAR:
• A Maine utility plans to get one-fifth of its electric supply through a new solar contract, though observers say the state is lacking compared to the region. (Bangor Daily News, Portland Press Herald)
• After a boom, a large majority of solar companies in Hawaii are reporting job losses. (Pacific Business News)

TRANSPORTATION: Electric vehicle makers cry foul over California’s efforts to reduce vehicle emissions, saying the state is changing the rules in the middle of the game. (Bloomberg)

NUCLEAR: California regulators may reopen the settlement case involving the closing of the San Onofre nuclear plant that left customers with a $3.3 billion bill. (KPBS)

POLITICS: Democrats are split over how aggressive U.S. climate policy should be, though they pledge to support workers in the fossil fuel sector. (Christian Science Monitor, E&E Daily)

STORAGE: Advocates want New York to pursue 4 gigawatts of battery capacity by 2030 as a way to meet the state’s emission-reduction goals. (Utility Dive)

COAL: Texas regulators unanimously approve plans that will expand a coal mine near the U.S.-Mexico border. (Texas Tribune)

DIVESTMENT: University of Utah officials rebuff efforts to get the school to stop investing in fossil fuels. (Associated Press)

UTILITIES: Energy companies are in the midst of a vocabulary project that emphasizes words customers can more easily understand rather than industry jargon. (EnergyWire)

CLEAN POWER PLAN: Louisiana’s environmental chief prepares to comply with the Clean Power Plan while the state sues to block it. (Bloomberg)

FINANCE: After a slow start, Property Assessed Clean Energy financing is picking up in Florida. (Southeast Energy News)

GRID: Updating the U.S. power grid to accommodate new technology is an ambitious, daunting undertaking that would cost hundreds of billions of dollars. (ClimateWire)

COMMENTARY:
• After the recent sentencing of Don Blankenship, coal executives are “actually suddenly concerned about this weird thing where a wealthy coal executive was deemed to be responsible for the things that happened on his watch.” (Huffington Post)
• Shutting down California’s last nuclear plant is politically motivated and an opportunity for a utility to boost profits. (San Diego Union-Tribune)