EPA: A proposed White House budget would reportedly slash the EPA’s budget by nearly a quarter, a move that is likely to set off a strong backlash. (Politico, Bloomberg)
COAL:
• The Interior Department drops a claim posted on its blog that said the Trump administration saved “7,000 clean coal jobs in 22 states” by scrapping the Stream Protection Rule, which kept coal mining waste out of waterways. (Greenwire)
• Keeping a massive 2,250-megawatt coal plant open in Arizona will be a test for the Trump administration. (Climatewire)
• The top executives of coal giant Peabody Energy could receive tens of millions of dollars in stock bonuses under the company’s bankruptcy exit plan. (Reuters)
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SOLAR:
• Indiana’s Senate passes an energy bill to phase out net metering in the state, reducing incentives for solar customers. (Associated Press)
• Target will install solar systems at five stores in Denver metro area, which will produce about a third of the power consumed by the buildings. (Denver Business Journal)
• Land-use issues are intensifying in New York as proposals for solar power developments flood into the state, with farmers being offered up to $3,000 per acre annually to lease their land to solar companies. (Journal News)
PIPELINES:
• Conservationists are questioning the safety of a newly approved pipeline that will quadruple the volume of natural gas liquids flowing across Pennsylvania. (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
• A federal judge in Washington will hear arguments over whether to block construction on the final portion of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which would run under Lake Oahe in North Dakota. (Associated Press)
CARBON CAPTURE: How the world’s largest carbon capture and storage unit in Texas has managed to avoid many of the problems plaguing other carbon capture projects. (Texas Monthly)
UTILITIES: Engineers from California’s three big investor-owned utilities are working with distributed energy resources companies to map their grids to better understand where customer-sited resources can be added. (Utility Dive)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A coalition of six Midwest clean energy groups are seeking a share of $1.2 billion allocated for zero-emissions vehicles as part of last year’s settlement in Volkswagen’s emissions-cheating scandal. (Midwest Energy News)
POLICY:
• Clean energy advocates are skeptical of bills in Nebraska and Kansas that allow electricity customers to choose their power provider, saying they could raise rates and lead to “cherry picking” by new providers. (Midwest Energy News)
• A new bipartisan plan calls for Minnesota to increase its renewable energy standard from 25 percent by 2025 to 50 percent by 2030, with a more aggressive target for the state’s largest investor owned utility, Xcel Energy. (Midwest Energy News)
COMMENTARY:
• Wind energy is taking up too much territory and creating land-use conflicts in rural America, according to a fellow at the Manhattan Institute. (Los Angeles Times)
• Subsiding nuclear power in New York goes against economic principles and won’t lower emissions, says an electricity policy manager at a free-market think tank. (Utility Dive)
• A federal rule limiting methane emissions makes sense, and the Senate should refuse to overturn it, according to the Los Angeles Times editorial board.