NUCLEAR:
• The Trump administration’s new budget proposal calls for restarting the licensing process for Nevada’s stalled Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, drawing strong opposition from Nevada lawmakers. (Reuters, Las Vegas Review-Journal)
• A bill introduced in Connecticut would treat nuclear power as a renewable resource, making the state’s only nuclear plant eligible for a five-year power purchase agreement. (Utility Dive)
SOLAR: Nearly 80 percent of all U.S. rooftops have enough unshaded area for solar panels, according to calculations by Google’s Project Sunroof. (Engadget)
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WIND: Low prices are causing a boom in wind energy, but transmission remains a challenge. (Utility Dive)
POLITICS:
• The scientific community is dismayed by the Trump administration’s budget proposal, which would cut $900 million from the Department of Energy’s Office of Science and eliminate climate programs throughout the federal government. (New York Times)
• A White House budget proposal would eliminate funding for economic development programs that support unemployed coal miners in Appalachia. (Reuters)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A weekly energy podcast explores the uncertain future for electric vehicles amid wavering state and federal support. (Greentech Media)
BIOFUELS: A bipartisan group of more than 20 senators send a letter asking President Trump to reject requests from oil refiners to overhaul the federal biofuels program, saying the change would be “unwarranted and indefensible.” (Reuters)
COAL:
• A coal plant being built with carbon capture technology in Mississippi, which is already three years behind schedule, won’t meet its latest deadline for completion by mid-March. (Associated Press)
• The owners of a coal-fired power plant that’s facing a partial shutdown are objecting to a proposal that would require them to identify economic losses and compensate the surrounding community of Colstrip, Montana. (Associated Press)
• Environmental advocates are celebrating the shutdown of a coal-fired power plant north of Las Vegas, which leaves just one coal-fired generating station active in Nevada. (Associated Press)
• Sources say President Trump is expected to choose a coal lobbyist to be the deputy administrator of the EPA. (Politico)
OIL & GAS:
• Oil and gas producers expect to spend 11 percent more on projects in 2017 than they did last year, while pumping a million more barrels per day, according to an energy research firm. (FuelFix)
• The Washington Supreme Court says the Port of Vancouver didn’t violate environmental laws by leasing property to an energy company that plans to build one of the country’s largest oil terminals, dealing a blow to environmental groups. (Columbian)
PIPELINES:
• Native American tribes ask a federal appeals court to stop the flow of oil through the Dakota Access pipeline after a similar request was rejected by a U.S. district judge earlier this week. (Associated Press)
• U.S. taxpayers may have to pay $38 million for expenses related to pipeline protests in North Dakota. (Associated Press)
FRACKING: About a dozen fracking protesters are arrested for blocking an entrance to Maryland’s State House. (Baltimore Sun)
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POLLUTION: Malfunctions at an oil refinery north of Denver caused the release of hundreds of pounds sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide into the air, exceeding legal limits. (Denver Post)
COMMENTARY: President Trump’s budget cuts will increase his voters’ utility bills by cutting two programs that help low-income and elderly Americans handle energy costs, says the founding editor of the blog Climate Progress. (ThinkProgress)