UTILITIES: TVA officials see the agency relying far more on natural gas and renewable energy, especially solar power, to deal with shifting regulations. Environmental groups hailed it as an important first step but said TVA has not gone far enough. (News Channel 5, Nashville)
CLIMATE:
• Florida Gov. Scott denies banning use of “global warming” or “climate change” by state environmental staff. (Miami Herald)
• A New York Times editorial blasts Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky for urging states to undermine the Obama administration’s efforts to regulate power plant emissions of carbon dioxide. (The New York Times)
SOLAR:
• At least in TVA’s service territory, Alabamans have good reason to seriously consider solar power. (AL.com)
• A North Carolina paper company cut its monthly energy bill from about $15,000 per month to about $1,500 with the installation of a new solar power system and LED lighting. (Hickory Daily Record)
• Principal Solar of Dallas said it will build a $154 million, 72 megawatt solar energy facility near St. Pauls, North Carolina. This follows the company announcing last month a $173 million, 78 megawatt solar farm near Hope Mills, North Carolina. (Fayetteville Observer)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Compromise legislation that would let California-based Tesla Motors sell an unlimited number of its all-electric sedans in Georgia at five locations cleared a state House committee Monday. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
LEED: Georgia moves into USGBC’s list of Top Ten states for LEED buildings in 2014. (ACHR News)
NUCLEAR WASTE: Given South Carolina’s legacy of radioactive waste, one lawmaker asserts South Carolina should reduce its waste burden, not add to it. (The State)
COAL:
• Accused mining boss Don Blankenship fires backs at federal prosecutors over grand jury’s investigation of 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine near Beckley, WV. (Forbes)
• Arkansas joins states challenging the U.S. EPA’s proposed carbon regulations, which point to a 45 percent reduction of emissions in Arkansas because of the state’s reliance on coal-fired plants. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette)
• Federal regulators issued more than a dozen citations to Murray Energy’s West Virginia coal mine near Cameron in the week prior to an accident that killed one worker and injured two others. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
• Murray Energy has identified the coal miner who died late Sunday after a roof collapse at its mine near Cameron, West Virginia as John M. “Mike” Garloch of Neffs, Ohio, a management employee. (Wheeling News Register)
• The Kentucky energy department released a documentary about challenges posed by the retirement of the state’s coal-fired power plants. (WFPL radio, Louisville)
OIL & GAS:
• Three North Carolina Republican lawmakers want a state environmental panel to set limits on toxic emissions from natural gas exploration through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. (Hickory Daily Record)
• The Louisiana congressional delegation is stepping up efforts to block a budget proposal by the Obama administration to reverse 2006 energy legislation providing revenue sharing to Louisiana and three other Gulf states for off-shore oil and gas production. (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
• North Carolina Property owners along the path of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline argued it would depress their property values and challenged the economic benefits. (Fayetteville Observer)