COAL: Executives at the nation’s largest electric utilities say President Trump’s efforts to scrap the Clean Power Plan “really doesn’t change anything” when it comes to their plans to retire coal plants. (New York Times)
ALSO: The CEO of coal giant Peabody Energy, which just emerged from bankruptcy, says the company will focus more on making money than increasing coal output. (Bloomberg)
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FRACKING: Republican governor Larry Hogan signs a bill to ban fracking in Maryland, and environmentalist are hopeful the move will inspire other states to follow suit. (Baltimore Sun)
OIL & GAS:
• A federal district judge dismisses a lawsuit against three oil and natural gas drillers, who were accused of causing ongoing earthquakes in Oklahoma by injecting wastewater underground. (The Oklahoman)
• A U.S. government website removes language about oil and gas drilling on federal lands posing an “inherent risk” to human health and the environment, and replaces it with wording about its economic benefits and ability to create jobs. (Quartz)
• Federal inspectors discover nearly 24,000 safety defects on railroads that haul volatile crude oil across the U.S. (Associated Press)
PIPELINES: Two U.S. senators send a letter asking the head of the Army Corps of Engineers for more information on their decision to green-light the Dakota Access Pipeline, including communications between the agency and the Trump administration. (Associated Press)
BIOFUEL: Over two dozen companies that run or license gas stations launch an alliance to fight proposed changes to the federal ethanol mandate. (The Hill)
NUCLEAR: The Trump administration is concerned that Chinese investors will try to purchase the bankrupt Westinghouse nuclear division. (Bloomberg)
RENEWABLES:
• A guide to the challenges of reaching 100 percent renewable energy. (Vox)
• Environmentalists are trying to determine why Ohio utilities paid average prices that were about 70 percent higher for renewable energy credits than competitive suppliers spent in 2015. (Midwest Energy News)
SOLAR:
• A list of the top 20 U.S. cities for installed solar capacity, as measured by a new report. (Mashable)
• Nevada lawmakers advance a package of bills designed to revive that state’s residential solar industry by increasing net-metering rates. (Associated Press)
• Duke Energy wants to reduce the amount it pays independent power producers for solar and other renewable energy by almost 30 percent. (Charlotte Business Journal)
• Limited residential rooftop solar programs contributed to a nearly 40 percent drop in systems in Hawaii during the first quarter of the year, compared to the same time last year, according to a new report. (Pacific Business News)
• Despite having strong potential, a confluence of policy barriers is still holding back solar growth in Alabama. (Southeast Energy News)
• Florida’s largest utility wrote portions of a bill that creates tougher requirements for rooftop solar in the state. (Miami Herald)
STORAGE: How a solar-plus-storage power station is helping the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi keep the lights on at night without using fossil fuels. (Engadget)
TRANSPORTATION: A Washington-based startup says it plans to build an electric hybrid aircraft in the early 2020s. (Greentech Media)
TECHNOLOGY: Researchers have devised a miniature methane-detecting chip that can be embedded at oil and gas drilling sites. (Scientific American)
CLEAN POWER PLAN: A coalition of 17 states are challenging the Trump’s administration’s effort to undo Obama-era climate change regulations, saying the government has a legal duty to regulate emissions. (Reuters)
COMMENTARY:
• President Trump could shrink America’s trade deficit with China by taxing carbon, according to the CEO of the Climate Leadership Council. (Bloomberg)
• Coal-fired generation capacity in the U.S. will continue to shrink, regardless of the Trump administration’s pledge to end the “war on coal,” says a columnist for Reuters.