CLIMATE:
• Virginia could become a model for how once coal-dependent states can lower emissions and meet their Clean Power Plan targets. (InsideClimate News)
• Pope Francis’ “encyclical” could push the climate debate past fake “unsettled science questions,” yet tall obstacles remain. (ClimateProgress; Religion News Service)

CLEAN ENERGY: The Treasury Department is allowing charities to invest in for-profit companies’ clean energy research as “mission-related” investments. (USA Today)

PIPELINES: Residents of southwest Virginia are raising money to fight the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s proposed route through their land. (McClatchy News Service)

NUCLEAR: Companies in Florida, Virginia and elsewhere are betting on new reactor technologies that can be developed cost-effectively. (Reuters)

COAL ASH:
• Chatham County, North Carolina secures agreement with Duke Energy to monitor coal ash disposal there. (WRAL-TV, Raleigh Durham)
• The federal government is asking for comments on its plan for determining damages caused by the 2014 Dan River coal ash spill in North Carolina. (Greensboro News & Record)

UTILITIES:
• New Orleans takes stock of how it regulates electricity prices charged by Entergy. (The Times-Picayune)
• Municipal members of the North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency have approved the sale of generating assets to Duke Energy. (The Daily Reflector)

WIND:
• Dominion plans meetings to identify lower-cost options for trial wind turbines off the Virginia Beach coast.  (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• Despite Dominion’s claims, offshore wind can be cost-effective for Virginians if it learns lessons from Denmark. (Virginia Public Radio)

SUSTAINABILITY: A federal program is enabling lighting upgrades at three Georgia courthouses to be paid for over time out of cost savings. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)