WIND: A Florida entrepreneur has started a company that creates a community financing option for wind projects. (Southeast Energy News)
POLICY: Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Monday signed into law 11 bills that promote the use of solar and other renewable energy options. (Fauquier Times)
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SOLAR:
• The Tennessee Valley Authority awarded on Monday 10 MW of solar capacity to seven local power companies. (Chattanoogan)
• Suniva’s recent petition asking the government to enact solar tariffs puts the entire industry’s momentum in the hands of President Donald Trump. (E&E News)
COAL ASH:
• Following the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s appeal of a decision that restricts where coal ash is buried, the state’s appellate court will differentiate between a mine and a landfill. (Progressive Pulse)
• Dominion Virginia Power reconsiders its options for handling coal ash. (Bay Journal)
UTILITIES: Now that Clemson University has changed the location of a proposed Duke Energy power plant, the city is no longer challenging the project. (Charlotte Business Journal)
PIPELINES: The Sierra Club has filed a petition in Virginia asking that Dominion Power’s efforts in the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project be subject to state approval in order to protect consumers. (Power for the People VA)
NATURAL GAS: West Virginia was one of two states where natural gas rigs have dropped in May. (Pittsburgh Business Times)
NUCLEAR:
• Researchers at Florida State University say they have discovered new ways to clean up nuclear waste. (UPI)
• Westinghouse is building nuclear reactors in China with the same design as those in Georgia and South Carolina that drove the company into bankruptcy, as nuclear power continues its boom in Asia. (Seeker)
COAL:
• A look at the future of some former coal mining sites in Virginia. (WVTF)
• Once the state’s lifeblood, Alabama is moving away from coal. (APR)
BIODIESEL: Two college students in North Carolina have come up with a way to convert used cooking oil from corn chips into biodiesel fuel. (Appalachian State University)
COMMENTARY:
• President Donald Trump and his environmentalist critics have exaggerated their respective arguments for and against offshore drilling. (News Virginian)
• In an op-ed, Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell says Congress’s recent action to continue to provide retired coal miners with health benefits helps his state’s coal communities. (Lexington Herald-Leader)
• A professor and nurse in Virginia says the state’s Department of Environmental Quality should reduce carbon emissions for the health of all Virginians. (Roanoke Times)