WIND: The Southeast’s largest wind farm is now fully operational, despite pushback from some North Carolina lawmakers. (Associated Press)

UTILITIES: Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe supports ending a two-year-old deal that shields Dominion Virginia Power from rate reviews. (Washington Post)

CLIMATE:
• A study warns flooding of Atlantic coast cities will become a weekly event by 2045 as sea levels rise. (Climate Central)
• Why a carbon tax is more complicated than it sounds. (Vox)

COAL:
• An anticipated rebound in the coal industry is unlikely to help Appalachian workers. (CNBC)
• Advocates in West Virginia say the state government has “declared war against West Virginia’s environmental protection regulations.” (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

COAL ASH:
• Virginia lawmakers advance a bill that would place tougher restrictions on coal ash impoundments. (Fauquier Times)
• A former North Carolina public health director at the heart of a recent coal ash controversy has found a new job in Missouri. (Raleigh News & Observer)

OIL AND GAS:
• Some Georgia lawmakers are pushing back on plans to impose tougher regulations on fracking; the sponsor of a drilling bill says he is incorporating suggestions from industry. (Stanley News & Press, Rome News-Tribune)
• Two workers are hospitalized and one remains unaccounted for after a natural gas pipeline explosion in Louisiana. (Associated Press)

GRID: A bill in the Kentucky legislature would make smart meters optional. (Louisville Courier-Journal)

EFFICIENCY: A Mississippi school district is using a public-private partnership use energy savings to pay for efficiency upgrades. (Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal)

TRANSPORTATION: Two South Carolina school districts are switching over to buses that run on propane, which has lower emissions than diesel. (Post and Courier)

COMMENTARY:
• A Kentucky newspaper challenges the notion that Sen. Mitch McConnell is a friend of coal miners. (The Gleaner/Lexington Herald-Leader)
• The ACLU says a recent lawsuit targeting Alabama coal ash activists is part of a “large and varied collection of injustices that need to be called out.”
• A Kentucky newspaper publisher says partisan divisions on climate change will be resolved by the free market. (Frankfort State Journal)
• “Tor those who care about the environment, now is the time to fight. What’s ahead is bleak.” (Florida Times-Union)

Ken is the director of the Energy News Network at Fresh Energy and is a founding editor of both Midwest Energy News and Southeast Energy News. Prior to joining Fresh Energy, he was the managing editor for online news at Minnesota Public Radio. He started his journalism career in 2002 as a copy editor for the Duluth News Tribune before spending five years at the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, where he worked as a copy editor, online producer, features editor and night city editor. A Nebraska native, Ken has a bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master's degree from the University of Oregon. He is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors.