WIND: Virginia regulators approve plans for the state’s first commercial wind farm, but the turbines will be turned off at certain times to avoid harming bats. (Roanoke Times)
COAL ASH: Georgia lawmakers defeat a measure to require more public notification when coal ash is dumped into landfills. (Savannah Morning News)
UTILITIES: Moody’s downgrades Mississippi Power’s financial ratings because of “the increasingly uneconomic Kemper integrated gasification combined cycle plant.” (Biloxi Sun Herald)
NUCLEAR:
• Customers of a South Carolina utility could continue to pay for a nuclear expansion even if the project is abandoned. (The State)
• An environmental advocate praises Georgia Power’s decision to stop work at the Stewart County nuclear site but also notes $50 million in ratepayer funds had been spend on the project. (Atlanta Business Journal)
• Kentucky lawmakers lift a moratorium to prevent the storage of nuclear waste there, opening the door to future nuclear reactor construction. (KWMS)
SOLAR:
• A solar bill to expand a 2015 law letting property owners finance the installation of solar panels dies in the Georgia House. (Atlanta Business Journal, subscription)
• A Florida utility says its upcoming projects will be the lowest-cost solar arrays ever built in the state. (Solar Industry Magazine)
COAL:
• The commission that oversees the solvency of Kentucky’s Reclamation Guaranty Fund is waiting to take action on a recommendation that coal companies pay a significantly larger tonnage fee. (WFPL)
• State investigators release more details about a worker killed this week in a coal preparation facility owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• A federal study will examine the health impacts of living near surface coal mines in Kentucky. (Lexington Herald-Leader)
PIPELINES:
• Georgia lawmakers will consider a bill with new rules for building petroleum pipelines after a moratorium last year. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• A Hare Krishna community in West Virginia that sells shale gas under its properties has filed a lawsuit challenging an eminent domain action that would result in a pipeline on land they consider sacred. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
• Pipeline opposition is galvanizing environmental activists in Florida. (WLRN)
COMMENTARY:
• Mississippi regulators “should not punish ratepayers further for Southern Company’s business malpractice.” (Northside Sun)
• A union official touts the job creation impact of pipeline projects. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)