NOTE TO READERS: Southeast Energy News will be taking a break for Memorial Day. The daily email digest will return on Tuesday, May 26.

COAL ASH:
• With huge coal ash fines against Duke Energy, the Justice Department puts utilities on notice. (InsideClimate News)
• Duke Energy has begun hauling coal ash from its shuttered Riverbend power plant west of Charlotte to a landfill in Georgia. (Associated Press)

NORTH CAROLINA LEGISLATURE:
• Former Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers slams North Carolina lawmakers for proposals that would gut the state’s solar industry. (Charlotte Business Journal)
• The House agrees on language to extend the state’s solar energy tax credit through 2017 while reducing it from 35% to 20%. (WSOC-TV)
• Democrats pan a controversial Senate vote that would freeze the state’s renewable energy requirement. (WCQS Western North Carolina Public Radio)

SOLAR:
• Southern Co. has entered into a power purchase agreement to acquire the electricity and renewable energy credits from Community Energy’s 103-megawatt solar system in Georgia.  (Atlanta Business Chronicle)

PIPELINES: Two Virginia congressmen join both of the state’s senators in asking the FERC to extend the comment period about the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline. (The Roanoke Times)

WASTE-TO-ENERGY: A Palm Beach incinerator that will burn non-hazardous waste to generate electricity is set to open in June. (The Palm Beach Post)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Transit officials in a Florida county are weighing the pros and cons of electric buses. (St. Petersburg Tribune)
• Tennessee revives rebates for EVs and hybrids until the $682,000 earmarked for them runs out. (Nashville Public Radio)

COAL: Murray Energy to lay off about 1,800 workers (The Wall Street Journal)  at nine coal mining facilities as its CEO predicts industry-wide coal restructuring jeopardizing scores of additional mining jobs (Pittsburgh Business Times).

COAL GASIFICATION: The South Mississippi Electric Power Assn. has ended its pursuit of a 15% ownership stake in Mississippi Power’s Kemper County coal gasification project. (SNL)

CLIMATE: Heat-island effect and flood risks increase Atlanta’s vulnerability to extreme weather and climate change impacts. (WABE Public Radio)

CLEAN TECH: North Carolina clean tech leaders are among those receiving awards at the Charlotte Business Journal’s annual energy summit. (Charlotte Business Journal)

PROPANE-FUELED BUSES: The Bibb County, GA school system is so happy with 33 cleaner and quieter, propane-fueled, buses they’ve started running that they have ordered 20 more. (The New York Times)

LOBBYING: Some Georgia lawmakers have met secretly with corporate lobbyists, including several from the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. (WXIA-TV, Atlanta)

COMMENTARY:
• Kentucky voters are smarter on climate and coal’s environmental impacts than the officials they elect. (Lexington Herald-Leader)
• Shifting to clean energy helps low-income citizens in Florida. (Orlando Sentinel)