After derailment, Oregon fire chief now calls crude-by-rail ​‘insane’

OIL TRAINS:
• Cleanup continues after a train carrying Bakken crude oil derailed and caught fire Friday in Oregon’s scenic Columbia River Gorge, causing extensive damage to a nearby town’s water system. (Reuters, Oregonian)
• The fire chief in that town, previously a defender of the practice, now calls shipping Bakken crude by rail ​“insane.” (Oregon Public Broadcasting)

PIPELINES:
• An industry official says it’s taking longer for pipeline projects to be approved and completed due to opposition from activists and landowners. (Greenwire)
• Developers of the Constitution Pipeline say they had no role in the clearing of trees along the project’s route in New York. (Oneonta Daily Star)

OIL AND GAS:
• How oil company fights against clean air rules starting in the 1950s set the stage for resisting action on climate change. (InsideClimate News)
• Oklahoma companies seek dismissal of earthquake-related lawsuits. (Oklahoman)

NUCLEAR:
• Exelon says two more nuclear plants — in Illinois and Pennsylvania — are next to be considered ​“economically challenged” in the utility’s fleet. (Quad-City Times)
• An informed debate over nuclear power at Stanford University fails to persuade the audience one way or the other. (New York Times)

COAL:
• Critics say Arch Coal’s bankruptcy plan fails to account for how the company will finance mine cleanup. (Reuters)
• The Sierra Club says Nevada ratepayers could save hundreds of millions of dollars if a coal plant closure is moved up six years. (Associated Press)
• Peabody Energy files suit in a St. Louis court over another company’s failure to close a $358 million acquisition deal for mines in Colorado and New Mexico. (St. Louis Business Journal)
• North Dakota researchers use farming techniques to improve coal mine reclamation. (Bismarck Tribune)

COAL ASH:
• The head of North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality says a recently passed coal ash bill ​“substantially weakens” environmental protections in current law. (Wilmington Star-News)

OVERSIGHT: How ratepayers have borne the costs of failed utility projects in California. (Los Angeles Times)

SOLAR:
• The Texas grid operator expects the state to add as much as 27 GW of new solar in the next 15 years. (Greentech Media)
• Advocates in Virginia see the state’s largest utility as a formidable obstacle to solar power, but pressure from corporations may change that. (Southeast Energy News)

EFFICIENCY:
• A Nebraska company is helping develop a new approach to wind energy at a grain silo in Minneapolis that would create electricity from wasted heat. (Midwest Energy News)
• A California experiment aims to mainstream net-zero homes. (New York Times)

UTILITIES: The CEO of NRG Energy reaffirms the company’s commitment to developing renewable energy and fighting climate change while also ​“insisting on financial discipline.” (EnergyWire)

GRID:
• A FERC conference discusses threats to the power grid. (RTO Insider)
• Industry executives push back against Ted Koppel’s book warning of grid vulnerability, calling his claims exaggerated. (USA Today)

COMMENTARY:
• Solar approaches the $1/​watt threshold, but there are caveats. (MIT Technology Review)
• Community solar programs could reach millions of people if they’re designed right. (Greentech Media)
• Coal producers’ response to changing markets and technology has generally been defensive, rather than to innovate. (Slate)