Conservative vs. conservative as Florida solar battle heats up

UTILITIES: A report finds NextEra, the Southern Company and Duke Energy are among the largest recipients of federal subsidies. (McClatchy)

ALSO: Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning embraces ​“the technology of innovation” as the utility looks to its future. (EnergyWire)

SOLAR:
• An ​“Energy Freedom” bill in North Carolina would allow third-party ownership of solar arrays. (Charlotte Business Journal)
• A conservative-backed solar measure in Florida is opposed by another conservative group, which Tea Party solar advocate Debbie Dooley dismisses as engaging in ​“a campaign of lies and deceptions.” (Palm Beach Post, SaintPetersBlog)
• A utility begins construction on what will become Virginia’s largest solar array. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
• Georgia regulators give final approval to a utility’s plan to add 525 megawatts of solar in the coming years. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)

CLIMATE: A Florida county considers carbon credits from conservation lands as a potential income source. (Tampa Tribune)

EPA: Regulators from Florida and North Carolina go before Congress to criticize the Clean Power Plan. (McClatchy)

COAL:
• ​“There is no quick fix” to economic decline in Appalachian coal country. (Greenwire)
• A truck driver dies in an incident at a West Virginia mine, the second worker fatality in two days. (Bristol Herald Courier)
• A Louisiana parish grapples with a stockpile of 18 million pounds of explosives -- a legacy of a declining coal mining industry -- left behind by a bankrupt contractor. (New York Times)

OIL AND GAS:
• Fracking regulations advance in the Florida House after heated debate. (SaintPetersBlog)
• A judge dismisses a class-action lawsuit over the 2013 Mayflower pipeline spill. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
• A report finds repealing the U.S. crude oil export ban could add billions to the economy. (Houston Business Journal)
• A Louisiana oil hub remains busy despite the drilling slowdown. (Houma Courier)
• Developers of a proposed natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to North Carolina get approval to survey through the George Washington National Forest. (Associated Press)
• A Louisiana parish may join a lawsuit to stop a wastewater injection well. (Houma Courier)

COMMENTARY: North Carolina is on track to meet federal carbon goals, whether state officials like it or not. (NRDC Switchboard)