Despite push back, green jobs in North Carolina continue growing

NORTH CAROLINA: Renewable energy and energy efficiency businesses have created the equivalent of 34,000 full-time jobs in North Carolina while generating $6.4 billion a year in revenue, a trade group says. (Charlotte Observer)

NUCLEAR:
• Florida Power & Light wins a battle to store radioactive waste under Miami’s drinking water aquifer. (Miami New Times)
• In a long-awaited move, NuScale Power submits to federal regulators its design for a small ​“modular” reactor. (WVTF Public Radio)
• Federal regulators are to review a site near Oak Ridge, Tennessee for the TVA for what could be one of the nation’s first small modular reactors. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

***SPONSORED LINK: Join fellow advocates, renewable energy business leaders, utility staff and regulators at the sixth annual Clean Power Summit Feb 23-24 in Charleston, S.C. As a supporting sponsor, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy extends a 10% discount off registration. Use code: CECPS ***

SOLAR:
• Florida Power & Light completes three solar systems and plans four more this year. (SaintPetersBlog)
• Greenwood County, South Carolina officials are to decide tonight if they should lure a $45 million solar farm in lieu of reduced property taxes. (Index-Journal)
• A business park in South Carolina decides to power more of its operations with solar. (Palmetto Business Daily)

COAL ASH: Duke Energy offers to pay the water bills of residents living near its ash pits in North Carolina combined with a $5,000 ​“goodwill” payment but a lawyer calls it ​“too little, too late.” (Charlotte Observer)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Georgia’s fees on electric cars are the highest in the nation. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Green Tech Automotive in Mississippi is laying off some, or all, of its employees. (Associated Press)

UTILITIES: A Virginia Senate panel spikes a bill that would restore utility rate reviews but its author vows he’s ​“just getting started.” (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

PIPELINES:
• Protests escalate over the proposed extension of Louisiana’s Bayou Bridge pipeline by the company behind the Dakota Access project. (The Guardian)
• A gasoline pipeline near Chattanooga reopens after a leak is fixed. (WKRN.com)
• The Atlantic Coast Pipeline tops economic development projects in West Virginia. (The Exponent Telegram)

WEST VIRGINIA:
• Gov. Jim Justice names a longtime coal industry consultant to head the Department of Environmental Protection. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• The outgoing Secretary of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection reflects on the eight years he led the agency. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

CLIMATE: The biggest threat to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida: rising sea levels. (Boston Globe)

POLITICS: President-elect Trump’s pick to head the EPA tried to stop the cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay. (Washington Post)

NATURAL GAS: Exports of liquefied natural gas from Louisiana threaten Russia’s dominant position in the European gas market. (LNG Industry)

COAL: The Kentucky Coal Academy announces this year’s training courses. (Floyd County Times)

COMMENTARY:
• North Carolina lawmakers need to end the war on renewables and support the state’s growing clean energy economy. (Capital Broadcasting Co.)
• Any plan to revive coal by President-elect Trump must face market realities. (The State Journal)
• As the Virginia General Assembly completes the first week of its 45-day session, what might energy stakeholders expect? (Power for the People VA blog)
• A Virginia state senator touts three bills to address coal ash pollution along the Potomac River. (PotomacLocal.com)