Nevada joins effort to block Clean Power Plan

CLEAN POWER PLAN:
• Nevada’s attorney general joins the multi-state lawsuit trying to block the EPA’s carbon rules. (The Hill)
• Opponents argue in federal court that the plan threatens local businesses and would disproportionately harm minorities. (EnergyWire)

GRID: A surplus of clean energy in California is driving a push to better integrate the state’s grid with its neighbors. (Bloomberg)

SOLAR:
• A report finds 46 states took some action on solar policy in 2015. (Greentech Media)
• A Wisconsin electric co-op and Xcel Energy announce separate plans that would double the state’s solar capacity. (LaCrosse Tribune)
• A Nevada utility is part of a coalition trying to block an effort to hold a public vote on the state’s net metering policy. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
• A Massachusetts college’s solar project is caught in the middle of an ethics probe into a state lawmaker’s conduct. (Boston Globe)
• An agreement between a utility and the city of Las Vegas will offset 100 percent of municipal electricity use with solar power. (Las Vegas Sun)

CLIMATE:
• A ballot measure to establish a carbon tax in Washington state faces opposition from lawmakers over its projected budget impact. (Seattle Times)
• Vermont’s governor pushes the state’s retirement board to drop coal and oil investments. (Associated Press)
• A report warns climate change could cost Montana’s agriculture industry as much as $736 million a year. (Billings Gazette)

WIND:
• MISO reports a new daily peak in wind power generation. (SNL Energy)
• Ohio advocates say the state’s restrictive setback requirements for wind turbines is a double standard, and lawmakers who support it do not place the same limitations on oil and gas development. (Midwest Energy News)
• Little remains of the world’s first wind farm, which was built in New Hampshire in 1980. (Granite Geek)
• A wind farm operator in West Virginia is sentenced to pay $30,000 for deaths of migratory birds.(Charleston Gazette-Mail)

OIL AND GAS:
• EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy says U.S. methane emissions are higher than previously thought. (Reuters)
• Pennsylvania is seeing little interest from drillers in leasing state forest land. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
• Colorado lawmakers kill a bill that would have required local governments to compensate mineral rights holders for drilling bans. (Durango Herald)
• The West Virginia Senate passes bills to limit lawsuits and allow companies to build roads before a drilling permit is issued. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

COAL:
• Ohio-based FirstEnergy says its stake in a Montana coal mine is worth nothing. (Associated Press)
• U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell says coal companies must be responsible for paying the cleanup costs of spent mines. (Reuters)

NUCLEAR:
• New York regulators consider a policy that would provide incentives to keep nuclear plants online. (Daily Freeman)
• A report finds emissions rose in the Northeast following closure of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. (RTO Insider / Utility Dive)

POLLUTION: A bill in Utah would set strict limits on emissions from home water heaters. (Deseret News)

HYDROPOWER: Federal regulators issue a new license for a Vermont hydro plant more than 16 years after it was first requested. (Energy Policy Update)

COMMENTARY: Dire predictions about the impact of previous pollution rules have failed to be realized. (Huffington Post)