Nevada lawmakers approve pro-solar and wind legislation

POLICY: Lawmakers in Nevada approve energy bills to incentivize solar energy storage and make it easier for residents to install wind turbines. (Las Vegas Sun)

CLIMATE:
• Pope Francis presents President Trump with a papal letter on preserving the environment, while the Vatican’s secretary of state urges him not to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. (New York Times)
• California’s governor says he now believes President Trump will stay in the Paris climate agreement and that progress under his administration may not be ​“as disastrous as we thought.” (Politico)

CAP-AND-TRADE: Nearly all of California’s cap-and-trade permits were purchased in its latest auction, generating an estimated $500 million in revenue. (Los Angeles Times)

CLEAN ENERGY: States are creating their own clean power plans with policies to limit carbon emissions, lower pollution and increase renewables. (Fast Company)

CARBON CAPTURE: A 25-megawatt natural gas plant in Texas will store carbon dioxide instead of emitting it. (Science)

NUCLEAR:
• Exelon nuclear plants in Illinois and Pennsylvania did not clear the latest PJM capacity auction, spelling more trouble for the industry. (Quad City Times)
• Southern Co.’s CEO tells shareholders it may take until summer to determine whether to continue the nuclear project at the Vogtle plant in Georgia. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Westinghouse locks out union members at its New Hampshire manufacturing facility. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

SOLAR: A new report shows an industry-wide trend toward more complex net metering and rate design. (Utility Drive)

WIND: An Iowa researcher says his design for concrete wind towers passed stress tests and will be viable for turbines up to 460 feet tall; more information on the technology here. (news release, Midwest Energy News archive)

TRANSPORTATION: The Federal Transit Administration agrees to fully fund a $650 million grant to electrify a train system that serves the San Francisco Bay area. (CBS SF/AP)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• As part of a plan to expand EV charging stations, an Ohio utility is partnering with Nissan to offer a $10,000 discount on the 2017 Nissan Leaf. (Columbus Business First)
• A new report finds that Tesla’s workers have been injured at significantly higher rates than the rest of the auto industry, but the company says it now has ​“the lowest injury rate in the industry by far.” (Reuters)
• The climate benefits of electric vehicles are improving as the grid becomes cleaner. (Climate Central)

OIL & GAS:
• An oil company owned by White House adviser Carl Icahn saved $60 million in the first quarter of the year as a result of policies he supported. (The Hill)
• Dozens of gas-fired power plants are being constructed in the U.S., but there isn’t enough electricity demand to support the new capacity. (Bloomberg)

PIPELINES:
• How one Nebraska tribe is fighting to protect their land from the Keystone XL pipeline. (Des Moines Register)
• Two Houston-based companies announce plans to build a $170 million natural gas pipeline between New Mexico and Texas. (Houston Business Journal)

COAL: Environmental activists, including some former coal workers, continue to fight mountaintop removal mining in West Virginia. (E&E News)

UTILITIES: Utilities are testing new tactics to stop customers from leaving demand response programs as they try to keep costs down. (Utility Dive)

POLITICS: The three Democratic candidates for Virginia’s lieutenant governor said they will not take campaign contributions from Dominion Energy. (Washington Post)

COMMENTARY:
• Ten reasons why Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s ​“baseload” study is ​“a transparent attempt to prop up coal and nuclear power.” (Grist) (Vox)
• With a surge in domestic shale oil improving energy security, the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve may have outlived its usefulness, says a chemical engineer who works in the energy industry. (Forbes)