Utilities see profit in Clean Power Plan compliance

CLEAN POWER PLAN:
• Dominion Virginia Power, Duke Energy and other utilities see profitable paths by complying with their states’ carbon emissions targets. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Arkansas begins taking stakeholder input on how it can meet the plan’s emissions targets. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

SOLAR:
• How Georgia Power’s solar service model could foster a new utility business model. (Greentech Media)
• The debate in Mississippi heats up over utility bill credits for excess power supplied by solar systems. (Associated Press)
• Loss of a state tax credit after 2015 in North Carolina for solar systems clouds the industry’s outlook there. (Fayetteville Observer)
• A new 10 megawatt solar system by two utilities in Kentucky is slated alongside coal and natural gas power generators. (Lexington Herald-Leader)
• Florida Power & Light’s CEO on solar power: ​“Why wouldn’t we be for the most we could do for the least amount of money?” (The St. Augustine Record)
• Solar may be growing in Georgia, but not so much among households and local governments. (Athens Banner-Herald)
• A medical clinic’s solar energy system in Georgia reflects a quickening pace of installations before a federal tax credit expires. (Rome News-Tribune)

SUSTAINABILITY: Memphis moves to adopt more clean energy with two new projects. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)

POLICY: After the U.S. House passes a bill authorizing oil exports, one leader sees a way around a Senate filibuster. But it faces an Obama veto. (The Hill)

COAL ASH: Scrutiny grows of plans by Georgia Power and Alabama Power to address their coal ash impoundments. (Southern Environmental Law Center)

OIL TRAINS: Inspectors twice missed the broken rail that caused a February crude oil train derailment in West Virginia. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

BLANKENSHIP TRIAL: Federal prosecutors are sharing with jurors telephone recordings they say show former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship was aware of and dismissed safety warnings. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

COAL:
• Norfolk Southern is laying off 39 employees at its Lamberts Point, Virginia shipping facility due to declining coal orders. (The Virginian Pilot)
• Coal companies controlled by a billionaire running for governor of West Virginia owe $3.5 million in delinquent property taxes in eastern Kentucky. (Lexington Herald-Leader)
• The case of a former West Virginia coal miner with black lung disease could set a precedent for miners’ health benefits. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

PIPELINES: Dominion Resources revises the route of a proposed natural gas pipeline in Augusta County, Virginia to avoid a local source of drinking water. (Associated Press)

WEST VIRGINIA: What can be done to save West Virginia’s economy? (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

COMMENTARY:
• Is Duke Energy’s love affair with nuclear over? (Tampa Bay Times)
• If North Carolina lawmakers like creating jobs, why did they scrap the state’s 35% tax credit for solar energy systems? (Raleigh News & Observer)
• Santee Cooper is wrong saying its South Carolina ratepayers don’t have a right to reduce the amount of power they buy without being penalized. (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy)