Veteran-installed solar systems are sprouting throughout the South

SOLAR: A veteran-owned contractor is installing large solar systems on VA hospitals in Tennessee, Georgia and other states. (Knoxville News Sentinel)

ALSO:
• A panel of Florida economists is reviewing the financial impact on ratepayers of a Constitutional solar power amendment proposed by utilities. (Saint Peters Blog)
• A solar energy program at a small college in West Virginia gets a $10,000 boost from the Dominion Foundation. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

UTILITIES:
• The election of two new utility commission members prompts a bond rating agency to downgrade Mississippi Power’s debt. (Associated Press)
• Utility regulators open a hearing on whether Mississippi Power deserves an 18 percent emergency rate hike to pay for its coal gasification plant. (Associated Press)

COAL:
• U.S. coal producers are swimming against a powerful current of regulatory and economic changes that are shrinking markets and driving down stock prices. (ClimateWire)
• Alpha Natural Resources is using its bankruptcy proceedings to try to avoid paying legal fees incurred by the head of Massey Energy, which it acquired in 2011. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• CSX seeks more cuts to improve its rail shipments in Kentucky, Tennessee and elsewhere in Appalachia. (Platts)

HYDROPOWER: Does Georgia have enough potential to justify building new hydropower plants? (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / Politfact)

CLIMATE:
• An agreement by coal giant Peabody Energy to report risks associated with global warming is an ​“unprecedented first step” toward forcing honest disclosures by fossil fuel producers. (InsideClimate News)
• Secretary of State John Kerry spotlights the climate risks to civil society and national security during a speech in Virginia. (Daily Press)

UTILITIES:
• Stagnant demand for electricity may drive more utility mergers similar to those led by Southern Co. and Duke Energy. (USA Today)
• While one shareholder suit against Duke Energy over coal ash issues is settled, a new lawsuit against its Board of Directors is filed in Delaware. (Charlotte Business Journal)

CLEAN POWER PLAN:
• West Virginia’s Attorney General claims technologies to achieve the EPA’s emissions reductions do not yet exist on a commercial scale. (Metro News)
• Tennessee is one of only four states that have yet to take sides for or against the Clean Power Plan. (Utility Dive)

KENTUCKY: Governor-elect Matt Bevin says he will challenge the EPA’s ​“war on coal” by asserting the state’s Constitutional rights. (Climate Progress)

OIL & GAS: Railroads lose their bid to stop new federal crude-by-rail rules which require new brakes on trains. (The Wall Street Journal)

POLLUTION: A university professor warns of health risks tied to Kentucky’s air pollution from power plants. (The Louisville Courier-Journal)

2010 BP OIL SPILL: The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has approved more than $21 million to restore natural resources in Alabama. (Alabama Media Group)

SUSTAINABILITY: Saving green by going green is the focus of this week’s Bluegrass Forever Green Summit in Lexington, Kentucky. (WUKY Public Radio)

COAL ASH: An Alabama filmmaker previews her documentaries about the health and environmental risks of coal ash. (The Gadsden Times)

COMMENTARY:
• Virginia can lower its carbon emissions under the federal Clean Power Plan and become a net-seller of carbon credits as part of a regional cap and trade system. (Natural Resources Defense Council)
• The head of the Sierra Club calls on a new Senate working group to reject the coal and utility industries’ attacks on the Clean Power Plan. (The Hill)
• Here are six ways to recruit and retain veterans to a clean energy company. (Greentech Media)