Virginia utility warns of blackouts without new transmission line

UTILITIES:
• Dominion Virginia Power warns the state’s Supreme Court that without a proposed transmission line over the James River the Peninsula region faces rolling blackouts. (Daily Press)
• Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good supports proposal to assess North Carolina’s energy needs with continued progress on renewables. (Charlotte Business Journal)
• TVA’s Integrated Resource Plan illuminates potential for wind energy from within its seven-state footprint. (Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal)
• Univ. of Tennessee report finds there are still ​‘low-hanging fruit’ for more clean energy in TVA’s Integrated Resource Plan. (Knoxville News Sentinel)
• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has ruled that NC WARN failed to show that Duke Energy’s power plant construction resulted in ​“unjust and unreasonable” energy rates. (Associated Press)

NUCLEAR VS RENEWABLES: Tennessee Sen. Alexander to U.S. EPA: favoring wind and solar energy over nuclear hurts Tennessee. (WGNS Radio)

SOLAR:
• County officials in Madison County, Georgia weigh developing solar energy systems to help power two wastewater sites. (Madison Journal Today)
• The latest acquisition of a solar system in California brings Virginia-based Dominion Resources’ solar portfolio in California to 241 megawatts. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

OIL TANK CAR SAFETY:
• Final Federal rule on rail oil tank car safety requires retrofitting, slowing down even more. (Jacksonville Business Journal)
• Older, puncture-prone tankers hauling crude oil would be taxed to pay for new rail safety measures under a bill co-authored by Virginia’s U.S. Senators. (The News & Advance, Lynchburg)
• Warren Buffett defends his rail tank car business asserting no mode of transporting crude oil can be 100% safe. (Associated Press)

COAL:
• Virginia State Del. Terry Kilgore slams Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s reasoning behind his veto of a bill to extend Virginia’s coal tax credit. (Kingsport Times-News)
• A family tradition dedicated to mining coal seems to be declining throughout much of Appalachia. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)
• Court records reveal then-Massey Energy CEO Blankenship worried about a major explosion at one of its coal mines four months before the deadly Upper Big Branch explosion in 2010. (The Charleston Gazette)

COAL ASH: North Carolina officials and Duke Energy are bypassing an option to determine whether coal ash ponds threaten nearby drinking water wells. (News & Record, Greensboro)

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING: If earthquakes can be triggered by fracking in Oklahoma and Alabama, what about North Carolina? (Winston-Salem Journal)

OIL & GAS:
• Virginia should hire more railroad track inspectors and amend state law to require greater visibility at railroad crossings, a state task force on rail safety says. (Daily Press)
• Florida Sen. Nelson is seeking to blunt push for oil exploration off Florida’s east coast. (Orlando Sentinel)
• Louisiana police say a natural gas well that blew wild in Calcasieu Parish has been secured and evacuated residents have returned home. (The Times-Picayune)
• Customers of public natural gas systems in Louisiana are among the parties who could be affected by a rising cost of gas tied to growing exports of liquefied natural gas. (The Acadiana Advocate)
• False BP oil spill claim nets Louisiana man 41 months in prison. (The Times-Picayune)

OIL & GAS PIPELINES:
• To assess the impact of its path through Georgia, Savannah city officials assert need for more information from developers of the proposed Palmetto Pipeline. (Savannah Morning News)
• Dominion Resources puts a price tag on access to natural gas from its planned Atlantic Coast Pipeline. (The News Virginian)

COMMENTARY:
• Columnist Susan Ladd: For a legislature that is supposed to be focused on creating jobs, the North Carolina General Assembly seems bent on alienating fledgling industries and driving away others. (News & Record, Greensboro)
• Columnist Cynthia Tucker: Many conservatives have abandoned dealing with climate change for ​“the siren call of their monied backers.” (Albany Herald, southwest Georgia)
• Prominent blogger Ivy Main wonders if Dominion set up a bidding process for offshore wind that was guaranteed to produce a high bid so it could say it costs too much and walk away. (The Virginian-Pilot)
• Research by a public interest group finds that despite its self-styled image, the Governors Coalition promoting drilling offshore Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia is largely run by groups tied to the oil and gas industry. (Facing South blog)
• The founder of the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council articulates a vision for a job creation strategy focused on clean energy. (Knoxville News Sentinel)