COAL: The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in a case that challenges one of the EPA regulations blamed for recent and planned shutdowns of coal-fired power plants. (The Hill)
ACTIVISM: BP announced Monday it is parting ways with the American Legislative Exchange Council, marking the latest departure of a blue-chip company from the group that lobbies against clean energy. (National Journal)
ALSO: A new campaign urging science museums to cut ties with David Koch spotlights the billionaire Koch brothers’ enormous philanthropic footprint and their oil interests, as they continue to try to undercut clean energy. (InsideClimate News)
EMISSIONS: House Republicans are preparing a bill that would delay implementation of the Obama administration’s climate rule for power plants and let state governors veto compliance plans. (The Hill)
WIND:
• The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has received unsolicited requests for the construction of two utility-scale floating wind farms offshore from Oahu, Hawaii. (The Maritime Executive)
• The U.S. Energy Department seeks proposals for new, longer wind turbine blade technology that will unlock an additional one million square miles of land for wind energy development. (Clean Technica)
• Five years after they were installed, the 12 wind turbines at the Walmart Supercenter in Worcester, Massachusetts have been removed. (Telegram & Gazette)
SOLAR:
• Fourteen companies are bidding to build a 7-megawatt solar array for Sacramento, California’s International Airport. (Sacramento Business Journal)
• University of Utah students have created an electronic dashboard that notes real-time energy output from the university’s solar energy and displays it on kiosks across campus. (Deseret News)
FRACKING: Environmental groups say federal fracking regulations unveiled last week amount to a gift to the oil-and-gas industry, allowing drillers to continue some of their worst environmental practices. (The Hill)
UTILITIES:
• The chairman of Texas’ Senate Natural Resources Committee has filed legislation to end a requirement that state utilities buy credits from wind and solar farms to meet renewable energy standards. (The Dallas Morning News)
• Customers of Topeka, Kansas-based Westar Energy with their own solar, wind or other generation may soon have to pay a higher fixed charge than other ratepayers. (Midwest Energy News)
EFFICIENCY: LED streetlights in Brooklyn are saving energy, but some residents complain they are too bright. (The New York Times)
DIVESTMENT: A Massachusetts judge has thrown out a lawsuit brought by Harvard students seeking to force the school to remove investments in fossil fuel companies from its endowment. (The Harvard Crimson)
CALIFORNIA: A state regulators says California will only be able to achieve its renewable energy goals if it can find a way to store clean power and deliver it when needed. (Los Angeles Times)