SNOWMAGEDDON: The Mid-Atlantic United States is still digging out this morning from a historic blizzard that struck over the weekend, dumping up to 40 inches of snow in some places. States from Pennsylvania to Virginia were bombarded Friday and Saturday by the region's second major snowstorm this winter, and the nation's capital is still so overwhelmed that the federal government has closed its D.C.-area offices for Monday. Transportation remains shut down across much of the Mid-Atlantic, and the cleanup effort will likely last all week, but the so-called "Snowmageddon" may still not even be over — following some slight melting today, sleet and snow is forecast for Tuesday afternoon, transitioning to all snow around sundown. There's a 70 percent chance of "moderate to heavy" snowfall in D.C. Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, potentially complicating the region's recovery. (Sources: CNN, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, National Weather Service)

 

LAUNCH MONEY: The space shuttle Endeavor carried six astronauts into orbit early Monday morning — along with a new room and observation deck for the International Space Station — in what NASA says is likely the final nighttime launch for its shuttle program. Taking off before dawn, Endeavor lit up the sky for the fifth-to-last launch before the aging shuttle fleet is retired; the four remaining shuttle flights are scheduled for daylight takeoffs. Endeavor will deliver and install Tranquility, a new room for the space station that will hold life-support equipment, exercise machines and a toilet, as well as a new bay window that's the largest window ever sent into space. The 13-day mission comes a week after President Obama announced sweeping new changes to NASA, including plans to privatize space flights and collaborate more closely with international partners like the European Space Agency, which provided the $400 million equipment that Endeavor is now hauling into space. NASA missions have long been plagued by cost overruns, and the new federal budget aims to make the U.S. space agency more cost-effective by reducing the need to pay for the construction and maintenance of a shuttle fleet. (Source: USA Today)

 

WIND, LOSE OR DRAW: The fight over a proposed wind farm in Cape Cod that's raged for nearly a decade may soon come to an end, although probably not because of any compromise. Proponents of the Cape Wind project — which would erect 130 wind turbines about nine miles off the Nantucket coast — point out it could supply up to 400,000 homes with clean, renewable power, but it has faced staunch opposition from locals who argue it will ruin their coastal views, as well as from Native Americans who say it could destroy submerged burial grounds and hinder their cultural duty to greet the sunrise. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar (pictured) toured the wind farm's proposed site by boat last week, hoping to help the two sides reach an agreement. But "I'm not holding my breath for a consensus," he said, adding that he'll make the decision himself by April if necessary. The Cape Wind project has become the nation's highest-profile battle over wind power, and is seen by many as "symbolic of America's struggle with clean energy," says Massachusetts' secretary for energy and environmental affairs. "Its symbolism has risen above the number of megawatts." (Source: Washington Post)

 

CHEAP DRILLS: Virginia could become the first Eastern state to allow oil and gas development off its coast since a longtime federal ban on offshore drilling expired more than a year ago, the LA Times reports. New Republican Gov. Robert McDonnell pledged during his swearing-in last month to make Virginia the "energy capital of the East Coast," and the state's two Democratic senators, Jim Webb and Mark Warner, are also pushing the Obama administration to open Virginia's coastlines for energy exploration. If approved, the sale of leases 50 miles offshore would be the first on the Atlantic coast in decades, since the U.S. government banned most new drilling after the 1969 oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif. Congress let the ban expire in 2008, however, amid high gasoline prices, and now many Virginia politicians argue the economic benefits of drilling can't be ignored. Environmentalists disagree, contending that new drilling operations could damage the fishing industry, hinder efforts to save Chesapeake Bay and possibly even limit tourism. (Source: Los Angeles Times)

 

THE AIR DOWN THERE: A Utah energy company is planning to bury energy underground by trapping compressed air in subterranean caverns, potentially solving the clean-power industry's persistent problem of how to store energy for later use. Traditional power sources like fossil fuels don't have this problem, since coal or oil can simply be stored until it's needed, but solar and wind power are intermittent and difficult to evenly ration without a concrete substance to hold onto. Salt Lake City-based Magnum Energy LLC will dig a series of caverns in a sparse swath of Utah desert, which the company plans to pump full of air that's been compressed using excess energy from nearby wind farms. This compressed air will be mixed with natural gas, and then slowly released to spin a turbine and generate electricity as needed — essentially creating a huge underground, wind-powered battery. "The power industry is like being in an ice-cream business without a refrigerated warehouse," a Magnum Energy official tells the AP. "This kind of storage provides a warehouse of energy." (Source: Associated Press)

 

— Russell McLendon