Clean Start: September 1, 2011

Welcome to Clean Start, ThinkProgress Green’s morning round-up of the latest in climate and clean energy. Here is what we’re reading. What are you?

– President Obama put more meat on the bones of his jobs agenda Wednesday, outlining a plan to quickly permit major infrastructure projects pending approval at several federal agencies. [E2Wire]

– A wind-whipped wildfire that destroyed more than three dozen cliff-top homes in North Texas was expected to burn through most of the tinder-dry trees and shrubs in its path by daybreak Thursday, helping firefighters contain the late-summer blaze during the state’s severe and seemingly endless fire season. [MSNBC]

– Two of the three nuclear reactors in a southern New Jersey county have powered partway down because debris from Hurricane Irene is blocking cooling water intakes. [AP]

– The Chinese government continues to expand its clean energy production plans, to replace increasingly expensive coal power that is shutting down coal plants and causing power shortages of at least 16 GW. China’s 12th five-year plan unveiled this week plans for 70 GW for wind, and 5 GW of solar by 2015. [Reuters]

– Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman (R) urged President Obama on Wednesday to reject a pending permit application for a controversial pipeline that would carry Canadian oil sands through his state. [E2Wire]

– The earthquake that shook the U.S. East Coast last week rattled huge, heavy casks holding radioactive nuclear waste at a Virginia plant, moving them as much as 4.5 inches (11 cm) from their original position, the plant’s operator has said. [Reuters]

– The BP PLC Moscow office was disrupted for a second day as Russian bailiffs searched for a broad range of documents requested in a $3 billion lawsuit, a BP spokesman said Thursday. [WSJ]