WIND: Critics say the conservative political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity is pushing a bill in Kansas to defund a transmission authority as a back-door attempt to block wind energy expansion. (Midwest Energy News)
CLEAN POWER PLAN:
• At least 20 states are open to the idea of carbon trading with other states as a way to meet the federal rules. (ClimateWire)
• Grid operator MISO eyes lower-cost compliance options. (Platts)
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COAL: A federal civil rights commission is studying whether coal ash — long a problem in Ohio and other Midwest states — disproportionately affects l0w-income and minority populations. (Columbus Dispatch)
NATURAL GAS: Ratepayer advocacy groups in Wisconsin want state regulators to place a cap on construction costs for a new natural gas plant a utility seeks to build. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
SOLAR:
• Rooftop solar owners who sell their renewable energy credits may not be adding as much renewable energy to the grid as they might think. (Mother Jones)
• A Wisconsin-based company has helped one of the largest aquaponics farms in the country go entirely off the grid with solar panels and battery storage. (Pacific Business News)
GEOTHERMAL: A new project is helping to bring a National Guard base in Minnesota to net-zero energy consumption. (Brainerd Dispatch)
BIOFUELS:
• Iowa is awarded $2.5 million to install new blender pumps and underground storage tanks to distribute higher blends of biofuels throughout the state. (The Gazette)
• All six members of Iowa’s congressional delegation call on the U.S. EPA to increase biofuel standards for 2017 and 2018. (Radio Iowa)
OIL AND GAS:
• Leaders at a worldwide forum on business and politics say sinking oil and gas prices is creating less of an incentive to reduce emissions through renewable fuels. (Associated Press)
• The International Energy Agency says crude oil prices may fall even farther this year due to low demand, warm winter weather and an oversupply. (Associated Press)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Low gas prices have led electric-vehicle sales to fall short of President Obama’s goals laid out in 2008. (Reuters)
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POLITICS: Republican in-fighting plays out in Iowa as Gov. Terry Branstad hopes Ted Cruz loses the Iowa caucuses based on his position against ethanol mandates. (Radio Iowa)
COMMENTARY:
• Climate “contrarian” scientists representing Peabody Energy at a hearing in Minnesota use nearly identical misleading arguments that were made during a recent climate hearing held by Sen. Ted Cruz in Washington. (The Guardian)
• A “fee-and-dividend” plan for carbon emissions can help the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy without harming the poor and killing good-paying jobs. (Duluth News Tribune)