CLIMATE:
• While two state agencies have removed climate change information from their websites in recent months, Wisconsin has a long history of being a leader in climate research. (Midwest Energy News)
• In Kansas, “the economic realities of agriculture make climate change a critical business issue,” though politics and social pressures make it a difficult topic to discuss frankly. (New York Times)
UTILITIES: Draft legislation is being circulated in Ohio that would begin to re-regulate the state’s electric industry as major coal plants compete with cheap natural gas and wind. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
***SPONSORED LINK: Join the Midwest Energy Research Consortium (M-WERC) at the Energy Storage Conference, February 15 in Milwaukee. This conference will explore recent advances in energy storage technologies, as well as the applications and in-field examples of the role of energy storage. ***
OIL AND GAS:
• North Dakota lawmakers have been thrust into the debate over who owns the mineral rights under a man-made lake. (Associated Press)
• Customers participating in Ohio’s competitive natural gas market are seeing savings on their bills. (Columbus Dispatch)
• A Canadian company is working on multiple oil fluid spill cleanups in an area of North Dakota near the Little Missouri River. (Bismarck Tribune)
WIND: A developer says it’s still interested in a planned $250 million wind project in southwest Michigan despite company personnel changes and a lack of communication with local officials. (Herald-Palladium)
VOLKSWAGEN SCANDAL: Minnesota is set to receive $47 million as part of an emissions settlement with the German automaker, which could lead to more electric and natural gas-powered vehicles there. (Minnesota Public Radio)
CLEAN ENERGY: Illinois, Michigan and Ohio are among several states pushing for more clean energy despite changes at the federal level. (Daily Egyptian)
PIPELINES:
• The resignation of Norman Bay from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission could mean costly delays for some major pipeline projects. (NPR)
• A southern Illinois congressman praises President Trump for seeking to revive the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines. (Southern Illinoisan)
• North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum met with tribal officials for five hours last week, showing a “gesture of good faith” following tense months of pipeline protests. (Bismarck Tribune)
• Protesters assemble in Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota against Trump’s pipeline decisions. In North Dakota, minor flooding is almost certain this spring at the main protest camp. (WHO-TV, MLive, Minnesota Public Radio, Associated Press)
• TransCanada could face another protracted battle with Nebraska landowners as it seeks route access again for Keystone XL. (Lincoln Journal Star)
REGULATION: A former member of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio is hired as the agency’s top staffer weeks after resigning his seat. (Columbus Dispatch)
EFFICIENCY: Arthur H. Rosenfeld, the physicist credited for starting the energy efficiency movement in the 1970s, has passed away at the age of 90. (New York Times)
COMMENTARY: Will Donald Trump sink the Dakota Access and Keystone XL projects with his own “protectionist impulses?” (Wall Street Journal)