TRANSPORTATION: Recent trends of developing in dense urban areas closer to public transportation are spreading to the Midwest. (Midwest Energy News)

CLIMATE CHANGE:
• The prospects for an emissions deal in Paris increase as 150 countries file pledges to curb them. (The Guardian)
• The shipping industry bristles at the idea of a carbon tax or trading program to curb rising emissions. (ClimateWire)

***SPONSORED LINK: Want a green energy job with a good salary? Acquire specialized training in economics and statistics through the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s unique, 10-month, professional master’s program in Resource and Energy Demand Analysis.  Starting summer 2016.***

EFFICIENCY:
• The costs of building sustainable housing in the Midwest continue to drop, which early adopters hope will encourage more property owners. (Pioneer Press)
• A Milwaukee company is poised to expand a funding mechanism that helps property owners avoid upfront costs for efficiency with a pay-as-you-go format. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

PIPELINES:
• Advocates want a federal agency to be more stringent when considering permit applications for the Dakota Access pipeline where it passes over waterways. (Associated Press)
• Despite the public outcry against Dakota Access, roughly two-thirds of landowners along its proposed path have signed easements allowing the company to build on their property. (The Gazette)

COAL:
• An analysis shows that despite ongoing legal challenges with federal pollution rules, utilities are largely staying the course and closing coal plants. (Utility Dive)
• The Obama administration announces it will create a regional innovation cluster in eastern Ohio to help replace lost coal jobs. (Athens News)

UTILITIES: Energy analysts say utilities are running out of time to plan for a future whose landscape is changing rapidly. (Forbes)

OIL AND GAS:
• State officials are developing a cleanup plan for an abandoned pit used to store oil drilling mud and fluids that is eroding into a river in western North Dakota. (Bismarck Tribune)
• Work is complete on a $150 million bypass in western North Dakota that avoids traffic congestion due to the spike in oil and gas activity. (Prairie Business Magazine)
• The Obama administration blocks Alaskan Arctic drilling for the next two years, canceling auctions for drilling rights. (New York Times)

ETHANOL: The U.S. EPA will launch an in-house investigation into whether the agency is properly accounting for the environmental benefits and drawbacks of requiring ethanol in gasoline under the Renewable Fuel Standard. (Reuters)

OIL BY RAIL: Track failure is at the heart of a growing safety problem for the industry. (Los Angeles Times)

POLITICS: Murray Energy agrees to pay $5,000 in fines for not disclosing that it paid for anti-Obama campaign signs in the 2012 election. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

***SPONSORED LINK: Hear top executives from the area’s RTOs, utilities, transmission developers, and state regulatory agencies discuss and debate critical issues at EUCI’s Transmission Expansion in the Midwest conference November 9-10 in Indianapolis.***

Illinois: The state owes the city of Springfield’s municipal utility $2.7 million in unpaid electric bills. (WLS-TV)

COMMENTARY:
• An analysis done on Ohio’s renewable portfolio standard “uses a statistical trick to inflate the economic impacts” of the rules. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
• Industrial energy efficiency will help boost Ohio’s economy. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)