COAL: A company will renew its request to store a coal byproduct known as coke breeze and other materials along the Detroit River. (Crain’s Detroit Business)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The Big Three U.S. automakers and the U.S. Department of Energy are working with an Illinois startup company to develop light, energy-dense batteries needed to help accelerate the spread of electric vehicles. (Midwest Energy News)
*** SPONSORED LINK: Illinois Renewable Energy Conference, July 21st in Normal, Illinois, will feature plenary sessions of interest to all areas of renewable energy, plus specific breakout sessions for wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and energy efficiency.***
WIND: A group vows to continue fighting plans for a 44-turbine wind project in western Wisconsin. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
FRACKING: Researchers retract a study claiming high levels of pollution around Ohio wells. (InsideClimate News)
FRAC SAND: A Texas-based mining company looks to build a rail loading terminal near one of its frac sand mines in Wisconsin to help ship the product to new markets. (LaCrosse Tribune)
RATES: An Upper Peninsula utility official calls proposed cost allocations from keeping aging coal plants open there an “ugly mess.” (See here for more background on the payments.) (Marquette Mining Journal, Midwest Energy News archive)
SOLAR: A solar installation is paying off for one Indiana business. (Fort Wayne Journal Gazette)
NUCLEAR: Exelon takes another step in the process to formally close its Quad Cities nuclear plant. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
OIL AND GAS:
• An advisory board says North Dakota officials should start budgeting for much lower revenue from oil and gas operations. (Associated Press)
• One North Dakota county votes against spending money on an emergency services trailer as a back-up for first responders due to declining oil tax revenue. (Williston Herald)
• Construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline rolls on through South Dakota. (Forum News Service)
EMISSIONS:
• Nearly all U.S. coal plants are in compliance with the U.S. EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standard, “another sign” that pollution goals “may be more easily achievable than opponents claim.” (Forbes)
• An Indiana agricultural specialist says the decline in power plant emissions is reducing the amount of sulfur corn plants get through rainfall. (Associated Press)
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CLIMATE: New filings show Exxon Mobil continues to provide funding to groups with a “record of misinformation” on climate science. (DeSmog Blog)
COMMENTARY:
• The uncertainty over Ohio’s energy policy over the past two years is undermining investment in clean energy companies and products, which is “costing us all money,” business owners say. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
• An industrial energy user in Wisconsin says the state should “restore competitive electric prices.” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
CORRECTION: An item in Friday’s digest incorrectly stated the location of a wind company. It is based in Illinois.