OHIO: An analysis finds commercial customers could see significant rate increases under a bill to freeze Ohio’s renewable energy and efficiency standards. (Columbus Business First)

COAL ASH: Environmental groups say a proposal to expand coal ash recycling in Michigan leaves unanswered questions about liability. (Midwest Energy News)

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POLICY: President Obama considers carbon rules that will test the Clean Air Act, and why Kansas lawmakers keep rejecting attempts to repeal the state’s renewable energy standard. (Kansas City Star)

OIL AND GAS:
• Michigan residents sue to block drilling beneath a cemetery and city parks in suburban Detroit. (Detroit Free Press)
• Oil and gas spills are increasing in Ohio. (Columbus Dispatch)
• Iowa counties study the risk of crude-oil trains. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
• A judge dismisses North Dakota lawsuits over potential royalties lost from flaring. (Associated Press)
• Marktown, Indiana, a town in the shadow of a major BP refinery, hosts an anti-tar sands rally. (Chicago Sun-Times)

KEYSTONE XL: The New York Times profiles Nebraska activist Jane Kleeb.

POLITICS: Is climate-change denial becoming a political liability? (National Journal)

FERC: President Obama’s latest FERC nominee will likely face another confirmation battle: “I’m sure we’ll have concerns about this one,” says one senator. (The Hill)

UTILITIES: Cleveland’s municipal utility struggles to remain competitive, in part due to added costs from its contract with the Prairie State coal plant; and Consumers Energy tells shareholders its top priority is improving air quality. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, MLive)

COAL: Missouri lawmakers approve a bill designed to block an anti-coal ballot measure in St. Louis. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

SOLAR: A Missouri couple win their long legal fight over installing solar panels in a St. Louis suburb, how solar power helped a Michigan engineering firm grow, and solar is “kind of the rage” at an Iowa college’s worker training program. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Crain’s Detroit Business, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier)

HYDRO: Costs will prevent Kansas from reaching its hydropower potential, and a Minnesota hydropower plant is ready to go back online after being damaged by heavy flooding two years ago. (Topeka Capital-Journal, Hibbing Daily Tribune)

TRANSPORTATION: Michigan lawmakers consider raising the state’s gasoline tax. (Associated Press)

COMMENTARY: Debunking the myths of Ohio’s proposed clean energy “freeze,” and the “war on coal” is just beginning. (NRDC Switchboard, Slate)

Ken is the director of the Energy News Network at Fresh Energy and is a founding editor of both Midwest Energy News and Southeast Energy News. Prior to joining Fresh Energy, he was the managing editor for online news at Minnesota Public Radio. He started his journalism career in 2002 as a copy editor for the Duluth News Tribune before spending five years at the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, where he worked as a copy editor, online producer, features editor and night city editor. A Nebraska native, Ken has a bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master's degree from the University of Oregon. He is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors.

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