OHIO: House lawmakers debate last-minute provisions in a bill to freeze the state’s energy laws that critics say amount to “poison pills” for the state’s renewable energy industry. (Columbus Dispatch, Cleveland Plain Dealer)

COAL: Two miners were killed Monday in a West Virginia coal mine with a history of safety violations; meanwhile, more than 200 workers are dead in a coal-mining disaster in Turkey. (Reuters, Associated Press)

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PETCOKE: Citing concerns about public health, the National Nurses United union has joined local residents’ fight to get petcoke transportation and storage banned in Chicago. (Midwest Energy News)

CLIMATE: A military report warns climate change poses a severe risk to national security, Minnesota churches call for climate action, and an Iowa panel discusses how farmers can adapt to a changing climate. (New York Times, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Des Moines Register)

SOLAR: Missouri lawmakers reject a bill to revive solar rebates, and analysts say a federal proposal will do little to help the solar industry. (Associated Press, Reuters)

FRACKING: Ohio lawmakers advance a scaled-back drilling tax proposal, a report finds foreign steelmakers are benefiting the most from the fracking boom, and a judge rejects fracking opponents’ challenge to drilling leases in a Michigan game preserve. (Columbus Dispatch, The Business Journals, MLive)

TESLA: Missouri lawmakers shelve a bill that would have banned Tesla’s retail outlets from the state. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

RENEWABLES: A report from the International Energy Agency says moving away from fossil fuels by 2050 would result in a net savings of $71 trillion. (Grist)

ILLINOIS: A consumer group warns of potential “rip-offs” as ratepayers shop for electricity providers. (Chicago Tribune)

UTILITIES: Exelon’s CEO sees a future in small modular reactors, and says the demise of centralized generation “is a little bit overstated at this point.” (Forbes)

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MEDIA: A judge dismisses Ohio coal executive Robert Murray’s defamation lawsuit against the Huffington Post. (SNL)

COMMENTARY: Where are conservatives’ big ideas about clean energy? (Greentech Media)

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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