COAL: Wolverine Power and We Energies announce an agreement to keep the Presque Isle coal plant in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula operating with $130 million in new pollution controls. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

CLIMATE: International Energy Agency officials are “not at all optimistic” that significant progress will be made at this year’s climate talks. (The Hill)

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EFFICIENCY: An industry group says FirstEnergy’s effort to freeze Ohio’s efficiency mandate could imperil an initiative by Gov. John Kasich to capture more energy from waste heat, and a new study finds efficiency upgrades in the trucking industry could dramatically reduce fuel consumption and pay for themselves within two years. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, ClimateWire)

OIL: An Oklahoma developer cancels plans to build a pipeline from North Dakota to Cushing, an industry official says lack of pipelines is a threat to North Dakota wildlife, and state officials award $1 million to develop a process to convert waste natural gas from the Bakken oil field into fertilizer. (Tulsa World, Associated Press)

SOLAR: Denver is the first city to win a “Solar Friendly Community” designation after streamlining its permit process to 15 minutes, and Minnesota officials grant an extension to a solar manufacturer that missed payments on a state loan. (Denver Business Journal, Minneapolis Star Tribune)

WIND: A bipartisan group of lawmakers will team up with a veterans group today to call for extension of the production tax credit for wind energy. (The Hill)

TRANSMISSION: Developers of an Iowa transmission project to carry wind energy eastward announce a $40 million investment from a British company, and FirstEnergy plans a new $45 million transmission control center in Akron, Ohio. (Des Moines Register, Cleveland Plain Dealer)

WASTE-TO-ENERGY: An Indiana town seeks to convert its municipal coal plant to run on pellets formed from residential waste. (Logansport Pharos-Tribune)

POLLUTION: Neighbors report a coal-like substance washing up on the beach near the site of last year’s coal ash spill on Lake Michigan, but DNR officials say the nearby power plant probably isn’t the source. (Caledonia Patch)

POLITICS: Where potential Secretary of State nominees Susan Rice and John Kerry stand on climate change. (ClimateWire, E&E Daily)

COMMENTARY: What the fiscal cliff and the climate cliff have in common, and will conservative groups’ efforts to repeal state renewable energy standards backfire? (Time, EnergyBiz.com)