WIND: More than two years after Wisconsin completed a bipartisan process to establish statewide standards for siting wind turbines, development remains sluggish amid continuing political pushback. (Midwest Energy News)

OIL: Exxon’s claims that the Mayflower pipeline wasn’t carrying diluted bitumen are debunked, a study by Keystone XL opponents pegs the pipeline’s climate impact as equivalent to 46 coal plants, and the State Department will hold a marathon public hearing on Keystone XL in Nebraska today. (InsideClimate News, Bloomberg, Lincoln Journal Star)

CLIMATE: A coalition of 12 states and cities threatens to sue the EPA over delays to carbon rules for new power plants. (The Hill)

FRACKING: Supporters of a ballot measure to ban fracking in Michigan can begin gathering signatures, and officials from Ohio and other states tell House lawmakers that federal fracking regulations aren’t needed. (Detroit Free Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer)

NATURAL GAS: Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan says Germany is “much more interested in buying natural gas from Ohio and Pennsylvania than from Vladimir Putin.” (E&E Daily)

COAL: The Sierra Club questions the viability of an Illinois coal plant that was recently granted an extension to install pollution controls, and coal shipments on the Great Lakes were down 55 percent last month. (Lake County News-Sun, Northland News Center)

UTILITIES: Minneapolis watches closely as Boulder, Colorado takes further steps to break away from Xcel Energy. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

NORTH DAKOTA: A utility seeks permission to modified a little-used coal ash pit to accept oil field waste. (Bismarck Tribune)

TRANSPORTATION: Toyota has passed the 5-million mark in hybrid sales, and tech reporter Katie Fehrenbacher takes a closer look at what went wrong at Fisker Automotive. (Los Angeles Times, GigaOM)

TRANSMISSION: A northern Minnesota utility narrows down possible routes for a new transmission line to import hydropower from Manitoba. (Duluth News Tribune)

COMMENTARY: A study finds that none of the world’s top industries would be profitable if they had to pay for their full environmental impact. (Grist)

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.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.