MICHIGAN: Why a projected capacity shortfall in Michigan doesn’t necessarily mean major investments in generation are needed. (Midwest Energy News)
ALSO: Federal regulators order a review of how costs have been allocated to keep an Upper Peninsula coal plant online. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
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ILLINOIS: State lawmakers introduce a sweeping clean-energy bill that would resolve problems with the state’s renewable portfolio standard, establish a carbon market, and other provisions. (Midwest Energy News)
PETCOKE: A Koch-affiliated firm says it will remove petroleum coke piles from Chicago, advocates worry the material will be piled up in northwest Indiana instead. (Chicago Tribune, Times of Northwest Indiana)
OIL AND GAS:
• North Dakota lawmakers reject a bill that would have further restricted flaring of natural gas in the state’s oil fields. (Bismarck Tribune)
• It remains unclear whether the Bakken crude in a recent West Virginia train explosion had been treated to make it less volatile; investigators say the train was not speeding. (Reuters, New York Times)
• TransCanada proposes a new pipeline to carry North Dakota oil into Canada. (Associated Press)
• An Exxon subsidiary is fined $1.3 million for failing to comply with an audit request in North Dakota. (Associated Press)
SOLAR: An Iowa bill would allow solar customers to pass excess generation on to low-income ratepayers, and a Sioux City-area farmer gets into the solar business. (Midwest Energy News, KMEG)
NEWSMAKERS: FirstEnergy’s new CEO lays out plans for the future, and the CEO of the PJM Interconnection will retire at the end of this year. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, Pittsburgh Business Times)
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ELECTRIC CARS: More utilities are getting into the EV charging business. (New York Times)
COMMENTARY: ALEC’s latest attack on the Clean Power Plan is fizzling. (NRDC Switchboard)