OIL TRAINS: Federal regulators issue new orders to improve oil train safety, including a 40 mph speed limit through urban areas. (New York Times)
EPA:
• Two new reports say low-income residents will benefit financially from carbon reductions. (Midwest Energy News)
• A grid operator’s study finds a carbon price of $45 per ton would cause Kansas and other states to move away from coal. (Topeka Capital-Journal)
***SPONSORED LINK: EPA’s section 111(D) is driving generation and transmission in MISO. Infocast’s MISO Market Summit 2015 will bring policy-makers together with utility, IPP and DR executives to explore the opportunities to solve reliability and power market problems.***
WISCONSIN:
• A Milwaukee-area business group is behind the legislative push to cut a state grant for a consumer advocacy organization that has opposed it in the past. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
• A state utility regulator’s comment on climate change earns a “false” rating from PolitiFact. (Tampa Bay Times)
MISO: Auction results causing capacity prices to spike in an Illinois region are generating controversy among stakeholders, with a consumer group calling them “impossible to justify” and a utility saying they “appear to be nonsensical.” (EnergyWire, Belleville News-Democrat)
SOLAR:
• Ohio solar developers seek business out of state in the wake of the state’s energy policy “freeze.” (Columbus Dispatch)
• Solar industry groups fight an uphill battle to save a key tax break in Congress. (CQ Roll Call)
COAL: A Nebraska utility says it will convert a coal plant unit to be the first utility-scale plant in the U.S. to run on hydrogen. (Lincoln Journal Star)
TRANSMISSION: A wind-energy transmission line still faces hurdles in Missouri. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
NUCLEAR: Community leaders in an Illinois town rally to back legislation that would benefit a nearby nuclear plant. (Springfield State Journal-Register)
BIOFUELS: Minnesota truckers sue to end the state’s biodiesel mandate. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
***SPONSORED LINK: What is the media’s role in addressing environmental challenges? Join Ensia magazine for a conversation with journalist Marc Gunther May 20 at the University of Minnesota. Free and open to the public.***
TRANSPORTATION: Shippers on the Ohio River are moving more oil and petroleum products, and less coal. (Charleston State Journal)
COMMENTARY: A suburban Cleveland mayor backs FirstEnergy’s plan to guarantee income for some of its power plants. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)