EFFICIENCY: FirstEnergy backs off its effort to freeze Ohio’s efficiency mandate. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
COAL: Peabody Energy Corp. announces it will close a southern Illinois coal mine with a history of safety problems, including the death of a worker earlier this month. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
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OIL: Susan Rice, a leading contender for Secretary of State, has a major financial stake in Canada’s oil sands, including between $300,000 and $600,000 in TransCanada stock, according to disclosure reports. (OnEarth Magazine)
ALSO: Minnesota refineries object to a surcharge to pay for a pipeline that they won’t utilize, and a judge rules a Michigan landowner group’s lawsuit against Enbridge can proceed. (Minneapolis Star Tribune, InsideClimate News)
SOLAR: A new government study finds solar prices continue to fall, and some Wisconsin ratepayers may pay a higher surcharge after state regulators end a solar incentive program. (EarthTechling, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
FRACKING: Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder voices his support for fracking, 100 people are removed from an information session on wastewater injection wells in Ohio after trying to turn it into a public hearing, and a new study finds methane emissions from fracking are only slightly higher than those from conventional natural gas drilling. (Detroit Free Press, Columbus Dispatch, EnergyWire)
CLIMATE: A policy group plans to sue the EPA to force stronger emission rules for the transportation sector, and conservative groups mobilize against a carbon tax. (Reuters, ClimateWire)
TRANSPORTATION: An electric vehicle manufacturer plans a new manufacturing plant in Chicago, as the city announces a voucher program to encourage truck fleet operators to electrify. (Chicago Tribune, NBC Chicago)
BIOFUELS: The U.S. Senate approves an amendment preserving the military’s biofuel program, and an industry group representing chain restaurants releases a study pinning billions in additional costs to the renewable fuel mandate. (The Hill, Des Moines Register)
WIND: Iowa politicians are united in support of the wind tax credit, and a Minnesota group releases a study saying wind energy in the state saves emissions equivalent to taking 757,000 cars off the road. (Des Moines Register, Duluth News Tribune)
OHIO: The state Supreme Court rules Ohio homeowners with electric heat cannot sue FirstEnergy for ending rate discounts. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
COMMENTARY: Grist is publishing, in its entirety, the book Carbon Zero by Alex Steffen, which highlights the ways cities can lead in cutting emissions.