OHIO: Members of Ohio’s energy study committee have a history of supporting fossil fuel interests, causing critics to raise questions about the group’s impartiality. (Midwest Energy News)

WISCONSIN: Clean-energy advocates are calling for the Wisconsin Public Service Commission to investigate a list of 2,500 names submitted in support of utilities in two controversial rate cases. (Midwest Energy News)

OIL AND GAS: About 400 familes were evacuated Tuesday night after a natural gas well blowout in Ohio, concerns about a nearby aquifer prompt local officials to reject a drilling permit in Illinois, and an oil industry representative touts conservation work in Michigan. (Columbus Dispatch, Bloomington Pantagraph, MLive)

WIND: GE says wind energy can compete with natural gas in the Midwest without tax credits, but calls for a gradual phase-out. (Greentech Media)

NUCLEAR: Exelon lobbies citizens to write legislators in support of its nuclear plants, and states and environmental groups sue to block plant relicensing. (Chicago Tribune, St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

COAL: Pollution rules mean a construction boom for Michigan power plants. (Lansing State Journal)

POLITICS: A poll finds a majority of South Dakotans support Keystone XL, while a Senate candidate in the state runs on a pro-environment platform. (Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Grist)

ALSO: Why “this can be called the election when the environmental movement lost its virginity.” (Greenwire)

TRANSPORTATION: Preliminary planning for a Detroit-Chicago high speed rail line calls for 10 trips a day at 110 mph, Chicago’s electric buses hit the street, and Indianapolis will add 425 plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles to its municipal fleet by 2016. (Detroit Free Press, Chicago Tribune, Green Car Congress)

SOLAR: Milwaukee’s Public Museum unveils its new solar wall. (Milwaukee Business Journal)

ANALYSIS: How we can cut carbon emissions and improve grid reliability at the same time. (Forbes)

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.

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