WIND: Facebook says Iowa’s wind energy was a factor in its decision to locate its new data center in a Des Moines suburb. (Midwest Energy News)
FRACKING: A study by the Harvard Environmental Law Program finds “serious flaws” in the FracFocus chemical disclosure site, and says states shouldn’t rely on it, and an Ohio city embarks on a study of its aquifers as drilling activity increases. (EnergyWire, Canton Repository)
EFFICIENCY: The Ohio Manufacturers Association voices its opposition to FirstEnergy’s efforts to weaken the state’s efficiency mandate, which it says would be “an unfortunate and risky step backward.” (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
OIL: Enbridge is expected to begin work this summer on a new Michigan pipeline that will replace a segment of Line 6B, which ruptured in 2010; and a poll finds Americans are more supportive of the Keystone XL pipeline than Canadians. (Detroit Free Press, Financial Post)
ALSO: Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post explains the significance of the EPA’s objections to the State Department’s environmental review of Keystone XL.
EPA: A federal court rejects a challenge to tougher water runoff rules for power plants. (The Hill)
COAL: Ohio’s American Electric Power says it’s burning more coal compared to last year, and says rising natural gas prices are the reason. (Columbus Dispatch)
CLIMATE: Minnesota Sen. Al Franken uses Cheetos to form a metaphor about climate science; and a Nebraska bill to study the impacts of warming is allowed to proceed after the word “cyclical” is added to all references to climate science, in a debate that included a legislator invoking a family legend about snow on the Fourth of July. (Huffington Post, Lincoln Journal Star)
NATURAL GAS: A construction company and pipeline owner reach a settlement over damages caused when workers set off a massive explosion in Iowa last year. (KCCI)
SOLAR: A 1.76 megawatt solar array goes online in Springfield, Ohio. (Columbus Business First)
ELECTRIC CARS: Documents show the White House had advance warning that automaker Fisker was in financial trouble. (Associated Press)
COMMENTARY: Why solar should break up with wind and start seeing natural gas instead, four reasons coal will continue to decline even as natural gas prices rise, and why young Americans are driving less. (Grist, Forbes, Washington Post)