NUCLEAR: Despite dire warnings from Exelon, Illinois lawmakers appear unlikely to act on a bill to help the utility’s nuclear plants — or any other energy legislation — until this fall. (Crain’s Chicago Business)
EFFICIENCY: Schools and small businesses will suffer if Ohio continues to roll back its energy efficiency standards, industry leaders say. (Midwest Energy News)
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SOLAR: “Solar is the new shale,” becoming the fastest growing new source of U.S. electricity. (Bloomberg)
GRID: Duke Energy will build a 2 MW energy storage facility at a shuttered Ohio coal plant. (Bloomberg)
COAL: An appeals court overturns a decision allowing a mining company to tunnel beneath an Ohio state park. (Columbus Dispatch)
PIPELINES:
• Michigan environmental groups call for removal of two pipelines running beneath the Straits of Mackinac. (MLive)
• A lone holdout explains why he’s refusing to let a pipeline cross his land in North Dakota. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
OIL AND GAS:
• Wisconsin leaders join U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin in calling for tougher safety rules for crude oil trains. (La Crosse Tribune)
• Developers of a planned ethane cracker plant in Ohio say they were lured to the state by an “aggressive incentive package.” (Columbus Business First)
TRANSMISSION: The long approval process for new transmission lines could slow the timeline for cutting U.S. carbon emissions. (Bloomberg)
WISCONSIN: A judge upholds a decision by state regulators allowing a utility to make customers pay for converting a Milwaukee coal plant to gas. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
EPA:
• A former North Dakota regulator, now a congressman, vows to fight the Clean Power Plan. (ClimateWire)
• A federal court rejects a challenge from Kansas officials to the agency’s rejection of its plan to comply with the cross-state pollution rule. (The Hill)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Utilities see economic opportunity in electric vehicle charging stations. (EnergyWire)
BIOENERGY: Wisconsin officials will allow increased emissions from a biodigester to help it avoid violations. (Wisconsin State Journal)
WIND: A new wind farm will increase a Kansas utility’s wind capacity to 1,300 megawatts. (Topeka Capital Journal)
COMMENTARY: The Bismarck Tribune calls for transparency in the regulatory process for a proposed pipeline.