COAL: A debate in Minnesota about the social and environmental costs of power plant pollution has caught the attention of the world’s largest private-sector coal company. (Midwest Energy News)

KEYSTONE XL: A Nebraska judge has struck down a state law giving the governor authority to reroute the Keystone XL pipeline, and declared state approval of the project “null and void.” (Omaha World-Herald)

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FRACKING: A lack of oversight leads to air pollution problems from drilling in Texas, and drilling companies won’t push for access to Ohio state parks. (InsideClimate News, Columbus Dispatch)

OIL:
• A North Dakota senator raises questions about track safety in response to a December oil train derailment. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
• Safety advocates say transportation officials are underprepared for a major oil train disaster. (EnergyWire)
• Enbridge gets permission to dredge a Michigan lake as cleanup of its 2010 pipeline spill continues. (MLive)
• Leaders of North Dakota oil patch communities say they’re running out of resources to deal with the boom. (Bismarck Tribune)
• Neighbors raise concerns at a public hearing on Enbridge’s proposed Sandpiper pipeline. (Fargo Forum)
• A pipeline rupture in western North Dakota spills 75 barrels of crude oil. (Fargo Forum)

COAL ASH: Federal investigators are widening their probe of a North Carolina coal ash spill, and can coal ash be reused safely? (WRAL, Breaking Energy)

CLIMATE POLICY: A Supreme Court case Monday on EPA carbon rules is “far more important as a matter of optics than of actual legal consequences,” according to one legal expert. (New York Times)

SOLAR: A county building in Duluth will become a testing ground for three different types of solar panels, and a Milwaukee solar program is finding success with its group-purchasing model. (Duluth News Tribune, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

NUCLEAR: Exelon’s nuclear plant workers sue, alleging wage law violations; regulators cite Xcel Energy for a security violation at a Minnesota power plant; and Iowa’s Duane Arnold nuclear plant will face tougher regulatory scrutiny after problems with backup systems. (Crain’s Chicago Business, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Cedar Rapids Gazette)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The Chinese company that bought Fisker Automotive plans to re-release the electric Karma with a gasoline-powered V8 engine. (Reuters)

EFFICIENCY: Illinois leads the U.S. in LEED-certified buildings. (CBS Chicago)

COMMENTARY: Do renewables lower energy consumption? (The Energy Collective)

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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