MINNESOTA: Minnesota’s largest utility announces plans to more than double its share of renewable energy over the next 15 years. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
ALSO: A former state lawmaker’s latest endeavor will take Minnesota’s energy expertise to a global stage. (Midwest Energy News)
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IOWA: A top state energy official is fired without explanation. (Associated Press)
OIL AND GAS:
• North Dakota oil towns prepare for “a fairly significant correction” as production slows down. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
• The oil and gas industry launches aggressive legal assaults against towns that vote to ban fracking. (New York Times)
• A fire at a North Dakota storage facility is expected to burn 1,600 barrels of oil. (Reuters)
• Crews in Ohio capped a leaking gas well that had forced the evacuation of 30 homes before Christmas. (Columbus Dispatch)
• Local governments join Ohio landowners in their push to reroute a proposed natural gas pipeline. (Canton Repository)
• Hearings this week will gather input on a proposed Minnesota pipeline. (Minnesota Public Radio)
• Minnesota officials say it will cost $280 million to upgrade crossings along oil train routes. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
OHIO: The state Energy Mandates Study Committee has so far done little in its first two meetings. (Columbus Dispatch)
ILLINOIS: What’s in store for the state’s energy sector in 2015. (Chicago Tribune)
NUCLEAR: A nuclear plant has been leaking oil into Lake Michigan since October, and the EPA tries to determine nuclear’s role in the Clean Power Plan. (MLive, New York Times)
COAL: Missouri regulators approve a new coal ash landfill, and a Colorado company is buying two Ohio coal firms. (St. Louis Post Dispatch, Columbus Dispatch)
WIND: A new wind farm pushes an Indiana utility’s coal share below 50 percent, Ohio’s wind future is in doubt, and a North Dakota co-op signs deals to buy power from two new wind farms in the state. (Muncie Star Press, Columbus Dispatch, Associated Press)
SOLAR: A Missouri town wants to build a solar farm at a former oil refinery site. (Independence Examiner)
TRANSPORTATION: Despite falling gasoline prices, there is little support for increasing the federal gasoline tax; and bicycle commuting increases in cities across the U.S. (New York Times, ClimateWire)
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GRID: An Ohio utility plans to upgrade 105,000 meters, mostly in rural areas. (Columbus Dispatch)
COMMENTARY: Special interests are driving Wisconsin energy policy backward. (Stevens Point Journal)