NATURAL GAS: A new MIT study questions the climate benefits of natural gas, finding methane leaks have been underestimated. (The Hill)
OHIO: The state Supreme Court says American Electric Power does not have to refund ratepayers $368 million in invalidated charges. (Columbus Dispatch)
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PETCOKE: As officials from a BP refinery in Whiting, Indiana met with neighbors to roll out a new pollution monitoring program, they got an earful about petcoke and other issues instead. (Midwest Energy News)
COAL: High natural gas prices boost the coal industry, and an Energy Department official says carbon capture could raise energy prices by 80 percent. (Bloomberg)
COAL ASH: Federal prosecutors open a criminal probe of Duke Energy’s role in the Feb. 2 coal ash spill in North Carolina. (Reuters)
SOLAR: Kansas lawmakers table a bill that would have ended net metering in the state, but a committee chairman says it could return. (Topeka Capital Journal)
MEANWHILE: A Kansas legislative committee debates a nonbinding resolution rejecting climate science. (Topeka Capital Journal)
ETHANOL: Lower corn prices and higher demands are making the ethanol industry profitable again. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
FRACKING: Ohio’s oil and gas industry is not happy with the state’s revised drilling tax plan. (Columbus Business First)
WIND: The CEO of Nebraska’s largest utility says “there’s a lot of hype around renewables right now” at a forum on wind energy. (KNOP-TV)
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EFFICIENCY: Iowa researchers receive a $500,000 grant to improve energy efficiency at National Guard facilities. (Des Moines Register)
COMMENTARY: Why it’s time for southern Illinois to “get beyond the old coal wars,” how Wisconsin law prevents energy freedom, and why rail isn’t necessarily an alternative to the Keystone XL pipeline. (Carbondale Southern, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Slate)