TRANSMISSION: After years of planning, debate, and regulatory procedures, the CapX2020 transmission project is on track to be completed by 2015. (Midwest Energy News)
CLIMATE: Some observers say a carbon tax could be proposed in Congress as early as next session; and a University of Michigan study finds Generation Xers are disengaged on climate change, blaming in part the “seeds of doubt sown on the nightly news.” (E&E Daily, Mother Jones)
WIND: A Department of Energy official visited Minnesota yesterday to push for extension of the wind production tax credit, which Norman Ornstein of the conservative American Enterprise Institute says “ought to be bipartisan.” (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
POLITICS: Michigan Rep. Fred Upton says the House Energy and Commerce Committee hasn’t gone far enough to “rein in the activist EPA.” (The Hill)
ALSO: How Agenda 21 conspiracy theorists are starting to have an impact on environmental policy discussions in Wisconsin. (Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism)
OIL: Protests in more than a dozen cities are planned this week in conjunction with the two-year anniversary of the Kalamazoo River oil spill in Michigan, and the shale boom spreads further south as drilling begins in a northwest Nebraska county. (Kalamazoo Gazette, Chadron Record)
COAL: An entrepreneur who made billions investing in coal says the industry’s slide will be a long-term trend. (Tulsa World)
SMART GRID: Michigan regulators advise utilities to allow customers to opt out of smart meter installations. (MLive.com)
SOLAR: The American Solar Car challenge rolls into Michigan for the first time, with a team from the University of Michigan holding a commanding lead. (Detroit Free Press)
TRANSPORTATION: Car sharing catches on at Wayne State University, but will it be a good fit for the rest of Detroit? (Model D Media)
COMMENTARY: Former Sierra Club director Carl Pope says congressional Republicans are willing to destroy the American renewable energy industry if it hurts President Obama’s re-election chances. (Huffington Post)