COAL: Arguments will begin today in North Dakota’s lawsuit against Minnesota’s restrictions on new and imported coal-fired electricity. (Minnesota Public Radio)

ALSO: American Electric Power CEO Nick Akins says coal is “out of the picture” as the utility plans for its future. (Columbus Business First)

***SPONSORED LINK: Register today for the FREE Great Plains Clean Energy Transmission Summit, taking place October 21 in Saint Paul. Join public and private sector leaders — along with moderators from Midwest Energy News — in a debate over the future of clean energy and the electric grid. Breakfast and lunch included.***

OIL: North Dakota officials say they will make changes to state policies on informing the public about oil spills following an 11-day delay in publicizing a 20,000 barrel pipeline spill, and police say a 25-year-old man who died in an oilfield accident was exposed to hydrogen sulfide gas. (Bismarck Tribune)

NATURAL GAS: GM announces a new Chevy Impala that can switch seamlessly between running on compressed natural gas and gasoline, a new fueling facility in Ohio is part of UPS’s strategy to increase its use of natural gas as a truck fuel, technology that will also be promoted at a summit in Minnesota today. (Detroit Free Press, Toledo Blade, Minneapolis Star Tribune)

WASTE-TO-ENERGY: Why burning garbage for energy, while controversial in the U.S., is regarded as a great environmental achievement in Sweden; and a biogas plant struggles with Flint, Michigan’s declining population. (Midwest Energy News, MLive)

SYNGAS: Developers of a proposed Ohio plant that will be able to convert biomass, petcoke or coal into synthetic gas hope to begin construction in 2014. (Lima News)

FRACKING: Backers of a ballot measure to ban fracking in Michigan target a county where drilling permits are already being issued. (Detroit Free Press)

FRAC SAND: Minnesota officials will set up air quality monitoring in Winona, a city at the center of the state’s sand-mining boom. (Winona Daily News)

EFFICIENCY: An Ohio mall will undergo $4 million in energy improvements utilizing PACE financing. (Youngstown Vindicator)

COMMENTARY: Why Elon Musk is a utility executive’s worst nightmare. (Quartz)

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Ken Paulman

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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