NOTE TO READERS: Midwest Energy News will not be published tomorrow or Monday. Site updates and the email digest return Tuesday, September 3.

COAL: An Ohio town formally requests to have the state attorney general investigate its contract with the Prairie State Energy Campus in Illinois. (Columbus Dispatch)

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EFFICIENCY: A Q&A with a Minnesota planner who designs suburban subdivisions according to the existing contours of the land to save energy. (Midwest Energy News)

OIL: Residents of towns along the Keystone XL corridor are largely indifferent to the project, saying they’re skeptical that any economic impact will reach their communities; Enbridge gets approval to proceed with upgrades to an Indiana segment of the Line 6B pipeline; and Nebraska activists break ground on a solar barn they’re building in the pipeline’s path. (Bloomberg, Bold Nebraska)

FRAC SAND: A Wisconsin lawmaker calls for eight additional DNR employees to monitor sand mining in the state; and school districts where mining takes place will see less state aid, although tax revenues may make up the difference. (Madison Capital Times, Wisconsin Public Radio)

SOLAR: Two Chicago firms are among 22 installers selected to receive $7 billion in Pentagon clean energy contracts, companies in Wisconsin and Michigan also made the list. (Crain’s Chicago Business, news release)

ALSO: Illinois, Missouri and Kansas were among the top ten states for clean energy job creation in the second quarter of this year, according to a business group’s report. (St. Louis Business Journal)

POLITICS: Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, who’s been targeted for his rejection of climate science in an ad campaign, says he doesn’t have a belief “one way or the other” on whether human activities cause climate change. That’s a shift from 2010, when he said sunspots were a likely cause. (Wisconsin Public Radio, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

NUCLEAR: Federal regulators will re-inspect a Minnesota nuclear plant amid concerns it isn’t adequately prepared for flooding. (Minnesota Public Radio)