FRACKING: As communities struggle to stay ahead of the fracking boom, a national environmental group steps in to offer legal assistance. (Midwest Energy News)

CONGRESS: A Senate energy bill drops efficiency mandates to appeal to conservatives in the House, and 47 House Republicans write a letter to Speaker John Boehner calling for an end to the wind tax credit. (The Hill, Reuters)

*** SPONSORED LINK: Join over 500 private- and public-sector thought leaders from around the nation at the 2013 Midwest Energy Solutions Conference taking place January 16-18 in Chicago. Register today! ***

POLITICS: A new poll finds the majority of undecided voters think the president and Congress should be doing more to fight climate change. (The Hill)

BIOFUELS: A highly-publicized Minnesota isobutanol plant will go back to producing ethanol, as another ethanol plant in the state shuts down amid high corn prices. (Bloomberg, Reuters)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Toyota scales back its electric car ambitions; Tesla unveils a solar powered high-speed charging station it plans to deploy nationwide; and despite media narratives that the car is a flop, the Chevy Volt outsells nearly half of all U.S. car models, including most hybrids. (Reuters, Associated Press, Christian Science Monitor)

TRANSPORTATION: A plan to restripe a Des Moines street to reduce accidents turns into a high-profile political issue because the project also includes bike lanes. (WHO-TV)

NATURAL GAS: An Ohio company finds a niche converting fleet vehicles to run on natural gas, and officials in Holland, Michigan hear from residents questioning a plan to convert the city’s coal plant to natural gas. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, Grand Rapids Press)

POLLUTION: A Wisconsin town faces long-term consequences in the aftermath of a gasoline pipeline spill earlier this year. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

NUCLEAR: Funding for research into small modular reactors also hangs in the balance as Congress fights over debt. (Greenwire)

MEDIA: PBS ombudsman Michael Getler says a NewsHour segment giving significant airtime to a climate science doubter was “badly handled” but “not the end of the world.”

COMMENTARY: The Lawrence Journal World says Kansas lawmakers should support the wind tax credit; and Katie Fehrenbacher, who did her own series on data center energy use, says a recent New York Times report on the subject is valuable but fails to account for recent innovations. (Lawrence Journal World, GigaOM)

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.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.