WIND: A provision to extend the wind production tax credit was pulled from a bipartisan Senate bill yesterday by Republicans, in a show of support for the Romney campaign’s recently announced opposition. (New York Times)

ALSO: Romney’s stance won some praise from conservatives, but could cost him votes in states like Iowa and Colorado that have growing wind power industries. (E&E Daily)

TRANSMISSION: A questionable approval process for a power line project becomes a key issue for opponents of expanded mining in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. (Midwest Energy News)

CLIMATE: During a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on climate change, the panel’s first in three years, Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, citing oft-debunked “Climategate” claims, declares “the global warming movement has completely collapsed.” (Greenwire)

OIL: A witness says a ruptured Wisconsin pipeline “just blew like an oil well” before spilling 1,200 barrels of crude last week, and Indiana State University gets the go-ahead to drill for oil on campus. (InsideClimate News, Terre Haute Tribune-Star)

FRACKING: Experts say a lack of research into fracking could open the floodgates for lawsuits, a mineral-rights transfer could be a windfall for thousands of Ohio landowners, and the number of drilling sites continues to grow in northern Michigan. (Associated Press, Youngstown Vindicator, Traverse City Record-Eagle)

SOLAR: Ohio-based First Solar reports record earnings in the second quarter of 2012, double those of the same period last year. (Toledo Blade)

OIL SANDS: A debunked claim that a Prius running on fuel derived from oil sands has the same climate impact as a Hummer running on conventional oil has been removed from Al Gore’s website. (EnergyWire)

EPA: As legal experts anticipated, the Supreme Court’s ruling upholding the Affordable Care Act is being cited in a challenge to the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases. (Greenwire)

SMART GRID: DTE Energy in Detroit plans to charge customers who opt out of smart meter installations $87, along with an ongoing $15 monthly fee. (Detroit Free Press)

BIOFUELS: A group of 135 lawmakers ask the EPA to lower ethanol targets in response to the drought, and the Midwestern Governor’s Association calls on manufacturers to build equipment that can run on a 20 percent biodiesel blend. (The Hill, Farm Futures)

OHIO: After 16 years of planning, Toledo launches its own municipal utility, with one customer. (Toledo Blade)

COMMENTARY: Tim Alberta explains how the Romney campaign has painted itself into a corner on wind energy. (National Journal)

 

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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