WIND: An industry study finds wind energy has cut U.S. power sector CO2 emissions by 4.4 percent; another report finds wind would be competitive with natural gas if carbon emissions were priced. (Huffington Post, BusinessGreen)
PIPELINES: Enbridge confirms plans to export Canadian oil via the U.S., a judge recommends allowing eminent domain for construction of an Illinois pipeline, and pipeline replacement work in Michigan will resume in May. (Reuters, EnergyWire, Associated Press)
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CLIMATE: EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy says states will have flexibility to implement new carbon rules: “Nothing we do can threaten reliability.” (Chicago Tribune)
ALSO: The Obama administration is concerned the IPCC is overestimating the cost of climate mitigation. (Bloomberg)
POLITICS: A College Republican event in northern Michigan makes the conservative case for clean energy and efficiency. (Marquette Mining Journal)
COAL: American Electric Power revises its projections, saying it will still get more than half of its energy from coal in 2020. (Platts)
COAL ASH: How North Carolina’s coal ash disaster was decades in the making. (Greensboro News & Record)
UTILITIES: Critics are concerned legislation shifting cleanup costs of old coal-gas sites to ratepayers could open the door for other, more costly projects. (Columbus Dispatch)
SOLAR: State officials sign off on a proposed solar project at the University of Illinois, and a community solar garden is planned at a former power plant site in Moorhead, Minnesota. (Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, Fargo Forum)
OIL: Ohio officials hear about North Dakota’s nearly $2 billion oil endowment (and higher drilling tax rates), and crews begin surveying for oil outside Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Columbus Dispatch, MLive)
FRAC SAND: Opponents will challenge an air permit for a proposed Wisconsin frac sand mine. (Winona Daily News)
TECHNOLOGY: The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is expanding its battery research project with Johnson Controls. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
MEDIA: An analysis of cable news climate reporting finds there is still a significant amount of misleading coverage. (Union of Concerned Scientists)
COMMENTARY: A father’s perspective on climate change, and St. Louis doesn’t want Chicago’s petcoke either. (The Daily Beast, St. Louis Post-Dispatch)