BAKKEN: A new study says oil drillers in North Dakota are flaring off $100 million worth of natural gas per month. (Reuters)
EFFICIENCY: Concerns from opponents prompt Chicago aldermen to delay a vote on an ordinance that would require buildings to disclose their energy use. (Midwest Energy News)
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FRACKING: A federal agency plans to open an Ohio state forest to drilling, and more than 200 opponents and supporters of fracking square off at a demonstration in Warren, Ohio. (Columbus Dispatch, Youngstown Vindicator)
CLIMATE: A new study says energy efficiency, not natural gas, is the primary force behind a decline in U.S. carbon emissions. (InsideClimate News)
KEYSTONE XL: Oil industry supporters in Congress criticize President Obama’s comments dismissing Keystone XL as a major job creator, the State Department concurs the pipeline’s job impact will be “negligible,” but the Washington Post’s fact-checker gives the president two Pinocchios for his statement. (The Hill, Washington Post)
POLITICS: Advancement of an energy efficiency bill in the Senate shows that incremental energy legislation may be the only way forward through a deadlocked Congress. (E&E Daily)
EPA: In an interview with the New York Times, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy says “We don’t have a war on coal. We’re doing our business, which is to reduce pollution. We’re following the law.”
SMART GRID: A new report ranks Ohio and Illinois among the top ten states for smart grid advancement. (Greentech Media)
BIOFUELS: Work begins on a new cellulosic ethanol plant in northwest Iowa. (Sioux City Journal)
SOLAR: A new report seeks to develop a methodology for calculating the true value of solar power. (Greentech Media)
NATURAL GAS: Consumers Energy is hiring 300 workers in Michigan to help upgrade natural gas lines. (CBS Detroit)
COMMENTARY: Why it’s OK to talk about climate change again, and is natural gas a “bridge fuel” or a “gangplank to more warming“? (National Journal, New York Times)