EPA: The Supreme Court will hear arguments today in a case closely examining the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases. (Washington Post)
NATURAL GAS: Consumer advocates say most customers who shop around for a lower-cost natural gas supplier end up getting a worse deal. (Midwest Energy News)
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OIL: Railroads agree to new safety measures for hauling crude oil, Wisconsin researchers have developed a new technology for cleaning up oil spills, and southwest Nebraska is seeing a brief oil boom. (New York Times, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Lincoln Journal Star)
COAL: An Illinois mining regulator is placed on unpaid leave after he was found to have accepted political contributions from a coal company, and an Ohio study looks for links between abandoned coal mines and illness. (Carbondale Southern, Columbus Dispatch)
COAL ASH: Muscatine, Iowa is using coal ash as a deicer on roads. (Muscatine Journal)
FRACKING:
• “The industry is frustrated” by a slow-moving rulemaking process in Illinois. (Carbondale Southern)
• How Exxon’s CEO found himself on the side of anti-fracking activists. (Wall Street Journal)
• Drillers seek to bypass Ohio regulations limiting the size of oil fields. (Youngstown Vindicator)
• Companies stop drilling in the Tyler Formation in southwest North Dakota. (Fargo Forum)
WIND: Another study finds no link between wind turbines and health claims, and a UK report finds wind turbines may last longer than previously thought. (The Guardian, Climate Central)
BIOFUELS: The advanced biofuel industry faces an uncertain future in Iowa. (Des Moines Register)
EFFICIENCY: Habitat for Humanity debuts its first net-zero house in Minneapolis. (Minnesota Public Radio)
TRANSMISSION: A Kansas bill backed by farm interests would require more extensive review of transmission line projects. (Topeka Capital-Journal)
UTILITIES: A study finds Minneapolis can cut its carbon emissions without establishing its own utility. (Minnesota Public Radio)
COMMENTARY: Wisconsin’s solar eclipse, and why calling anti-renewable activists “NIMBY” is often inaccurate and always unproductive. (Wisconsin Gazette, CleanTechnica)