CLIMATE: Exelon says it has met its climate goals 7 years early, but warns of financial challenges for its nuclear fleet. (ClimateWire)
SOLAR: U.S. solar capacity has grown 400 percent since 2010, and is increasingly backed by Tea Party conservatives. (ClimateWire, Slate)
***SPONSORED LINK: Join the conversation, expand your network and meet face-to-face with key solar industry players at the Midwest Solar Expo on May 16 at the Hilton Minneapolis. Sponsor this event and become a strategic player in the expanding Midwest solar market.***
MICHIGAN: The CEO of CMS, parent company of Consumers Energy, says he believes the legislature will expand the state’s renewable energy standard in 2015. (Platts)
ALSO: Experts say retail choice programs like Michigan’s are good for large companies, but not for individual ratepayers. (MLive)
FRACKING: A major supplier of fracking fluid says it will disclose all of the chemicals it uses — but there’s a caveat. (Associated Press)
OIL: North Dakota tribes aim to cut flaring in half, drilling opponents in Michigan say they’ll make it “as uncomfortable as possible” for oil companies, and DOT officials say new safety standards for shipping oil by rail will be coming soon. (Fargo Forum, MLive)
COAL: Peabody Energy reports a $44 million loss; Akron, Ohio will shut down a coal-powered boiler in a settlement over air quality violations; and Ohio landowners sue a coal mining company for pollution. (Akron Beacon Journal, Athens Messenger)
NATURAL GAS: A fire at a Wyoming natural gas processing plant continues to burn, but analysts say the supply disruption will be minimal. (Reuters)
***SPONSORED LINK: Register today ($15/individual) for the 15th Anniversary Conference of Wisconsin Interfaith Power & Light “Climate Stewardship: Sustainability, Eco-Justice and Well-Being” on May 18 in Milwaukee. Keynote, workshops, exhibits and more. Be a sponsor, $100-$1,000.***
KEYSTONE XL: Behind the scenes at the “spirit camp” erected by Sioux leaders to protest the Keystone XL pipeline, a protest that is being mocked in oil industry ads. (National Journal, Omaha World-Herald)
COMMENTARY: Wisconsin can still be a clean energy leader, and why conservative opposition to transmission lines “makes no sense.” (Midwest Energy News, St. Louis Post-Dispatch)