EFFICIENCY: FirstEnergy, one of Ohio’s largest utilities, wants lawmakers to suspend the state’s landmark 2008 energy efficiency law during the upcoming lame duck legislative session. (Midwest Energy News)

ETHANOL: The EPA rejects requests by several governors to waive federal ethanol mandates in response to high corn prices. (Greenwire)

***SPONSORED LINK: Register by November 20, 2012 using code MWEN25off for the 2013 Midwest Energy Solutions Conference January 16-18, 2013 in Chicago and receive $25 off early bird rates.***

CLIMATE: A new World Bank report says the earth is on track to see a 7°F temperature rise by 2100, with the impacts hitting poor areas of the world the hardest. (The Hill)

COAL: A newspaper investigation finds Indiana customers of Vectren Corp. paid higher rates as the result of expensive contracts the utility made with its own coal subsidiary. (Indianapolis Star)

ALSO: A worker is killed in an accident at an Illinois coal mine; and an NAACP report finds Illinois leads the U.S. in the number of coal plants that disproportionately affect minority communities, followed by Indiana and Michigan. (Associated Press, Great Lakes Echo)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Battery maker A123 Systems says it received a nearly $1 million federal grant on the day it filed for bankruptcy. (Reuters)

FRACKING: Officials in Youngstown, Ohio, considers allowing natural gas drilling in city parks. (Youngstown Vindicator)

SOLAR: An East Lansing, Michigan, food co-op enters Consumers Energy’s solar program with a project that will provide half the building’s energy. (Lansing State Journal)

COMMENTARY: Coal really does kill people, and what President Obama can do about climate change over the next four years. (Slate, Mother Jones)

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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