CLEAN POWER PLAN: President Trump signs an executive order eliminating several restrictions on fossil fuel production and directs the U.S. EPA to review the Clean Power Plan in an effort to ultimately undo the rules. (Associated Press)
ALSO:
• Minnesota is on track to meet its carbon emissions targets under the Clean Power Plan even if the rules go away. (Minnesota Public Radio)
• Cities and states — even some led by Republicans, such as Carmel, Indiana — vow to press on with the clean energy transition. (Washington Post)
• Experts say environmental groups and progressive states’ upcoming legal challenge to President Trump’s effort to ultimately repeal federal climate protections will be “slow and protracted.” (Climate Central)
• Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine thanks President Trump for “ending the war on coal.” (East Liverpool Review)
• Chicago officials vow to fight Trump’s effort to roll back U.S. EPA regulations. (CBS Chicago)
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OIL AND GAS:
• President Trump’s executive order “won’t stop the rout” natural gas is having on coal due to the economics of shale drilling. (Bloomberg)
• The budget of a gas-main replacement program in Chicago continues to rise in the face of regulatory scrutiny and pushback from consumer groups. (Crain’s Chicago Business)
RENEWABLES: Ohio-based AEP says it will continue to focus on and invest in renewable energy despite Trump’s executive order. (Columbus Business First)
COAL:
• Southern Illinois leaders offer a range of opinions on President Trump’s effort to bring back coal jobs. (Southern Illinoisan)
• Critics say President Trump’s executive order will create long-term uncertainty for utilities, particularly in coal-dependent states like Missouri. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
WIND: North Dakota lawmakers seek compromise on a wind energy bill dealing with minimum turbine setback distances. (Forum News Service)
SOLAR:
• A solar developer looks to install solar panels on city-owned and public school buildings in a northwest Illinois city. (Moline Dispatch Argus)
• A group-buying solar program in Racine, Wisconsin is modeled off of similar programs in Seattle, Portland and Milwaukee. (Racine Journal Times)
PIPELINES: Tribes fighting the Dakota Access pipeline say they will continue their legal challenge. (Associated Press)
BIOFUELS: An Illinois city looks to move forward with plans for a $28 million biodiesel facility that doubles the original planned production capacity to 100 million gallons a year. (Effingham Daily News)
CLIMATE: The climate change-denying Heartland Institute looks to mail every public-school science teacher in the U.S. materials casting doubt on climate science. (Frontline)
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EFFICIENCY: Chicago chooses a Massachusetts-based company to convert 270,000 city streetlight to LEDs over the next four years. (CBS Chicago)
COMMENTARY: The Duluth News Tribune says Minnesota should consider the costs on ratepayers before committing to much higher renewable energy goals.