POLLUTION: The EPA will announced proposed rules today to limit sulfur in gasoline and reduce tailpipe emissions. (Associated Press)

CLIMATE: A movement in China seeks to elevate the middle class — while limiting the energy impact — by focusing on quality of life over consumption. (Midwest Energy News)

***SPONSORED LINK: The best Midwest clean energy startups vie for $250,000 in prizes at the 2013 Clean Energy Challenge April 4 in Chicago.***

COAL: A federal court sides with the EPA in a dispute over pollution controls at a Michigan power plant, an Indiana lawmaker says a proposed coal-to-gas plant is no longer economically feasible, Cleveland officials ask the state attorney general to investigate the city’s deal with the Prairie State Energy Campus, and federal budget cuts hamstring regulators’ ability to recover fines for mining violations. (Associated Press, WEWS-TV, Huffington Post)

OIL: Minnesota officials now say only 15,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from a train derailment Wednesday, and local officials break ground on a new diesel refinery in North Dakota. (Worthington Globe, Bismarck Tribune)

SOLAR: How solar power installations are saving schools money. (ClimateWire)

FRACKING: A new study links a 2011 Oklahoma earthquake, which destroyed more than a dozen homes, to a fracking wastewater well. (New York Times)

WIND: A GAO report finds “duplicative financial support” in some federal wind incentive programs. (The Hill)

SURVEY SAYS: A Gallup poll finds finds three-quarters of Americans want to increase investment in wind and solar, and a study finds 80 percent of Midwesterners approve of wind energy. (The Hill, Phys.org)

ETHANOL: E85 sales drop 26 percent in Minnesota as the price gap with gasoline shrinks. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

EFFICIENCY: Energy conservation programs in Holland, Michigan are reaping nearly $1 million a year in benefits. (Holland Sentinel)

NOT MAKING THIS UP: Troubled battery maker A123 Systems has changed its name to B456 Systems. (Detroit Free Press)

COMMENTARY: A new study explores how to the public and private sectors can best collaborate on new energy technology. (EnergyBiz.com)

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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