PIPELINES: As concerns over pipeline spills mount, a new video raises questions about the safety of pipelines running beneath the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan. (Midwest Energy News)
ALSO: Last month’s pipeline spill in North Dakota raises concerns over the adequacy of current regulations and industry practices to detect problems while a federal regulator says “it’s just unconscionable” that the company didn’t know its pipeline was leaking. (New York Times, Forum News Service)
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ILLINOIS: Exelon reaches an agreement with environmental groups on a proposed remedy to a flaw in Illinois’ renewable energy law that is currently holding back development (for more background information, read our story from May on Exelon’s opposition to the change). (Crain’s Chicago Business, Midwest Energy News)
FRACKING: The EIA says the U.S. now leads the world in shale gas production. (USA Today)
CLIMATE: Ann Arbor officials consider divesting pension funds from fossil fuels, the EPA says U.S. power plant carbon emissions have fallen 10 percent thanks to a shift from coal to natural gas, and a new report says global spending on climate change falls far short of what’s needed. (MLive, The Hill)
TRANSMISSION: A Minnesota utility seeks regulators’ permission to build a new transmission line to import Canadian hydropower into the state. (Duluth News Tribune)
OHIO: State regulators order American Electric Power to repay $6.9 million to ratepayers due to excess profits in 2010. (Columbus Dispatch)
EFFICIENCY: A Lawrence Berkeley Lab study finds the U.S. could save $33 billion a year in energy costs by weatherizing homes. (National Journal)
KEYSTONE XL: Pipeline opponents plan widespread civil disobedience protests. (New York Times)
TRANSPORTATION: A study finds that driverless cars could cut fuel consumption by 724 million gallons a year, while preventing more than 21,000 fatalities. (Politico)
BIOFUELS: House members from the Midwest join calls for an investigation into alleged abuse of renewable fuel credits. (Des Moines Register)
COMMENTARY: The Battle Creek Enquirer says Michigan’s proposed new fracking regulations don’t go far enough.