OHIO: State regulators are still at odds with utility FirstEnergy, which is seeking what critics call a bailout for several struggling nuclear and coal plants. (Midwest Energy News)

OIL AND GAS:
• A new mini-documentary explores the impact North Dakota’s oil boom has had on an Indian reservation there. (Midwest Energy News)
• Divers are unable to detect active oil leaks from a sunken barge at the bottom of Lake Erie. (Associated Press)
• A Michigan company applies for a permit to drill an exploratory well on a church property in suburban Detroit. (Associated Press)

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CLEAN POWER PLAN:
• Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan draws criticism from southern Illinois lawmakers who support the coal industry for her stance on defending the federal rules. (Southern Illinoisan)
• Grid operator MISO is modeling various state-level compliance options to find the least-cost plans available for states. (EnergyWire)

RPS: A Michigan legislative committee approves a bill that sets a “goal” of 30 percent renewables by 2025, but stops short of mandating it. (MLive)

CLIMATE: Experts say other oil companies in addition to Exxon Mobil may be subject to litigation based on their funding of climate science opposition. (New York Times)

NUCLEAR: Despite a wave of recent plant closure announcements, the EIA reports that U.S. nuclear capacity would grow between 2016 and 2020. (Utility Dive)

PIPELINE: Iowa residents quickly line up to discuss the Bakken pipeline project at a public hearing next week. (KCCI-TV)

KEYSTONE XL: Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says the Obama administration should reject the project before the climate talks in Paris this month to send a signal to other countries. (ClimateWire)

COAL:
• A southern Illinois coal plant is closing due to what the owner says is a “poorly designed” capacity market run by grid operator MISO that makes plants in deregulated areas compete with regulated plants. (SNL)
• FirstEnergy decommissions a 1940s-era coal plant at the site of a proposed ethane cracker facility. (Columbus Business First)

BIOFUELS: Xcel Energy announces it will grant $1.9 million to a Minnesota university to help develop locally sourced biofuels. (Biofuels Digest)

UTILITIES:
• Wisconsin company Alliant Energy says it’s cutting 2 percent of its workforce. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
• Income is up at a Wisconsin municipal utility following a period of high demand due to unusually warm temperatures and higher fixed charges. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

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BATTERIES: Invenergy’s total battery storage supply available to grid operator PJM now exceeds 64 megawatts. (Utility Dive)

COMMENTARY:
• Americans for Prosperity says a proposed 5 percent severance tax would hurt Illinois’ already struggling coal industry. (Southern Illinoisan)
• A former Consumers Energy official says it would be a mistake to expand Michigan’s electric choice market. (MLive)
• With the latest request to delay Keystone XL, “the pipeline project has become an overblown piece of ideological symbolism.” (Rapid City Journal)