DIVESTMENT: Massachusetts is in the midst of an even bolder divestment push than California’s, calling for the state’s $62 billion pension fund to completely rid itself of fossil fuel investments. (InsideClimate News)
COAL:
• Employees of Alabama-based Walter Energy watched this week as their company’s share price lost 30 percent of its value in a day, amid speculation of an impending bankruptcy filing. (ClimateWire)
• Proposed new temperature limits on Chicago-area waterways could hasten the demise of two coal-fired power plants. (Midwest Energy News)
• Kentucky’s race for governor got started with a secret debate in Virginia over the future of the coal industry. (Lexington Herald-Leader)
ARCTIC DRILLING: A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected an effort by a coalition of environmental groups to revoke federal approval of Shell’s ospill response plans for drilling off Alaska’s remote Arctic coast. (Reuters)
OIL:
• The world’s appetite for crude is making a comeback as economies improve and cheap oil draws out more buyers, according to the International Energy Agency. (FuelFix)
• Oil companies ultimately recover their costs of complying with the U.S. biofuels program, says an EPA analysis that marks the clearest challenge yet to a key criticism of the federal blending mandate. (Reuters)
OIL TRAIN: Oil companies have contributed to a $345 million fund to compensate victims of the 2013 oil train disaster in Quebec that killed 47, even though they deny any responsibility for the event. (The Hill)
FRACKING: In the war of public opinion over fracking, supporters fired back this week by launching of a new BuzzFeed-style website called FrackFeed.com. (FuelFix)
EARTHQUAKES: The ground around a northern Colorado wastewater injection well has been relatively quiet for more than two months, raising hope that well alterations may have stopped the 10-month string of more than 200 small earthquakes. (Associated Press)
CAP-AND-TRADE: California’s governor and legislative leaders pulled $1 billion in cap-and-trade revenue from state budget talks when arguments over how to spend the money slowed approval of the general budget. (Sacramento Business Journal)
WIND: Power Company of Wyoming plans to build 1,000 turbines in what will be North America’s largest onshore wind farm and, at the same time, make the project a model for large-scale wind development in sage grouse country. (Greenwire)
SOLAR: An Iowa college will soon begin work on what will be one of the state’s largest solar projects, thanks in large part to a recent state Supreme Court ruling that allowed for third-party ownership of solar arrays. (Midwest Energy News)
GRID: North Dakota Senator Martin Heinrich is at the center of a growing discussion Congress about how to bolster utility-scale renewables, energy storage and distributed generation in a comprehensive energy package. (E&E Daily)