FLYING GREEN: Air travel is a carbon-intensive industry, but airports, with Chicago’s O’Hare among the leaders, are doing what they can to reduce the impact. (Midwest Energy News)
NATURAL GAS: Environmental groups temper their stances on fracking, Michigan chemical industry leaders push for more drilling, and a Minnesota company is considering a possible $1 billion fertilizer plant in North Dakota. (Mother Jones, MLive.com, Minneapolis Star Tribune)
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RAIL: A common rail tanker car, commonly used to haul ethanol and other hazardous materials, has a design flaw — which transportation officials have known about for years — that increases the chances the tank will rupture in a derailment. (Associated Press)
TRANSPORTATION: Studies find Americans are willing to pay more for better fuel economy, and that a majority would rather see increased spending on public transit rather than more roads. (Detroit Free Press, The Hill)
WIND: The Minnesota Vikings swap energy credits with a wind producer as part of a sponsorship deal, and wind industry job figures pass an Iowa newspaper’s “smell test.” (St. Paul Pioneer Press, Cedar Rapids Gazette)
CLIMATE: Geoengineering techniques face a major challenge: How do you test them? (Climate Central)
SOLAR: A solar farm near the Rockford, Illinois airport is far from reaching its intended size, but is expected to start generating electricity soon. (Rockford Register Star)
COMMENTARY: Minnesota meteorologist Paul Douglas again implores his fellow Republicans to accept reality on climate change, Retired Navy Vice-Admiral Dennis McGinn is tired of renewable energy being vilified, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says a state lawmaker’s effort to halt wind farms would “take the state backward.” (Neorenaissance, Reuters, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)