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CLIMATE:
• At a White House appearance, Pope Francis says climate change “is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation.” (The Guardian)
• Coinciding with with Pope Francis’s visit, leaders from several other major countries are expected to make climate change announcements this week. (ClimateWire)
• Utah’s ski industry is “increasingly alarmed” about the economic toll of climate change. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Walmart, Nike and Starbucks are among a group of U.S. companies that have committed to using 100 percent renewable energy. (Huffington Post)

SOLAR:
• Net metering and battery storage technology are inherently at odds with each other, creating clashes between some allies. (EnergyWire)
• Arizona regulators were caught off guard by efforts to force some members to recuse themselves in utility cases. (Phoenix Business Journal)
• A solar farm could be built on the site of a former Massachusetts coal plant. (MassLive)

WIND:
• Why wind energy is surging in Texas but stalling in the West (spoiler: transmission). (Greentech Media)
• What could become California’s first offshore wind farm is under development. (San Luis Obispo Tribune)

FRACKING:
Many fracking firms that drove the oil and natural gas boom are struggling to survive.(The Wall Street Journal)
A new report says Michigan’s oil and gas industry and state regulators have a long way to go to convince the public that fracking is environmentally sound. (Associated Press)
• Colorado’s governor says towns that ban fracking should compensate residents with oil and gas reserves that can’t be tapped. (Denver Business Journal)
• Participants in a California panel say the fracking debate is overshadowing larger issues in the oil and gas industry. (Bakersfield Californian)

COAL:
• The number of operating coal mines has hit its lowest point on record, says an EIA report. (Climate Central)
• The coal-fired pizza trend is a bright spot for the industry. (Boston Globe)
• Michigan’s two U.S. senators introduce federal legislation meant to prevent oil spills by tanker or pipeline in the Great Lakes. (MLive)

NATURAL GAS: Federal regulators accuse Total of manipulating natural gas markets in the Southwest. (Reuters)

VW POLLUTION CASE:
• How scientists at West Virginia University caught VW hacking the EPA’s emissions test software.(National Public Radio)
• Rough calculations place the impact of VW’s excess emissions at between 58 and 520 premature deaths worldwide each year. (Vox)
• How U.S. copyright rules made it easier for VW to cheat. (Quartz)

EFFICIENCY:
• Indiana utilities show that, without energy efficiency standards as policy, they will invest less in eliminating energy waste. (Midwest Energy News)
• Democrats believe their sweeping clean-energy bill will be a major draw for voters in 2016. (Greenwire)

COMMENTARY:
• Hillary Clinton, in her own words, on why she opposes the Keystone XL pipeline. (Medium)
• Senate Democrats’ climate bill “is astonishingly substantive, a veritable policy buffet of ideas about how to rationalize and accelerate government’s role in the clean energy transition.” (Vox)

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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