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COAL: Parties involved with the Patriot Coal bankruptcy back off a plan that would have diverted $18 million for health insurance from retired Indiana coal miners. (ProPublica)

EFFICIENCY: A new program in Chicago aims to help residents install one million “smart” thermostats. (Midwest Energy News)

***SPONSORED LINK: Hear top executives from the area’s RTOs, utilities, transmission developers, and state regulatory agencies discuss and debate critical issues at EUCI’s Transmission Expansion in the Midwest conference November 9-10 in Indianapolis.***

NUCLEAR: Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin look to end the state’s 32-year-old ban on the construction of new nuclear plants. (LaCrosse Tribune)

BIOFUELS: Researchers at the University of Iowa find that the school’s burning of oat hulls collected from a nearby Quaker Oats facility along with coal reduces carbon emissions by 40 percent. (Iowa City Press-Citizen)

PIPELINES:
• An Iowa judge will decide within two weeks whether a company can use eminent domain to use residents’ property for the Dakota Access pipeline. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
• The National Wildlife Federation alleges in a new lawsuit that the federal government has failed to require worst-case oil spill response plans for every pipeline crossing inland waters over the past 20 years. (MLive)

GRID: Federal regulators are investigating whether market manipulation took place at a capacity auction earlier this year that spiked prices in eastern and southern Illinois. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

CLEAN POWER PLAN: Minnesota House Republicans ask the governor and attorney general to join a lawsuit challenging federal carbon rules in court. (Echo Press)

UTILITIES: Chicago-based Exelon agrees to establish a corporate presence in Washington D.C. to secure a $6.8 billion merger with Pepco. (Chicago Business Journal)

NATURAL GAS: Developers are planning to build a new $1.1 billion, 1,100-megawatt natural gas plant in Ohio. (Akron Beacon Journal)

POLITICS: Democrats plan to filibuster a popular federal energy bill as part of an ongoing standoff with Republicans over budget negotiations. (E&E Daily)

WISCONSIN: In the wake of residents’ concerns, We Energies does not believe there is a connection between health issues and one of its coal-fired power plants. (Racine Journal Times)

EMISSIONS: An Iowa legislative panel approves new fees for air-quality applications and notifications after a long-term decline in emission-related revenue. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)

SOLAR: Southern Illinois residents turn to solar power to decrease reliance on the grid. (Southern Illinoisan)

COMMENTARY:
• A Michigan-based economist says the state should incentivize innovation and investments in renewables and efficiency on the part of utilities. (MLive)
• AEP’s “bailout” proposal in Ohio is “just as outrageous as it sounds.” (Columbus Dispatch)