FUEL CELLS: Toyota announces plans to phase out gasoline-powered vehicles by 2050, relying on hydrogen fuel cells instead of electric vehicles. (NBC News)

EFFICIENCY: Six states are leading an effort to streamline the evaluation of efficiency investments, which could help states comply with the Clean Power Plan. (EnergyWire)

OIL AND GAS:
Companies in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania are urged to work together on using ethane from the fracking process to make byproducts rather than burning it. (Columbus Business First)
Texas is expected to see a $4.1 billion drop in oil and gas tax revenue over the next two years as the outlook nationwide continues to deteriorate. (Austin American-Statesman, Dallas Morning News)
For the second month this year, natural gas surpasses coal as the country’s No. 1 source of electricity. (Washington Post)
• A top industry official says it’s a “suite” of proposed federal regulations that threaten North Dakota’s oil production, not slumping prices. (Associated Press)
New Jersey is one of 16 states identified in a new report for over-relying on natural gas as an energy source in the future. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

DEMAND RESPONSE: U.S. Supreme Court justices raise concerns about federal regulators’ ability to reward customers for reducing energy use. (Greenwire)

MERGER: The mayor of Washington D.C. reverses course and urges local regulators to let Chicago-based Exelon take over the city’s utility. (Washington Post)

RETIREMENT: Utilities in Wisconsin and Kansas plan to retire 600 megawatts of coal, natural gas and biomass by the end of the year. (Platts)

FRACKING:
• A sharp earthquake in central Oklahoma last week raised concerns about the security of a vast oil-storage complex nearby. (New York Times)
• 
A new study says prenatal exposure to chemicals used for fracking could have long-term reproductive health consequences. (Huffington Post)

OIL SPILL: Federal and state officials say they will not seek an additional $92 million from Exxon Mobil for environmental cleanup needed from an Alaska spill 30 years ago. (Reuters)

POLITICS: Democrats’ embrace of climate change as an issue at the national level is a “stunning evolution.” (ClimateWire)

SOLAR: The future for utility-scale solar looks bright even if a federal tax credit is scaled back after 2016. (Solar Industry)

COMMENTARY:
• A U.S. Supreme Court decision on demand-response “could very well be the biggest energy-related Supreme Court case in decades.” (The Conversation)
With demand and generation falling, the western coal industry “is placing a huge if misguided bet on foreign markets” with coal export schemes. (Tacoma News Tribune)
The Democratic Party has come a long way on climate change, but CNN hasn’t. (Vox)
Activist Bill McKibben calls Exxon Mobil’s climate change cover-up “unparalleled evil.” (The Guardian)

Andy compiles the Midwest Energy News digest and was a journalism fellow for Midwest Energy News from 2014-2020. He is managing editor of MiBiz in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was formerly a reporter and editor at City Pulse, Lansing’s alternative newsweekly.

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