PIPELINES: TransCanada Corp. is seeking $15 billion in damages as it requests arbitration over the Obama administration’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline. (Reuters)
WIND:
• Development of wind projects in Michigan’s “Thumb” region may help revive the area’s water-based shipping industry. (MLive)
• Researchers at the University of Akron are developing materials that could extend the life of wind turbine components. (Canton Repository)
• Supporters of the Grain Belt Express transmission project plan to present the proposal again in Missouri. (Associated Press)
• Wind developers are in fierce competition for land in an Illinois county. (The Missourian)
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CLIMATE: A group of teen activists in Minnesota push local officials to adopt an aggressive climate change resolution. (Midwest Energy News)
COAL:
• Local officials in Ohio are concerned about the potential pollution from coal ash storage ponds at a Duke Energy facility along the Ohio River. (WCPO)
• Workers recently laid off at a North Dakota mine watch as their former equipment is auctioned off. (Bismark Tribune)
• Murray Energy reaches a tentative five-year labor agreement with unionized mining workers in Ohio and West Virginia. (Huntington Herald-Dispatch)
• The long-awaited cleanup of toxic coal ash in an Indiana town begins. (South Bend Tribune)
• An Indiana utility looks to install $100 million worth of pollution controls at one of its coal plants. (Indianapolis Business Journal)
CLEAN ENERGY: A Michigan agency releases a new report on suggestions for boosting the state’s clean-energy sector. (Crain’s Detroit Business)
SOLAR:
• At 2.3 megawatts, Wisconsin’s largest solar project comes online at a coal-ash landfill. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
• Several solar projects are under construction this summer in Madison, Wisconsin. (WISC-TV)
• Clean energy groups are pushing solar adoption in Bloomington, Indiana. (Indiana Daily Student)
OIL AND GAS:
• Production in Ohio hits a “much-expected slowdown.” (Youngstown Vindicator)
• Oilfield companies in the Bakken region are increasingly hiring workers again. (Forum News Service)
• An anti-fracking group in Youngstown, Ohio says it has the necessary signatures for its sixth attempt at a ballot initiative to ban shale-gas development within the city. (Youngstown Vindicator)
• DTE Energy installs its first natural-gas powered unit at a Michigan home that can meet the owners’ electric needs. (Traverse City Record-Eagle)
BIOFUELS:
• A group of 39 U.S. senators sign on to a letter to the U.S. EPA calling for a strengthened Renewable Fuel Standard. (The Hill)
• Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad predicts that he and his son could have “some real influence” on presidential candidate Donald Trump’s views on ethanol. (Radio Iowa)
EFFICIENCY:
• A group of engineers is finishing the last of 40 energy audits on city-owned buildings in Lawrence, Kansas in an effort to identify cost savings. (Lawrence Journal-World)
• A growing number of businesses and residents in Sioux City, Iowa are seeing lower energy bills by switching to LED lighting. (Sioux City Journal)
EMISSIONS:
• Alliant Energy begins a $250 million project at one of its Wisconsin plants that is expected to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by about 90 percent. (Wisconsin State Journal)
• Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette continues his fight against the U.S. EPA’s mercury pollution rules. (Crain’s Detroit Business)
UTILITIES: The CEOs of Westar Energy and Great Plains Energy are on the road answering questions and “attempting to allay investor concerns” about a planned $12.2 billion merger of the two utilities. (Topeka Capital-Journal)
COMMENTARY: Congress should intervene to ensure nuclear power remains a strong component of the U.S. generating mix. (Portage Daily Register)