WIND: A Minnesota utility plans to add another 200 MW of wind capacity, meeting the state’s renewable energy mandate ten years early. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
COAL: Environmentalists and residents want Illinois officials to crack down on pollution issues at an Illinois coal plant they predict is likely to retire in the next few years. (Midwest Energy News)
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SOLAR: Wisconsin regulators suspend solar incentives for homeowners for the second time in three years, but expect them to resume next year. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
OIL: Investigators say a decades-old manufacturing defect is to blame for a pipeline spill earlier this year in Arkansas, and Republicans say President Obama’s comments on Keystone XL’s job potential jeopardize the project. (Reuters)
MINNEAPOLIS: Large crowds pack a public hearing on a plan to form a municipal utility in Minneapolis; Xcel Energy’s CEO says he doesn’t think the city will go through with the move, expecting to “be a partner in Minneapolis for another 100 years.” (Minnesota Public Radio, Minneapolis Star Tribune)
NATURAL GAS: Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz says methane emissions don’t diminish the climate benefits of natural gas, as researchers struggle to get exact measurements of methane leakage. (The Hill, ClimateWire)
ALSO: A new report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory says natural gas may be the cheapest way to meet emissions targets through 2030. (Greentech Media)
POLITICS: House lawmakers vote to give the Energy Department authority to block EPA regulations, as well as to block the agency from using the economic cost of carbon emission when formulating new rules. (The Hill)
POLLUTION: New industry will be limited in parts of five Indiana counties with aging coal plants that are now out of compliance with EPA pollution rules. (Associated Press)
COMMENTARY: A Republican case for climate action. (New York Times)