EPA quietly ends ​‘watch list’ for major pollution violators

MICHIGAN: Advocates and officials at a summit yesterday called for a Michigan-focused solution to the Upper Peninsula’s energy crisis. (Midwest Energy News)

ALSO: A Michigan university seeks ways to avoid a $400,000 annual rate increase from proposed cost-shifting for the Presque Isle power plant. (Sault Ste. Marie Evening News)

***SPONSORED LINK: Join top executives from the area’s RTOs, utilities, transmission developers, and state regulatory agencies at EUCI’s Transmission Expansion in the Midwest, Nov. 4-5 in Indianapolis.***

POLLUTION: The EPA quietly ends its ​“watch list” for major pollution violators. (SNL)

COAL:
• A study finds a Kentucky utility overpaid $40 million for power from the Prairie State coal plant over a 20-month period. (SNL)
• Murray Energy buys more coal reserves in Illinois. (Pittsburgh Business Times)
• A Michigan utility completes pollution upgrades at a power plant it says is now one of the nation’s cleanest. (FierceEnergy)
• NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. promotes coal in a new video. (Columbus Business First)

WIND: A judge rules that a Minneapolis suburb can’t ban wind turbines. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

SOLAR: Officials say Indianapolis will soon be hope to the largest airport-based solar farm in the world. (Indiana Public Media)

OIL AND GAS:
• Ohio Gov. John Kasich says the current drilling tax is ​“a total and complete rip-off to the people of this state.” (Columbus Dispatch)
• A pipeline carrying natural gas byproducts catches fire in Ohio. (Columbus Dispatch)
• Frac sand mining begins to take off in Illinois. (LaSalle News Tribune)
• Low oil prices mean Keystone XL could fail the president’s climate test. (InsideClimate News)

EFFICIENCY: Ohio State University proposes outsourcing its energy management to improve efficiency. (Columbus Dispatch)

ELECTRIC CARS: GM moves production of the Chevy Volt drive unit to Michigan, more electric car owners are fueling up with solar power, and Tesla announces a lower-cost lease program. (Associated Press, Wall Street Journal)

GRID: Why Canada wants to keep an open energy border with the U.S., and energy storage is ​“beyond the tipping point.” (Reuters, Yale E360)

COMMENTARY: ​“Does the lack of even modest government support mean that renewables, energy efficiency and advanced energy technologies cannot succeed in Ohio? Not necessarily.” (Dayton Business Journal)