Illinois, like Chicago, proposes tougher petcoke storage rules

PETCOKE: Echoing a similar order from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn announces emergency rules that would require petroleum coke to be stored indoors statewide. (Chicago Tribune)

MEANWHILE: At a public hearing in Chicago, Southeast Side residents say the city’s proposed petcoke rules are so full of loopholes they are essentially meaningless. (Midwest Energy News)

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COAL: Environmental advocates and other critics say a chemical spill that shut down much of West Virginia’s water supply is indicative of a broader problem of lax oversight of the state’s coal industry. (New York Times)

OIL: Federal investigators say 400,000 barrels of crude oil was spilled as the result of the Dec. 30 derailment in North Dakota, and environmental groups ​“get creative” to fight oil-by-rail shipments. (Minneapolis Star Tribune, EnergyWire)

SOLAR: Ameren Missouri announces plans for a 5.7 MW solar farm near St. Louis. (St. Louis Post Dispatch)

WIND: How the production tax credit could be revived. (SNL)

CLIMATE: Department of Energy data show carbon emissions in the U.S. rose 2 percent in 2013. (InsideClimate News)

MICHIGAN: Why Gov. Rick Snyder is not making friends among the coal lobby. (EnergyWire)

UTILITIES: The parent company of Midwest Generation petitions a bankruptcy judge to end health benefits for about 500 retired workers. (Crain’s Chicago Business)

TRANSMISSION: A planned transmission line to move Kansas wind energy eastward is running into opposition from landowners. (Lawrence Journal-World)

EFFICIENCY: Google enters the energy-management business with its $3.2 billion purchase of Nest Labs, the proposed federal budget includes a provision blocking funding to enforce light bulb efficiency standards, and a project at the University of Illinois would be the largest net-zero building in the world. (Forbes, Huffington Post, EarthTechling)

COMMENTARY: The chemical threat from coal goes far beyond West Virginia’s water supply. (Institute for Southern Studies)