Momentum builds for federal carbon tax

TRANSMISSION: After years of planning, debate, and regulatory procedures, the CapX2020 transmission project is on track to be completed by 2015. (Midwest Energy News)

CLIMATE: Some observers say a carbon tax could be proposed in Congress as early as next session; and a University of Michigan study finds Generation Xers are disengaged on climate change, blaming in part the ​“seeds of doubt sown on the nightly news.” (E&E Daily, Mother Jones)

WIND: A Department of Energy official visited Minnesota yesterday to push for extension of the wind production tax credit, which Norman Ornstein of the conservative American Enterprise Institute says ​“ought to be bipartisan.” (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

POLITICS: Michigan Rep. Fred Upton says the House Energy and Commerce Committee hasn’t gone far enough to ​“rein in the activist EPA.” (The Hill)

ALSO: How Agenda 21 conspiracy theorists are starting to have an impact on environmental policy discussions in Wisconsin. (Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism)

OIL: Protests in more than a dozen cities are planned this week in conjunction with the two-year anniversary of the Kalamazoo River oil spill in Michigan, and the shale boom spreads further south as drilling begins in a northwest Nebraska county. (Kalamazoo Gazette, Chadron Record)

COAL: An entrepreneur who made billions investing in coal says the industry’s slide will be a long-term trend. (Tulsa World)

SMART GRID: Michigan regulators advise utilities to allow customers to opt out of smart meter installations. (MLive.com)

SOLAR: The American Solar Car challenge rolls into Michigan for the first time, with a team from the University of Michigan holding a commanding lead. (Detroit Free Press)

TRANSPORTATION: Car sharing catches on at Wayne State University, but will it be a good fit for the rest of Detroit? (Model D Media)

COMMENTARY: Former Sierra Club director Carl Pope says congressional Republicans are willing to destroy the American renewable energy industry if it hurts President Obama’s re-election chances. (Huffington Post)