View of the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant fly ash spill, approximately. one mile from the retention pond. By Brian Stansberry . CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Here are some of the stories we’ve been following this week.

  • Investors at a recent conference stressed that startups need to use capital efficiently, and overvaluation is a pitfall that many new businesses can fall into if they are not careful.
  • The Keystone Pipeline reportedly spilled an estimated 210,000 gallons in South Dakota. The cause of the leak is still under investigation.
  • In Nebraska, opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline are hoping regulators will rule next week against a route proposed by TransCanada for the controversial pipeline.
  • Contamination is worse than expected at a lake at the center of a federal lawsuit, according to one expert. Herrington Lake in Kentucky was found to have high levels of selenium.
  • The owner of a chicken processing plant in Florida agreed to pay $1.4 million to upgrade the plant’s equipment to help reduce waste. Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. settled the lawsuit after it was cited for polluting the Suwanee River.
  • TVA plans to use dry storage for all of its coal combustion residuals and work to upgrade its facilities to meet future coal ash safety regulations.
  • Property values in one Wisconsin county are declining, and the Department of Revenue said large farms with thousands of cows are to blame. Residents living near the farms have complained of loud noises and bad smells coming from the farms.
  • Hundreds of abandoned wells in Wyoming could soon be working again, but the gas company responsible for them is having trouble getting approval from landowners for the surface rights around the wells.
  • A ruling is expected next month on a ballot initiative that banned hydraulic fracturing in Monterey County, California. Several energy companies sued the county over the measure, and the case is being watched across the country by environmentalists as well as energy companies.