PIPELINES: Following objections from a Michigan tribe, the federal government has postponed final approval of a settlement with Enbridge over a 2010 oil spill. (InsideClimate News)
ALSO:
• Federal regulators will be in North Dakota this week to investigate complaints about an oil pipeline recently installed under Lake Sakakawea. (Forum News Service)
• Rerouting the Dakota Access pipeline would be a “laborious and costly task” and potentially bring more regulatory hurdles. (Reuters)
• A federal appeals court could reopen as soon as this week an area of the Dakota Access route that was closed temporarily. (EnergyWire)
• Protesters gather in Illinois at the end of the Dakota Access route to show solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. (Southern Illinoisan)
• More Dakota Access protesters are arrested in Iowa for trespassing. (Radio Iowa)
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UTILITIES: A former Wisconsin regulatory staffer is battling with a Madison utility over input received about fixed charges during a public engagement process for the company’s long-term energy planning. (Midwest Energy News)
WIND: A new national nonprofit is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on an advertising campaign about the benefits of wind energy in Kansas. (Topeka Capital-Journal)
CLEAN POWER PLAN: North Dakota’s deep reserves of fossil fuels stand in the way of the state’s complying with federal emission rules. (ClimateWire)
GRID: Electrical engineers gathering in Milwaukee this week say a “tectonic shift” is taking place in the way the the grid operates. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
NUCLEAR: The future of U.S. nuclear reactors hinges on compensating plants for the carbon-free electricity they produce, according to a Department of Energy advisory panel. (EnergyWire)
SOLAR: A Minneapolis/St. Paul suburb amends an ordinance to make it easier for residents to install roof-mounted solar projects. (Lillie News)
OIL AND GAS:
• North Dakota’s top oil regulator says delaying sweeping new regulations for gathering pipelines means about 1,500 miles of new projects will not be subject to the rules. (Forum News Service)
• In 2011, when a new rule took effect allowing for heavier loads of transporting oil by rail that coincided with a boom in the Bakken oil patch, “a new era of rail tank car transportation began.” (DeSmog)
RENEWABLES: Residents in one Minnesota city will have a say in how much energy the city generates from solar and biofuels. (Hibbing Daily Tribune)
BIOFUELS: Airline JetBlue commits to buying more than 330 million gallons of biofuel over the next 10 years as a way to get ahead of looming restrictions on the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions. (New York Times)
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CLIMATE:
• High-level climate talks meant to help the Paris climate agreement take force and find other ways of cutting greenhouse gases begin in New York City. (ClimateWire)
• The Clinton Foundation’s plan to stop accepting foreign donations if Hillary Clinton is elected president would also “decimate” its programs combating climate change. (InsideClimate News)
COMMENTARY: Two years into its Clean Energy Partnership, Minneapolis offers a blueprint for what works and what is challenging with cooperative energy policy. (Institute for Local Self-Reliance)