OIL & GAS: The conservative American Legislative Exchange Council has produced model legislation that’s driving a surge in new state laws that blacklist companies for refusing to do business with the oil industry. (The Guardian)
ALSO: U.S. oil producers are moving into higher-cost, second-tier areas, including parts of North Dakota, as high oil prices and relatively low service costs make production economics the best in years. (Reuters)
SOLAR:
• Clean energy experts say DTE Energy’s proposal to add monthly fees for rooftop solar customers would deter future installations. (Michigan Radio)
• Eastern Iowa county officials vote against a proposed six-month moratorium on utility-scale solar projects, a plan that one official called “unwise and counterproductive to our sustainability goals.” (KCRG)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Ford’s Kansas City plant begins shipping the automaker’s 2022 electric transit van. (Kansas City Star)
• Stellantis gives the public a first look at its Ram electric pickup truck concept vehicle, which isn’t expected to start production for two years. (Detroit News)
• Ohio-based Airstream is testing an electric travel trailer that could go off the grid for weeks at a time. (Columbus Dispatch)
OHIO: Federal regulators’ audit of FirstEnergy found that the utility’s longtime use of an internal service company to handle day-to-day accounting for subsidiaries violated several federal regulations. (RTO Insider, subscription)
NUCLEAR: A relief valve malfunction recently caused capacity to decline at Energy Harbor’s Davis-Besse nuclear plant in Ohio ahead of a planned refueling and maintenance outage. (S&P Global)
UTILITIES: Successful efforts to secure ratepayer refunds from ComEd related to the utility’s admitted bribery scheme appear increasingly unlikely. (Crain’s Chicago Business, subscription)
RENEWABLES: The U.S. added nearly 28,000 MW of new capacity to the grid in 2021, 77% of which came from new wind and solar. (S&P Global)
POLITICS: Michigan is among battleground states with gubernatorial elections this year that could help shape climate action and clean energy development. (E&E News)