Midwest Energy News will not publish Friday, July 2 or Monday, July 5 for the Independence Day holiday. We’ll be back on Tuesday.
COAL: A North Dakota energy company agrees to buy the state’s largest coal plant in a deal that’s expected to save the 1,150 MW facility from closing. (Inforum)
ALSO: North Dakota lawmakers hope to generate more federal attention and funding for a proposed carbon capture and storage project at a coal plant. (Williston Herald)
SOLAR:
• A Minnesota budget bill includes $21 million for a fund that could spur as many as 350 solar projects at K-12 schools and community colleges. (Energy News Network)
• County officials in Iowa reject a proposed moratorium on solar that would have halted a planned utility-scale project. (KWWL)
• Developers begin operating two 20 MW solar projects in southeastern Michigan. (Monroe News)
• Some residents speak out against a proposed 300 MW solar project in southeastern Ohio, though a state agency will ultimately vote on the project. (News Journal)
• State regulators approve plans for a 75 MW solar project in southeastern Wisconsin. (Daily Jefferson County Union)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: An Ohio car-sharing program provides access to electric vehicles for people who likely wouldn’t otherwise have a chance to drive them. (Energy News Network)
EMISSIONS: The Ohio Supreme Court rules that federal law does not preclude the state from seeking its own compensation from Volkswagen over the company’s previous effort to cheat U.S. emissions tests. (Associated Press)
GRID: A proposed federal infrastructure deal that includes funding for transmission projects could help deliver more renewable energy to Indiana utilities. (WFYI)
WIND: County officials in western Iowa advance an ordinance to expand various setback requirements for commercial wind projects. (Sioux City Journal)
OIL & GAS: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an increase in the number of abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells in North Dakota and across the U.S. (Williston Herald)
PIPELINES: The Biden administration’s support for a Maine coastal city’s effort to block Canadian oil shipments from its port is boosting confidence among supporters of an effort in Michigan to shut down the Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac. (E&E News, subscription)
BIOFUELS: Iowa biofuel producers criticize a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week that upholds a program granting biofuel-blending waivers to small oil refiners. (Globe Gazette)
COMMENTARY:
• An agreement to clean up coal ash storage sites along the Middle Fork River in Illinois could be a template for action at about two dozen storage sites across the state, an editorial board says. (News-Gazette)
• Missouri officials act “more like a lapdog than watchdog when it comes to regulating Ameren Missouri and its coal plants,” says the director of the state chapter of the Sierra Club. (Missouri Independent)