TRANSPORTATION: Multimodal transportation advocates in Detroit call for mobility investments that go beyond electric vehicles, including transit, e-bikes and other alternatives. (Energy News Network / Planet Detroit)
PIPELINES: Enbridge acknowledges that climate policies may shorten the lifespan of some of its pipelines, including the newly built Line 3 through northern Minnesota. (Star Tribune)
UTILITIES:
• Consumers Energy and DTE Energy propose special economic development electricity rates to help attract advanced automotive manufacturers to Michigan. (MiBiz)
• FirstEnergy CEO Steven Strah discusses plans to help the utility move beyond a $60 million bribery scandal. (Akron Beacon Journal)
• Evergy seeks permission from Missouri regulators to increase charges on customer bills that help fund demand-side management programs. (KTTN)
COAL: Electric ratepayers in multiple states are paying extra to help maintain operations at uneconomic coal plants in Ohio and Indiana. (Cleveland.com)
OIL & GAS:
• A natural gas pipeline serving the St. Louis area is allowed to continue running until federal regulators make a long-term decision about its future. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
• A new analysis values North Dakota’s state-owned mineral resources at $2.4 billion, nearly $1 billion more than a previous estimate made last year during the pandemic. (Bismarck Tribune)
WIND: Workers are disassembling and removing hundreds of former wind turbine blades that have accumulated at multiple sites in Iowa. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
TRANSMISSION: Xcel Energy and ITC Midwest complete a 50-mile transmission line that will help move wind power in southern Minnesota. (KEYC)
SOLAR:
• A growing number of Minnesota residents join solar group-buying cooperatives that lower installation costs and make for a faster return on investment. (West Central Tribune)
• A small but growing number of businesses in Bismarck, North Dakota, install solar panels to reduce electricity costs while the state overall has been relatively slow to adopt solar. (Bismarck Tribune)
• A southeastern Ohio food bank installs solar panels that officials expect will offset nearly 50% of the facility’s electricity usage. (Logan Daily News)
EMISSIONS:
• The University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus hit its 50% greenhouse gas emission-reduction target a year early last year. (Star Tribune)
• A Wisconsin elementary school is the first K-12 building in the state to achieve net-zero energy status, producing more electricity than it used in its first year of operations. (FOX 47)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The U.S. will need more public fast-charging stations to reach electric vehicle sales goals announced by the Biden Administration. (ABC News)
EFFICIENCY: Two North Dakota farms receive federal grants to install energy-efficient equipment and reduce electricity costs. (Minot Daily News)
COMMENTARY: A Minnesota lawmaker says the state should provide more funding for wastewater treatment facilities to install onsite renewable energy systems. (MinnPost)