EFFICIENCY: Missouri lawmakers advance bills that would require property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing programs to undergo a state review every two years and give mortgage holders veto power over PACE loans. (Energy News Network)
POLLUTION: Four Midwest states would face additional requirements to limit nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants to downwind states under a finalized rule from the U.S. EPA. (Politico)
OHIO: Former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chairman Sam Randazzo met repeatedly with Gov. Mike DeWine and utility officials as the state’s scandal-tainted power plant bailout law was under consideration. (Cleveland.com)
SOLAR:
• NextEra Energy unveils plans for a 690 MW, $700 million solar project at a decommissioned nuclear plant in Iowa. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
• Ten solar projects are in various stages of development in a southern Ohio county, which one former local official calls a “historic” opportunity to provide a template for development. (Times-Gazette)
• Construction will start later this year on a 274 MW solar project in southern Ohio that will issue nearly $1 million in payments annually to a local school district. (Chillicothe Gazette)
• State regulators will hold a public hearing this spring on a proposed 144 MW solar project in central Ohio. (Farm and Dairy)
• A 2 MW solar project comes online at a former Milwaukee landfill. (WUWM)
BIOFUELS: Regional officials in Minneapolis-St. Paul approve a $122 million contract to purchase biodiesel buses for public transit over criticism that the money wasn’t spent on electric models. (Star Tribune)
OIL & GAS:
• Iowa House lawmakers pass a bill that would prohibit cities and counties from banning propane or natural gas hookups to homes. (KMALand)
• Indiana regulators fine utility NIPSCO more than $1.1 million for natural gas pipeline safety violations. (Journal Gazette)
PIPELINES: Twenty-one states, including Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas, file a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s canceling of a key permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. (CNN)
COAL: Consumer advocates ask Ohio regulators to investigate legacy subsidy payments to two coal plants in Indiana and Ohio. (E&E News, subscription)
UTILITIES:
• North Dakota regulators begin public hearings on Montana-Dakota Utilities’ request to increase rates to pay for infrastructure upgrades and improved reliability. (KFYR)
• An environmental group urges federal regulators to block utilities from passing trade group membership dues on to customers, citing “problematic” political activities. (E&E News, subscription)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Share values fall for Ohio electric vehicle startup Lordstown Motors after federal securities regulators open an inquiry into the company’s operations. (Bloomberg)
RENEWABLES: County officials in southwestern Indiana adopt new solar and wind energy ordinances that one solar developer called “very thorough and tough” and beneficial to local government and residents. (Princeton Daily Clarion)
GRID: Missouri will receive $15 million in federal grants to build and improve electric infrastructure across the state. (KTTN)
COMMENTARY: While Xcel Energy has pledged coal plant closures in its northern states territory, the utility plans to keep coal online in western states for decades longer, a clean energy analyst says. (Union of Concerned Scientists)