OHIO: Utility and fossil fuel interests’ influence on Ohio politics is resurfacing as officials seek to replace a member of the state’s utility commission and environmental groups seek to revisit prior utility cases. (Energy News Network)

ALSO:
• Attorney General Dave Yost expects a hearing this month on his lawsuit to stop customer surcharges supporting subsidies for two nuclear power plants. (Toledo Blade)
• A Republican state lawmaker introduces legislation that would delay for a year the collection of subsidies for the nuclear plants at the center of a bribery scandal. (Cincinnati Enquirer)

SUSTAINABILITY: A historic neighborhood on Chicago’s Far South Side provides a template for Rust Belt cities seeking to pivot from heavy industry to more sustainable development. (Energy News Network)

PIPELINES: Enbridge begins construction on the Line 3 replacement and expansion in Minnesota the day after state officials approved the last permits for the project. (Star Tribune)

SOLAR:
• Officials in Grand Rapids, Michigan, approve plans for a roughly 1 MW solar project at a water filtration plant near Lake Michigan that’s expected to save more than a million dollars over two decades. (MLive)
• Opponents of a planned 120 MW solar project in central Indiana appeal a court ruling that allowed the project to move forward. (Anderson Herald Bulletin)
• Township officials approve plans for a 9 MW, 50-acre solar project in Michigan’s northwest Lower Peninsula. (Traverse City Ticker)

POLLUTION:
• A government network of thousands of air monitoring devices nationwide routinely miss major toxic releases and day-to-day pollution dangers. (Reuters)
• Republican governors in North Dakota and Nebraska are among state leaders expected to challenge the incoming Biden administration’s potential attempt to require reductions in power-sector greenhouse gas emissions. (Reuters) 

RENEWABLES: Analysts say solar-plus-storage is becoming increasingly cost competitive with combined cycle natural gas plants in parts of the U.S. (Utility Dive)

COMMENTARY:
• Wisconsin should keep its last nuclear plant operating “as long as safely possible” to help the state achieve its climate change targets, an editorial board says. (Wisconsin State Journal)
• Most of the country’s largest investor-owned utilities are on a trajectory to meet emission-reduction targets far slower than what is outlined in President-elect Joe Biden’s climate plan, analysts say. (Energy and Policy Institute)