POLICY: As Michigan officials and utilities set out to unroll the several components of new statewide energy laws, one of the first tasks will be finding the cost of service for distributed generation. (Midwest Energy News)
GRID: Illinois regulators launch NextGrid, a collaborative process to help various stakeholders understand the complexities of modernizing the state’s power grid. (Midwest Energy News)
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NUCLEAR:
• A FirstEnergy official says it’s urgent that the utility receive financial support for two struggling nuclear plants in Ohio and one in Pennsylvania, and that they are at risk of prematurely closing. (Toledo Blade)
• Small towns across the U.S. are bracing for the economic impact of nuclear power plants closing. (Associated Press)
• Exelon reaches an agreement to sell output from one of its northern Illinois nuclear plants to southern Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin. (Crain’s Chicago Business)
CLEAN POWER PLAN: EPA head Scott Pruitt says President Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday to undo the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. (Associated Press)
SOLAR:
• Iowa’s largest community solar project celebrates its one-year anniversary, with one utility official calling the production “as good as or better than we anticipated throughout the year.” (Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier)
• Rural landowners near Lansing, Michigan are concerned about preserving farmland amid plans for a major solar project there. (Lansing State Journal)
• Several southeast Minnesota counties have seen a boost in solar projects over the past two years. (Rochester Post Bulletin)
OIL AND GAS: Enbridge Energy’s challenge of property taxes it has paid on its pipelines over the past five years could cost several northern Minnesota counties millions of dollars. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
COAL:
• Eastern Ohio coal miners are hopeful for an industry comeback under President Trump, but analysts say the sector is an identity, not an economic driver. (Columbus Dispatch)
• The CEO of Ohio-based Murray Energy says of competing natural gas markets: “Give us a level playing field, and we can compete with gas all day long.” (Columbus Dispatch)
PIPELINES:
• Opponents will take similar tactics, such as setting up protest camps, to halt the Keystone XL pipeline as they did with Dakota Access. (Bismarck Tribune)
• Republican and Democratic members of North Dakota’s congressional delegation, as well as South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard, support building the Keystone XL pipeline. (Associated Press)
• Four tribes continue their legal battle against the Army Corps of Engineers and the Dakota Access pipeline developer. (Associated Press)
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FRAC SAND: A local official in Wisconsin is cleared of criminal wrongdoing stemming from votes he cast in favor of frac sand mining when he had an agreement to lease his own land to a mining company. (LaCrosse Tribune)
COMMENTARY:
• A gas industry advocate says retiring coal plants and a wealth of gas supplies is leading to plans for several new natural-gas power plants in Ohio. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
• An analyst with the Rocky Mountain Institute says the Keystone XL pipeline faces three long-term challenges: “sustaining input upstream, sales downstream, and profits for its investors.” (Forbes)
• A Minnesota editorial board says any controversy over Enbridge’s Alberta Clipper pipeline is overblown. (Duluth News Tribune)