OHIO: Newly produced documents show how former Public Utilities Commission Chairperson Sam Randazzo shaped the agency’s response to the HB 6 corruption scandal, particularly after it started garnering media scrutiny. (Energy News Network)
GRID:
• Minnesota regulators direct Xcel Energy to start evaluating multiple applications at once to help clear a backlog of solar projects seeking to connect to the grid. (Energy News Network)
• Some Illinois landowners remain concerned about Grain Belt Express transmission line construction, though local officials also say it will deliver economic benefits. (WGEM)
OIL & GAS:
• North Dakota’s top oil and gas official says the Bakken formation has been rebranded as “mature” among producers, which are increasingly directing investments to states like Texas and New Mexico. (Inforum)
• Michigan State University continues to make investments in its on-campus natural gas power plant to reduce the school’s emissions. (State News)
NUCLEAR: Iowa and Nebraska utility officials say more flexible nuclear power has potential to complement renewable energy and keep emissions low, though critics worry about cost and safety. (Omaha World-Herald)
UTILITIES:
• A report by Missouri regulators finds natural gas utility Spire misled customers and “created unnecessary panic and confusion” when it warned of supply shortages if a gas pipeline was shut down. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
• As Exelon transitions to a primarily transmission and distribution utility, a top executive says the company plans to speed up its net-zero emissions target. (E&E News)
CLEAN TECH: The U.S. Department of Energy seeks to build the nation’s first facility that extracts minerals critical for use in electric vehicles from fossil fuel waste such as coal ash. (CNN)
SOLAR: Western Ohio county officials say easements on publicly owned land that would have been used for a solar development are null and void. (Daily Advocate)
PIPELINES: Enbridge fell short of its Minnesota hiring goals while constructing the Line 3 pipeline, though the company exceeded targets for spending on tribal-owned businesses, according to a report filed with state regulators. (Star Tribune)
FINANCE: Some of the largest U.S. private equity firms are financing major fossil fuel projects linked to Indigenous land violations, toxic leaks and air pollution, according to a report from corporate accountability nonprofits. (The Guardian)
OVERSIGHT: Biden administration appointments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have tipped its power balance in favor of Democrats, which could hasten a clean energy transition. (Inside Climate News)
BIOFUELS: Nebraska lawmakers and environmental groups rally at the state capital calling for a special committee to investigate a former ethanol plant that has left behind a stockpile of contaminated waste. (Lincoln Journal Star)