OHIO: Campaign finance reports show fossil fuel and utility companies are still contributing to Ohio lawmakers despite the state’s ongoing political bribery scandal. (Ohio Capital Journal)
ALSO:
• After years of state policy favoring fossil fuels at the expense of renewables, the long-term future of Ohio’s wind and solar is in doubt. (E&E News)
• Energy News Network reporter Kathiann Kowalski participates in a conversation on the future of renewable energy in Ohio. (WOSU)
UTILITIES:
• Michigan activists call for a federal bailout of utility customers to help people who have been unable to pay bills during the pandemic. (Energy News Network)
• A growing number of Illinois households pay more to buy power from retail electricity suppliers than they would from ComEd, raising questions about the effectiveness of recent reforms. (Crain’s Chicago Business)
• ComEd argues that customers who claim they paid higher electricity bills after the utility bribed public officials can’t sue the utility. (Law360, subscription)
PIPELINES:
• Indigenous TikTokers say they were banned from the app after posting video of police violence against Line 3 protesters in northern Minnesota. (Daily Dot)
• An Ojibwe activist describes Line 3 protesters being shot with rubber bullets and denied medical care by Minnesota law enforcement. (Democracy Now)
POWER PLANTS:
• Excelon says it still plans to retire uneconomic reactors at two Illinois nuclear plants this fall unless it receives a bailout from the state or federal government. (Reuters)
• Opponents of a proposed natural gas plant in Superior, Wisconsin, petition the federal government to deny funding for the project. (State Journal)
WIND:
• A developer seeks a rehearing for a proposed wind farm in northern Ohio, arguing state regulators denied the project’s application based on speculative concerns from local opponents. (Farm and Dairy)
• A developer says it is considering an appeal after Michigan environmental regulators denied a wetlands permit for its Scotia Wind project. (Mining Gazette)
• North Dakota regulators order a Minnesota utility to remove a wind turbine after a rancher argued it was too close to their farmhouse. (Grand Forks Herald)
SOLAR:
• A geology professor attempts to assure central Wisconsin residents that two proposed solar projects will not be harmful to public health. (WAOW)
• A Nebraska city council votes to move forward with a 2 MW solar project that officials say will help with economic development. (Wahoo Newspaper)
• A southern Ohio village council sends a letter of concern to Ohio regulators in advance of a meeting next week on a proposed solar farm. (Times Gazette)
• Ohio regulators will hold a local public hearing next month on a proposed 100 MW solar farm in Marion County, north of Columbus. (Farm and Dairy)
STORAGE: A long-duration energy storage company is trying to prove its model for an iron-air battery with a demonstration project in Minnesota, which has piqued curiosity from the state’s Iron Range. (Canary Media, Mesabi Tribune)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• A pilot project to install electric vehicle chargers on light poles in Kansas City aims to make charging more accessible to residents without garages. (Utility Dive)
• A Minnesota electric truck startup plans to send its first five trucks to a California municipal utility near the end of 2021. (White Bear Press)
COMMENTARY: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and President Joe Biden “are failing to protect our health” by allowing the Line 3 pipeline project despite disastrous downstream consequences, three medical doctors write. (Minnesota Reformer)