GAS: State and utility officials in Iowa and North Dakota tell customers to brace for soaring heating bills this winter due to global supply and demand issues. (Bismarck Tribune, Des Moines Register) 

ALSO:
• Kansas’ largest gas utility nears a deal with regulators to recoup more than $100 million from wholesale customers that failed to line up enough gas supplies for last February’s cold snap. (Kansas Reflector)
• A St. Louis gas company is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to let it keep operating a pipeline through Illinois and Missouri this winter despite an appeals court decision that vacated its approval. (Associated Press)

PIPELINES:
• As Canada claims an international treaty prevents the shutdown of Line 5, Native American leaders in Michigan say keeping the pipeline open threatens tribal nations’ treaty rights. (Bridge)
• Water Protectors arrested during Line 3 pipeline protests in Minnesota accuse state prosecutors of piling on charges to intimidate activists and suppress dissent. (Truthout)
• Indigenous and environmental organizations deliver a letter to the White House urging President Biden to take action against the Line 3 pipeline. (Minnesota Reformer)

SOLAR:
• An Indiana county unanimously denies a solar developer’s request to rezone land for a large project that would have generated up to 150 MW. (Goshen News)
• University of Michigan engineers design a solar cell they say boosts efficiency and extends the lifespan of panels to an estimated 30 years. (Centered)
• An Illinois city will work with a developer on a solar farm at its municipal airport that’s expected to generate $2.8 million for the city. (Northern Star)
• A northern Michigan electric cooperative plans to purchase the power from a 150-megawatt solar project set to be operational by the end of 2023. (MiBiz)

EMISSIONS: CenterPoint Energy pledges to be “net-zero” by 2035, but critics say asterisks undermine the goal, including most notably that it won’t consider emissions tied to customers’ use of gas it sells. (E&E News)

NET METERING: South Dakota utility regulators dismiss a net-metering proposal from Black Hills Power after the utility agrees to work with customers on a plan that makes sure self-generating customers pay for fixed costs. (KELO)

COAL: A Missouri commission says state environmental regulators were correct to issue a permit for a coal-fired power plant to discharge water into the Missouri River despite environmentalists’ objections. (Missouri Independent)

NUCLEAR: Excelon says it plans to invest more than $300 million into its Illinois nuclear plants and quickly fill 650 vacant positions as a result of the state’s new clean energy legislation passed last month. (Natural Gas Intelligence)

OVERSIGHT: An Illinois politician, Debra Shore, is appointed by the White House to lead the EPA regional office that oversees six Midwest states from Minnesota to Ohio. (Chicago Sun Times)

ADVOCACY: Jesse Kharbanda of the Hoosier Environmental Council announces his retirement after 14 years as the group’s executive director. (Indianapolis Star)

COMMENTARY:
• U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio says the country must put workers at the center of the energy transition and announces legislation that would help fossil fuel workers transition their skills to new energy projects. (Wilmington News Journal)
• A Kansas farmer and clean energy advocate says wind turbines have greatly benefited the state at relatively little cost: “there may never have been an economic engine that takes so little from the landscape.” (Kansas Reflector)

Dan has two decades' experience working in print, digital and broadcast media. Prior to joining the Energy News Network as managing editor in December 2017, he oversaw watchdog reporting at the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, part of the USA Today Network, and before that spent several years as a freelance journalist covering energy, business and technology. Dan is a former Midwest Energy News journalism fellow and a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and mass communications from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.