BIOGAS: A Wisconsin company is the first to join a new renewable gas tracking system that could help monetize the environmental benefits of captured methane. (Energy News Network)
ALSO: A renewable natural gas unloading station comes online in Dane County, Wisconsin, that will offset fossil fuel use in heavy trucks and machinery. (Wisconsin State Journal)
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SOLAR:
• General Motors plans to offset all of its power usage at its southeastern Michigan facilities in three years with wind and solar under an agreement with DTE Energy. (Detroit Free Press)
• More than 16,000 MW of solar projects are proposed in Indiana, which had just 428 MW of solar capacity at the beginning of the year. (S&P Global)
• Negotiations continue over a planned 10 MW solar project near a northern Michigan airport that would help a municipal utility meet renewable energy targets. (Traverse City Record-Eagle)
COAL:
• Federal deregulation and “enforcement discretion” during the pandemic will leave Indiana residents near coal ash sites particularly vulnerable, environmental groups say. (Indiana Environmental Reporter)
• U.S. senators from Illinois and Ohio call for stricter federal enforcement of mine safety standards during the pandemic. (E&E News, subscription)
CLIMATE: Ann Arbor, Michigan, officials vote to move forward with a 2030 carbon neutrality plan while clarifying funding sources for the initiative. (Michigan Daily)
WIND:
• North Dakota regulators consider plans for a redesigned 200 MW wind project that was rejected last year over its impact on wildlife. (Bismarck Tribune)
• Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa calls the state’s more than 40% wind energy portfolio a “big milestone.” (KIOW)
• More than 100 people associated with a North Dakota wind turbine factory have tested positive for COVID-19. (Reuters)
BIOFUELS: Some U.S. lawmakers are disappointed that a $19 billion agriculture aid package does not include funding for the struggling biofuels industry. (WHO-TV)
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OIL & GAS: A public hearing on a proposed natural gas processing plant in North Dakota will be held online later this week. (Bismarck Tribune)
COMMENTARY:
• Excluding clean energy from stimulus funding during the coronavirus economic downturn is “bad for jobs, veterans, and national security,” says the founder of the Veterans Advanced Energy Project. (Energy News Network)
• Michigan’s two largest utilities haven’t pledged to stop disconnections for all customers during the pandemic as other utilities have done, a watchdog group says. (Energy and Policy Institute)