SOLAR: Two eastern Kansas counties consider various utility-scale solar zoning regulations as a developer plans one of the nation’s largest solar projects there. (Energy News Network)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• A Minneapolis suburb plans to install more than 100 electric vehicle charging stations in parking lots of city facilities, making it the first city in the state with a network of publicly available stations. (Star Tribune)
• Automaker Stellantis announces a $229 million investment in three Indiana plants that will help accelerate the company’s electrification plans. (Detroit News)
• A southeastern Michigan county has more than two dozen publicly available electric vehicle charging stations as local officials prepare for an influx of more. (CBS Detroit)
COAL:
• Iowa communities that depend on coal-fired power plants should begin to plan for their eventual closure as clean energy makes up a larger portion of the state’s energy mix, environmental advocates say. (Iowa Public Radio)
• A state lawmaker says Ohio ratepayers are “footing the bill to keep a plant in Indiana open” as he works to eliminate subsidies included in the state’s power plant bailout law that’s linked to a bribery investigation. (Center Square)
PIPELINES: Supporters of pipeline protesters are now building support centers for activists who face trauma after lengthy campaigns against new pipeline projects. (VICE)
TRANSPORTATION: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz directs state transportation and agriculture directors to review changes that could reduce the state’s carbon footprint by limiting the use of transportation fuels. (Forum News Service)
CLIMATE: University of Minnesota researchers will use artificial intelligence to improve climate models and develop more precise forecasts of future extreme weather patterns and sea level rise. (MPR News)
EMISSIONS:
• Iowa City reaches an emissions-reduction target nine years ahead of schedule while officials say several new programs will help the city reach a net zero target by 2050. (Daily Iowan)
• Ameren Illinois develops a vehicle that can detect methane emissions, pinpoint the source of potential leaks and speed up pipeline repair response. (WCIA)
OIL & GAS: A Minnesota company will buy further interests in a fleet of North Dakota oil and gas wells for $154 million, its third significant acquisition in the last three months. (Star Tribune)
WIND: A Kansas wind project in its fifth year of operation has provided $2.6 million in payments to local governments and $3.5 million to local landowners with lease and easement agreements. (WIBW)
CYBERSECURITY: Berkshire Hathaway Energy and Xcel Energy are partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy on a new cybersecurity program aimed at making clean energy systems more secure from hackers. (Utility Dive)
COMMENTARY: Public and private parties with a vested interest in the future of the Line 5 pipeline “need to quit stalling and resolve what to do with this aging infrastructure … before the spill,” an editorial board says. (Traverse City Record-Eagle)