UTILITIES: Clean energy groups say Kansas utility Evergy’s shifting long-term clean energy plans undermine faith in the state-required integrated resource planning process. (Energy News Network)
PIPELINES: A White House official clarifies that the Biden administration is not contemplating shutting down the Line 5 pipeline as treaty negotiations with Canada continue. (Reuters)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• A Department of Defense official visiting Michigan this week says Detroit automakers will play a key role in helping the U.S. military embrace electric vehicles. (E&E News)
• A battery manufacturing plant being built near a shuttered GM plant in Lordstown, Ohio, embodies the shift to electric vehicles, though former auto workers fear they will be left behind. (Bloomberg)
• Shares in electric vehicle startup Rivian are set to be traded publicly today and offer a clearer picture into how interested investors are in the electric vehicle market. (Associated Press)
• A Cincinnati startup is partnering with Northern Kentucky University to install 30 electric vehicle chargers on campus. (CincyInno)
OIL & GAS:
• “This feels a little bit like a manufactured catastrophe,” a county official in St. Louis tells Spire, which issued a recent warning to residents that gas supplies could be strained if a pipeline is forced to close. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
• A North Dakota mayor asks state lawmakers to expedite a gas pipeline project that would move Bakken-area supplies to the eastern part of the state. (KVRR)
• Minnesota residents should expect a spike this winter in home heating prices as multiple factors drive up fuel prices. (MPR News)
SOLAR:
• A solar group-buying program in eastern Iowa has installed more than 0.5 MW of power on participants’ properties. (Daily Iowan)
• Indiana Wesleyan University partners with an in-state solar company to develop, finance and operate installations at four campuses. (WBIW)
COAL: Ameren officials maintain that coal ash storage pits are not contaminating drinking water in the St. Louis area despite environmental group tests showing that pollutants exceed safe levels. (FOX 2)
BIOENERGY: The operator of a western Michigan plant that produces energy from landfill gas seeks state approval to increase the facility’s emissions. (MLive)
COMMENTARY: A recent warning from gas pipeline operator Spire “created a panic” among customers fearing potential gas outages this winter while also leaving out key context the company’s prio self-dealing, a columnist writes. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)