PIPELINES: Top Michigan officials say Enbridge is now violating the terms of a decades-old easement because its pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac doesn’t have sufficient supporting structures underwater. (Detroit Free Press)

ALSO:
• The future of the proposed Sandpiper oil pipeline through Minnesota is unclear after Enbridge buys a stake in the Bakken Pipeline System. (Minnesota Public Radio, Associated Press)
• A pipeline opposition group in Iowa says it does not condone the recent suspected arson of pipeline equipment there. (Radio Iowa)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: EV adoption is strong in Kansas City, where there has been a concerted effort to build out charging infrastructure. (ClimateWire)

RESEARCH:
• Xcel Energy awards the Minnesota Energy Center $5.5 million to go toward research and workforce training focused on renewable energy. (Midwest Energy News)
• Researchers at Michigan State University show how bacteria grow as films on electrodes and generate electricity — “a process that’s ready to be scaled up to industrial levels.” (MSU Today)

UTILITIES: The U.S. Department of Justice opens an investigation and requests documents related to the $12.2 billion merger between Westar Energy and Great Plains Energy. (Topeka Capital-Journal)

WIND: Wisconsin manufacturers are gearing up for a boost in activity as major wind projects begin construction in other states. (Wisconsin Public Radio)

CLEAN ENERGY: The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects carbon-free energy sources will make up 45 percent of North America’s generating mix by 2025. (Utility Dive)

NUCLEAR:
• The “polarizing debate” over helping struggling nuclear plants stay open moves back to Illinois after a supporting vote in New York. (EnergyWire)
• The fate of Exelon’s money-losing nuclear plants in New York and Illinois “may have come down to one governor who desperately wanted to rescue them and another who wasn’t so sure.” (Bloomberg)
• Exelon says it intends to offer workers at its Illinois nuclear plants other jobs within the company should those plants close. (Crain’s Chicago Business)

OIL AND GAS: Environmental groups line up to defend the Obama administration’s rules on methane emissions from oil and gas after states and trade groups seek to unravel the new standards. (EnergyWire)

SOLAR: A Wisconsin city will study the viability of adding solar panels to 10 municipal buildings. (Daily Jefferson County Union)

CLIMATE:
• States that have joined together to investigate Exxon Mobil’s climate change activities signed a pact in May to keep their work confidential and allow them to probe other fossil fuel companies. (Reuters)
• A new survey by researchers in Michigan and Pennsylvania says Donald Trump’s rise may be causing more Republicans to be unsure about the evidence of climate change. (MLive)

COAL:
• Inside the “engineering and economic” woes of operating the Sammis coal plant in Ohio amid low wholesale prices. (Bloomberg)
• A coal executive says companies will have to get used to it being a variable source of energy, rather than base load, “and demand will vary with the price of gas and weather, and that’s just the way it’s going to be.” (SNL / Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis)
• FirstEnergy completes the demolition of one of its Ohio coal plants, hoping to use the site for a future ethane cracker plant. (Daily Energy Insider)

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TRANSPORTATION: Major auto trade associations want federal regulators to reconsider plans to more than double fines for failing to meet fuel efficiency requirements. (Reuters)

COMMENTARY:
• One year after the Clean Power Plan is announced, Ohio remains “ground zero” for challenges to the clean energy shift. (Natural Resources Defense Council)
• Indiana Michigan Power says it is committed to transitioning to cleaner energy, but that it should happen gradually. (Fort Wayne Journal Gazette)

Andy compiles the Midwest Energy News digest and was a journalism fellow for Midwest Energy News from 2014-2020. He is managing editor of MiBiz in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was formerly a reporter and editor at City Pulse, Lansing’s alternative newsweekly.

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