OHIO:
• Gov. Mike DeWine is standing by key staffers who had prior knowledge about FirstEnergy’s payments to a former state regulator who resigned amid the state’s power plant bailout scandal. (Ohio Capital Journal)
• DeWine’s Republican primary challenger in next year’s election wants the state auditor to investigate FirstEnergy’s campaign contributions to the governor. (Toledo Blade)
PIPELINES: Minnesota’s Senate Majority Leader urged a former pollution regulator to “do your job” and grant key permits for the Line 3 pipeline project, raising questions about whether it was constituent advocacy or an attempt to strong-arm a state official. (MinnPost)
EFFICIENCY:
• Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz formally signs into law a bill to expand the state’s energy efficiency programs in hopes of reducing emissions while creating jobs. (WDIO)
• Indianapolis has nearly completed a $9.3 million program to replace the city’s streetlights with LED models while installing 1,600 new streetlights in hopes of lowering its electricity usage. (Indianapolis Business Journal)
UTILITIES:
• A Michigan-based tribe forms its own utility and builds a power substation to purchase wholesale electricity in hopes of driving economic development on tribally owned land. (Tribal Business News)
• Central Iowa utility customers are being asked to cut their energy usage amid a hot weather and peak demand period today. (KCCI)
NUCLEAR: Federal regulators will hold a special inspection of the Davis-Besse nuclear plant in Ohio after multiple diesel generator failures and an unplanned automatic shutdown earlier this month. (Toledo Blade)
WIND: Wisconsin-based WEC Energy Group plans to acquire a $412 million, 90% ownership interest in an Illinois wind project. (Milwaukee Business Journal)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Missouri economic development officials say the state would be a “competitive location” for an electric vehicle manufacturing plant as at least one company searches for a new production site. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
• A program led by American Electric Power has doubled the number of member utilities committing to a connected electric vehicle charging network from Maine to Texas. (Columbus Dispatch)
SOLAR:
• A Minnesota developer pilots a new project in which sheep graze at a solar installation to help restore native prairie habitat beneath the panels. (WCCO)
• State regulators will hold a public hearing early next month on a planned 325 MW solar project in central Ohio. (Farm and Dairy)
CARBON CAPTURE: North Dakota officials approve spending $520,000 to survey potential carbon capture sites. (KFYR)
COAL: Illinois coal plant workers raise concerns about proposed state legislation that would close their facilities by 2035. (WEEK)
COMMENTARY:
• Congress should pass a pending bill that would extend tax credits to companies that source domestically made goods for clean energy projects, say executives at a major labor union and an environmental group. (Cleveland.com)
• Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s “inner circle is increasingly becoming ensnared” in the state’s ongoing power plant subsidy scandal as he continues to downplay any accusations, a columnist says. (Ohio Capital Journal)