GRID: Chicago-based Exelon and other major utilities are increasingly turning to new software that relies on data and analytics to monitor the performance and reliability of the grid. (Midwest Energy News)
POLICY:
• An Illinois House panel approves a bill that would make a long-awaited fix to the state’s renewable portfolio standard as well as provide subsidies to struggling nuclear plants. (Midwest Energy News)
• Clean energy supporters attend an Ohio Senate hearing with a “show of force” as lawmakers look to scale back renewable energy and efficiency standards there. (Columbus Dispatch)
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PIPELINES:
• The economic benefits to come if and when the Dakota Access pipeline is built are unclear. (High Country News)
• Hundreds of arrests of protesters have overburdened North Dakota’s court system, “which faces huge cost overruns and doesn’t have enough judges, lawyers and clerks to handle the workload.” (Associated Press)
• Law enforcement agencies look to quell pipeline protests by fining those who attempt to deliver supplies. (Reuters)
• The Dakota Access developer says it’s prepared to build the pipeline through the winter months. (Bismarck Tribune)
ADVOCACY: Minnesota-based Arctic explorer and activist Will Steger reaches the 10-year anniversary of his climate advocacy group. (Minnesota Public Radio)
FRAC SAND: A Wisconsin court says a town cannot challenge the annexation of 1,600 acres of land that was planned to be used for a frac sand mine. (Winona Daily News)
CLIMATE:
• Rolling back Obama Administration policies on climate and energy may prove challenging for President-elect Donald Trump’s team. (Associated Press)
• A U.S. senator from Wisconsin wants the EPA to stop implementing some of its more controversial regulations, including the Clean Power Plan, because of a predicted rollback under President-elect Trump. (Greenwire)
RATES: An Ohio utility is looking to provide up to a $500,000 electric bill credit to automakers who use more electricity than they did in 2009 as part of an economic development strategy. (Columbus Business First)
COMMENTARY:
• Michigan lawmakers are in “pursuit of unnecessary and one-sided energy legislation that would further increase costs on Michigan employers and residents.” (Detroit News)
• The incoming chairman of the Minnesota Senate’s Energy Committee wants to see an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy for the state. (Duluth News Tribune)
• “The rise of clean energy across the heartland is already too well entrenched to be reversed.” (New York Times)