UTILITIES: “If we want clean energy then we need to have clean government.”: An Illinois coalition seeks utility ethics and regulatory reforms and restitution for ComEd ratepayers as part of major energy legislation being considered by state lawmakers. (Energy News Network)

COAL:
• Great River Energy nears a deal to sell North Dakota’s largest coal plant to a new owner that would keep the plant from shutting down next year. (Bismarck Tribune)
• AES Indiana would pay a $1.5 million fine to settle long-standing air pollution allegations involving an Indiana coal plant under a deal approved by a federal judge. (E&E News, subscription)

TRANSMISSION: An underground transmission line proposed from Iowa to Illinois is delayed by a glut of renewable energy projects in grid operator PJM’s queue  — a problem that, ironically, the project could help solve.. (Energy News Network)

DIVESTMENT: The University of Michigan will divest its roughly $14 billion endowment from fossil fuels after years of pressure from some students and faculty. (Detroit Free Press)

PIPELINES:
• Recent protests have uncovered a complicated history between the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the Line 3 pipeline. (MPR News)
• Seven Line 3 protesters are arrested in northern Minnesota after chaining themselves to heavy construction machinery and access gates. (KVRR)
• Ohio House lawmakers pass a nonbinding resolution urging Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to keep the Line 5 pipeline operating. (Toledo Blade)

TRANSPORTATION: Minnesota lawmakers consider measures to reduce transportation-sector emissions, including targets to reduce vehicle miles traveled and building more electric vehicle charging stations. (Star Tribune)

POLITICS: Ohio lawmakers take up a bill calling for tougher transparency requirements for corporate political donors in the wake of the power plant bailout law controversy. (Cleveland.com)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Federal securities regulators ask Ohio electric vehicle company Lordstown Motors for more information about a prior merger and preorders of its vehicles. (Reuters)

SOLAR: Construction is set to begin on a 100 MW solar project in southern Ohio. (Times-Gazette)

OIL & GAS: Despite states like Kansas moving to ban local restrictions on natural gas usage, higher gas prices and more renewables are still likely to weaken demand for the fuel. (S&P Global)

BIOGAS: The Missouri Senate passes a bill allowing utilities to create voluntary renewable natural gas purchasing programs for customers. (Missouri Times)

COMMENTARY:
• Electric buses at two Illinois school districts will “allow students to breathe cleaner air as they wait to board idling buses” while also serving as a teaching tool, advocates say. (Natural Resources Defense Council)
• A Minnesota advocate says state lawmakers should tighten their oversight of natural gas utilities following recent price spikes after widespread supply shortages. (Minnesota Reformer)

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.