GRID: Alliant Energy is “picking up the pace” on burying Iowa power lines to improve reliability and reduce customer costs. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)

ALSO:
• North Dakota utilities push back on state regulators’ legislative proposal to assign more value to “baseload” power plants like coal, saying it could increase costs for consumers. (Bismarck Tribune)
• MISO begins work on a transmission roadmap that’s meant to help facilitate more renewable energy projects. (Michigan Radio)

COAL:
• Indiana regulators reject clean energy groups’ effort to have Duke Energy operate its coal plants less often to reduce emissions and save ratepayers money. (Utility Dive)
• The CEO of St. Louis-based Peabody Energy plans to step down this year after leading the company through a bankruptcy restructuring. (Bloomberg)

SOLAR: Utility NIPSCO forms a joint venture with Invenergy on a planned 250 MW solar project in southwestern Indiana. (Times of Northwest Indiana)

OHIO: Former House Speaker Larry Householder says he won’t resign as state representative as he faces federal racketeering charges involving the state’s power plant bailout law. (WOSU)

EMISSIONS: A commission issues 50 recommendations on how the University of Michigan can achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades. (MLive)

PIPELINES: Kansas lawmakers consider legislation that would create stricter penalties for trespassing or damaging infrastructure and is aimed at pipeline protesters. (Topeka Capital-Journal)

WIND: Federal researchers study multiple scenarios for building out U.S. wind energy capacity showing potential constraints from local development restrictions. (Inside Climate News)

UTILITIES:
• Minnesota legislation would direct $100 million to help low-income utility customers pay bills after spikes in natural gas prices while creating a loan fund for municipal utilities. (MinnPost)
• Wisconsin regulators vote to end the state’s moratorium on utility shutoffs on April 15. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

CARBON CAPTURE: Companies announce plans to build an industrial-scale pipeline system across five Midwest states to move liquefied carbon dioxide to a centralized sequestration facility. (E&E News, subscription)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• A shareholder lawsuit claims Ohio EV startup Lordstown Motors defrauded investors by making claims about pre-orders and production progress. (Associated Press)
• Two Michigan U.S. House members co-sponsor legislation to spend $500 billion over the next decade to electrify public transit. (Detroit News)
• U.S. automakers are increasingly partnering with battery companies to develop electric vehicle batteries that cost less and provide longer range. (Inside Climate News)
• A high school senior in Missouri leads an effort to install two charging stations at his school to increase awareness about electric vehicles. (Joplin Globe)
• Retailer Meijer launches a new partnership to install electric vehicle charging stations at stores across the Midwest. (dBusiness)

OIL & GAS:
• The Rover natural gas pipeline developer faces a potential $20.2 million fine for allegedly misleading federal regulators about the destruction of an Ohio farmhouse during the project’s construction. (S&P Global)
• North Dakota officials are still trying to recoup royalty payments from oil and gas companies that say some of the costs should be deducted. (KXNet)

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.