CLIMATE:
• Wisconsin Democrats propose a sweeping 22-bill package to address climate change and support the clean energy transition with investments in energy efficiency, job training, research and other measures. (Wisconsin Public Radio)
• Dozens of Minnesota advocates return from the global climate summit in Scotland disappointed that more concrete climate actions weren’t taken but energized to push the state faster on clean energy. (MPR News)
SOLAR:
• After six years of twists and turns, northern Minnesota’s first solar-storage project, a $6 million effort combining 2 MW of solar with 1 MW of storage, is nearly complete. (Energy News Network)
• An Iowa board overseeing three public universities approves Iowa State’s request to further plan an up to 900 kilowatt solar project on campus-owned property. (Iowa State Daily)
PIPELINES:
• Indigenous activists are raising money to fly a drone with thermal imaging equipment along the Line 3 pipeline route to determine the extent of drilling fluid spills or groundwater problems. (Star Tribune)
• An underground tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac to house the Line 5 pipeline likely wouldn’t be completed until 2028 if work began in early 2024, according to newly released documents. (MLive)
TRANSPORTATION: A Minnesota pilot program seeks to reduce emissions and improve children’s health by offering five vendors and school districts $2.1 million in grants to buy eight electric buses. (MinnPost)
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: The new head of the U.S. EPA’s Midwest region in Chicago says environmental justice and climate change are top priorities for her administration. (Chicago Sun-Times)
WIND: Legal challenges stemming from rulings by former Ohio regulator Sam Randazzo continue to delay the development of an offshore wind pilot project in Lake Erie. (Ohio Capital Journal)
OIL & GAS: An environmental group says it has received threatening messages as a result of a “false and defamatory” campaign by utility Spire Missouri warning customers about the potential closure this winter of a gas pipeline to St. Louis. (Missouri Independent)
GRID:
• Grid operators and clean energy advocates dispute the potential for stranded transmission assets as federal regulators consider policies to build more grid infrastructure and facilitate renewable energy development. (E&E News)
• U.S. utility CEOs remain optimistic about trillions of dollars in federal infrastructure and social spending benefiting grid infrastructure. (E&E News)
COMMENTARY:
• An editorial board praises the development of a 100 MW Iowa solar project that will “generate a lot of needed electricity without putting any pollution or greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.” (Messenger)
• Despite executives’ promises to rein in political spending, FirstEnergy continues spending millions to lobby lawmakers, “a bit cringeworthy, given the events,” a columnist writes. (Forbes)