ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE:
• Chicago’s Blacks in Green receives a five-year, $10 million U.S. EPA grant to provide technical assistance for the agency’s Justice40 Initiative and support collaboration with five frontline organizations. (Energy News Network)
• Residents of Chicago’s Little Village community push for more transparency and engagement related to city development decisions. (Inside Climate News)
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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The Biden administration announces a new round of public and private EV commitments, including Madison, Wisconsin’s plans to convert its entire fleet of about 900 vehicles to EVs by 2030. (ABC News)
HYDROGEN:
• Coalitions based in Illinois, Indiana and Michigan and Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri have submitted applications for federal funding to establish a regional clean hydrogen hub. (Chicago Tribune, Des Moines Register)
• The world’s first drilling project in search of naturally occurring hydrogen is on hold in Nebraska because of a broken pump. (New Scientist, subscription)
BIOFUELS:
• Researchers and environmentalists question whether carbon capture at ethanol plants is a real solution to climate change, as it would offset only a portion of the fuel’s greenhouse gas emissions. (Harvest Public Media)
• Midwest governors and fuel industry leaders are pushing the federal government to allow increased ethanol sales this summer despite the risk of higher smog levels during warmer and more humid conditions. (Grist)
NUCLEAR: Some Wisconsin utilities and lawmakers are interested in the potential of small modular reactors to create jobs and carbon-free electricity, but others have concerns about costs to ratepayers and how to store waste. (WPR)
SOLAR:
• Minnesota’s community solar program is the largest in the nation but critics say it isn’t reaching the individuals and small businesses that need it most. (MPR News)
• As solar developers seek land for large projects, some worry the trend will make it harder for the next generation of farmers to access land. (Civil Eats)
• Ohio township officials say they are “just representing our constituents” in seeking to block a proposed 300 MW solar and storage project. (Delphos Herald)
UTILITIES:
• Prosecutors in the “ComEd Four” trial have relied on the defendants’ own words captured in dozens of wiretapped phone calls and secretly recorded videos to build their case in the bribery conspiracy trial. (Chicago Tribune)
• A renewable energy consultant becomes the first South Dakota ratepayer in years to formally intervene in a utility rate case. (South Dakota Searchlight)
POLICY: Renewable developers say Illinois’ 2021 clean energy law has provided a “tremendous shot in the arm” helping the industry to grow. (Daily Herald)
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HYDROPOWER: A northern Minnesota utility activates emergency plans at four hydro facilities facing rising water levels and growing flood risk. (Fox 21)
COMMENTARY:
• A year after converting half of a Cleveland duplex to all-electric appliances, its owners say it had cheaper upfront costs, the same utility bills, and used far less energy than the gas unit. (CleanTechnica)
• An Indiana editorial board says misguided state laws fail to take seriously the warnings issued in the latest United Nations climate report. (Herald Bulletin)
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