PIPELINES: Missouri regulators and consumer advocates raise concerns after Spire destroyed documents related to the bidding process of a controversial natural gas pipeline. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
ALSO: An appeals court ruled Friday that federal energy regulators did not violate property owners’ constitutional protections when they granted a certificate for a natural gas pipeline between Ohio and Michigan. (E&E News)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Stellantis’ decision to pick Indiana over southeastern Michigan as the site for a battery manufacturing plant underscores the challenges as automakers embrace electrification. (Bridge Michigan)
• Iowa prepares to file plans for how it would spend $51.4 million in federal money over five years to expand access to electric vehicle charging. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
• Less than 0.4% of registered vehicles in Minnesota are electric models, with most concentrated in the Twin Cities, according to state data. (Owatonna Peoples Press)
• U.S. consumer interest in buying an electric vehicle has spiked over the last year, according to a new Consumer Reports survey. (Utility Dive)
GRID: As distributed resources change the way electricity flows on the power grid, energy researchers are borrowing a concept from hydrology to study how the increasingly complex system works. (Energy News Network)
UTILITIES:
• ComEd’s $300 million electrification plan will help customers transition to electric vehicles, heat pumps and other clean energy technologies through incentives and new rate designs. (E&E News, subscription)
• Indiana regulators seek more information from utilities about customer disconnections for nonpayment, particularly as companies seek to increase rates. (WVPE)
SOLAR:
• Two 1 MW solar projects are planned in a southern Minnesota township where a yearlong moratorium recently expired. (Mankato Free Press)
• Ameren and Peabody Energy both plan investments in large-scale solar projects in Missouri and Illinois over the coming years. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
EMISSIONS: An inventory of greenhouse gas emissions in Bowling Green, Ohio, finds its largest source of emissions is the city’s water treatment facilities. (BG Independent)
EFFICIENCY:
• Experts say energy efficiency is a key tool to reduce emissions that doesn’t get as much attention as other clean energy technologies. (USA Today)
• The Biden administration announces a $40 million program to invest in weatherization and electrification of homes in low-income areas, including $1.9 million in funding for Toledo, Ohio. (The Hill, WTVG)
COMMENTARY:
• Clean energy advocates say two new clean truck regulations in Illinois will result in more than 750 fewer premature deaths a year and support clean energy job growth. (Natural Resources Defense Council)
• The U.S. Supreme Court limited the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions while “we plunge deeper into a crisis that soon may have no viable options,” a Minnesota editorial board writes. (Star Tribune)
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