GRID: A growing number of states have passed or are considering bills to give incumbent utilities first rights to build transmission lines that grid operators put out to bid, which could have large financial implications amid a widespread transmission buildout. (Utility Dive)
ALSO:
• Kansas regulators will hold public hearings next week on a plan to build a 94-mile transmission line from a nuclear plant to a substation to improve reliability. (WIBW)
• DTE Energy and Consumers Energy aim to restore power to 95% of more than 700,000 customers affected by this week’s ice storm by Sunday. (Detroit News)
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OHIO: Tensions grow between defense attorneys and a federal judge in the ongoing trial of former House Speaker Larry Householder, whose attorneys accuse the judge of being unfair. (Ohio Capital Journal)
CARBON CAPTURE:
• One of the three companies seeking to build a carbon pipeline through Iowa says it will not use eminent domain to acquire easements for its project. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
• A North Dakota county health director says carbon pipelines don’t appear to represent an “unacceptable risk” compared to other hazardous materials pipelines. (Bismarck Tribune)
• Construction continues on a $67 million Illinois carbon capture pilot project designed to capture about 95% of emissions from a coal plant. (Illinois Times)
SOLAR:
• The U.S. EPA has started setting up a $7 billion fund through the Inflation Reduction Act to support community solar development. (Inside Climate News)
• A Nebraska homeowners association orders a resident to remove solar panels from her condo as state lawmakers pursue legislation that would block homeowner associations from doing so. (Nebraska Examiner)
• An Indiana solar installation with sun-tracking panels performed as expected in 2022 and saved a city $165,000 in electricity costs. (News Sun)
AIR POLLUTION: Activists in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood accuse city officials of “willful bureaucratic negligence” following a recently publicized audit of a botched coal plant smokestack demolition in 2020. (Chicago Tribune)
CLIMATE: An Indiana bill to block state pension and investment managers from considering environmental, social and governance factors in investment decisions would cost the state an estimated $5.5 million over the next decade. (Indiana Capital Chronicle)
UTILITIES: Detroit utility DTE Energy files its eighth rate increase request since 2010, seeking an additional $622 million a year to pay for various grid infrastructure measures. (Bridge Detroit)
CLEAN ENERGY: A Chicago environmental group’s new report highlights success stories of rural renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. (Daily News)
COMMENTARY: An Iowa columnist says carbon pipelines, which pit landowner rights against ethanol interests, leaves Republican state lawmakers long-supportive of the ethanol industry “in a terrible fix.” (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
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