CLEAN ENERGY: Minnesota regulators approve CenterPoint Energy’s $106 million clean energy plan that includes renewable natural gas and geothermal heating under a 2021 law that targets the gas industry’s emissions. (Star Tribune)

EMISSIONS: Minnesota environmental justice advocates challenge proposals to define trash incinerators and wood biomass plants as carbon-free energy sources under the state’s recent 2040 energy target. (Sahan Journal)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 

  • Nebraska officials hope to open applications soon for electric vehicle charging station grants, as a lack of charging options continues to hinder EV adoption in the state. (Flatwater Free Press)
  • Michigan officials have faced legislative roadblocks while attempting to electrify the state’s vehicle fleet, which still overwhelmingly includes gas-powered vehicles. (Bridge) 
  • Reporters on an electric vehicle trip around Lake Michigan say charging overnight is key to passing through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a mostly rural area known for a lack of chargers. (Bridge)

COAL: 

  • Michigan’s two largest utilities operated coal plants at a $20 million loss between 2021 and 2023 when lower cost gas and renewables could have been deployed, according to a recent Natural Resources Defense Council report. (Michigan Public)
  • Local officials in northeastern Ohio welcome federal Inflation Reduction Act funding that will help shutter a coal plant that opened in 1908 and add solar and battery storage to the property. (Inside Climate News)

SOLAR: 

  • A developer begins public listening sessions for a proposed 220 MW Iowa solar project that would include 180 MW of battery storage. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
  • A Canadian solar panel company that has a manufacturing campus in Minnesota will partner with an Indian company to open a silicon-based solar cell manufacturing plant in the U.S. (Solar Power World)

PIPELINES: 

  • Opponents of a proposed multi-state carbon pipeline expect to challenge Iowa regulators’ decision to approve the project in court. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
  • Activists across the Great Lakes use the 14th anniversary of a major pipeline spill in Michigan to call for the shutdown of Line 5. (Michigan Public)

WORKFORCE: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signs a bill that expands the state’s prevailing wage requirements, which guarantee certain wages on state-backed projects, to construction on wind and solar projects. (Detroit Free Press)

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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.