Good morning! We start in Indiana, where Gov. Mike Braun has signed a pair of controversial bills opposed by both environmental and consumer advocates. The first, which one Indiana University researcher calls “bogus,” defines natural gas and propane as clean energy. A second bill worries consumer advocates who say the costs of developing unproven advanced nuclear projects will get passed on to ratepayers — before projects are even built.
TODAY'S TOP NEWS
FOSSIL FUELS
A new Indiana law defines natural gas and propane as clean energy in an effort to help projects secure federal funding typically set aside for renewable energy. (Indianapolis Star)
Indiana Michigan Power seeks permission from Indiana regulators to buy an 870 MW natural gas plant as part of its long-term energy plan. (Power Engineering)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Chicago’s draft electric vehicle charging plan includes short-term goals to make public charging more accessible and investing in neighborhoods disproportionately affected by air pollution. (Smart Cities Dive)
PIPELINES
The Keystone pipeline operator restarts the pipeline less than a week after it ruptured and spilled thousands of barrels of crude oil in North Dakota. (E&E News)
NUCLEAR
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun signs a bill that would allow utilities to recover development costs for small nuclear reactors before they’re built, which ratepayers advocates call a “really egregious” decision that does little to address energy affordability. (Indianapolis Star)
Critics say a separate Indiana bill that would remove zoning restrictions when siting new power plants is targeted at making small modular reactors easier to build. (Statehouse File)
COAL
Nearly 70 U.S. coal plants get a two-year exemption from updated limits on toxic pollutants following an order from President Trump. (E&E News)
SOLAR
Global investment manager Apollo commits $400 million to form a joint venture with developer Summit Ridge Energy to own and operate a portfolio of commercial solar projects in Illinois. (PV Magazine)
BIOGAS
Biogas advocates want to make the process of capturing methane from landfills and converting it into renewable natural gas more accessible for smaller facilities. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
COMMENTARY
The Trump administration’s effort to roll back environmental justice programs and gut staff at the EPA threatens public health and safety across Michigan, an environmental justice advocate writes. (Planet Detroit)
Michigan should reject Enbridge’s permit applications for a Line 5 tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac that ignore state environmental law and threaten natural resources, a clean energy advocate writes. (Detroit Free Press)
NEW FROM CANARY MEDIA
The mayor of a majority Black, devastatingly poor North Carolina town is looking to uplift his community with plans for a solar farm, weatherization resource center, and new resilience hub, Elizabeth Ouzts reports.
A new report shows solar is closing in on gas as the top producer of electricity in California, Julian Spector reports.
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