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The pair of 1950s-era coal plants bailed out under Ohio’s House Bill 6 law are likely to remain unprofitable even after a surge in grid operator payments to generators, experts say.
The PJM Interconnection grid market makes capacity payments to line up power to meet expected demand in the years ahead. Aging, uneconomical coal plants are being retired at a time when data centers and manufacturers are starting to use more electricity, causing future power generation prices to rise.
But even record-high prices in PJM Interconnection’s recent capacity auction won’t cover the hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies paid by ratepayers to cover Ohio utilities’ costs for the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation’s Kyger Creek and Clifty Creek power plants.
“Even with a super high price, OVEC is still going to be in the red,” said Neil Waggoner, Midwest manager for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign.
The ratepayer subsidies are a result of HB 6, the 2019 state law at the heart of the largest corruption scheme in Ohio’s history. Republican legislative leaders have blocked all efforts to repeal the coal subsidies from coming to a floor vote.
This year alone, ratepayers are on track to pay nearly $200 million to prop up the two plants, one of which is in Indiana. By 2030, total ratepayer costs from the bailout could exceed $1 billion, according to RunnerStone, a consultant for the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association.
Starting next summer, the payments for generators to be ready to supply electricity when PJM Interconnection needs it will jump to about nine times the current rate for most of the grid operator’s service region.
“Put simply, the market pays participants for the promise to produce electricity when called upon by PJM,” said Daniel Lockwood, a spokesperson for the regional grid operator. An auction sets the levels for each year’s capacity payments, and the payments go to generators that bid the clearing price or less.
A spokesperson for the power plants did not directly answer the Energy News Network’s question about whether both cleared the latest PJM auction, although he described the auction results as “positive.”
“The auction results were a positive development for the OVEC plants and are more broadly a signal to the market that additional generation resources are needed in the PJM region,” said Scott Blake, a spokesperson for American Electric Power and Ohio Valley Electric Corp. While the HB 6 rider charges depend on multiple factors, the impact of the 2025/2026 capacity pricing “is expected to be positive for customers,” he said.
AEP is OVEC’s largest shareholder, along with other utility companies in Ohio and other states.
HB 6’s OVEC subsidies currently require Ohio’s residential utility customers to pay between $1.30 and $1.50 per month, depending on whether their utility is owned by AEP, AES Ohio, Duke Energy or FirstEnergy, according to PUCO data from spokesperson Brittany Waugaman. Businesses pay for the rider, too. The HB 6 rider’s net total costs last year were more than $148 million.
While capacity payments will reduce the OVEC plants’ total costs to Ohio ratepayers, the revenue won’t, in itself, make the plants profitable.
Expert testimony from a Michigan case last year found the OVEC plants would need capacity payments averaging about $418/MW-day for several years to become economical. Last month’s record-high price that will take effect next summer was about $270/MW-day.
Economic analyst Devi Glick of Synapse Energy Economics testified in the case on behalf of the Sierra Club.
“To massively oversimplify the economics of the OVEC plants, there are two categories of costs and two categories of revenues,” Glick told Energy News Network. “Costs are on one side of the equation and revenues on the other.”
Based on then-current projections for costs and energy market revenue, Glick calculated what the plants’ capacity revenues would have to be for the equation to balance out.
Several caveats would apply, Waggoner acknowledged, including any differences from last year to this year that could affect projected energy revenues. Nonetheless, he noted, a significant gap would remain.
Glick’s estimate of about $418 as a break-even capacity price for the OVEC plants is realistic and may even be conservative now, said John Seryak, managing partner for RunnerStone.
“PJM is no longer paying for a coal plant’s full power capacity anymore under new rules it created just prior to this capacity auction,” Seryak explained. “That could mean that OVEC needs even higher-priced capacity and energy to be profitable.”
“Future energy market prices, OVEC’s future coal costs, and OVEC’s environmental compliance costs will also be important factors determining the extent of its losses or profitability,” Seryak continued. “All that said, we do not anticipate OVEC operating at a profit without further price increases.”
Blake emphasized the OVEC plants’ role as a “reliable generation resource for our customers and for our region,” adding that the HB 6 rider “ensures that customers in Ohio receive electricity from OVEC for what it costs to produce it and the funds are used to pay down debt with no proceeds going to shareholders.”
That’s not exactly correct, said attorney Kimberly Bojko at Carpenter Lipps, who represents the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association in cases at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. “Customers pay the cost to operate and run OVEC and the power produced from OVEC is then sold into the wholesale electric market,” she said. Any revenue offsets the costs of HB 6’s coal subsidy.
The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association also has disputed the use of the HB 6 rider to pay down the OVEC plants’ debt in cases before the PUCO.
“By using ratepayer funds to pay down its debt, AEP Ohio is essentially shifting its bad debt to the Ohio ratepayers,” Seryak said. “It’s akin to if a person forced their neighbor to pay for their mortgage payment.”
“Customers pay for more than just OVEC’s debt, though,” Seryak added. “Customers also pay for losses in the energy market OVEC incurs. When this occurs, it means the electric grid does not need OVEC for reliability. Instead, OVEC is burning coal pointlessly at a loss and charging it to Ohio’s ratepayers.”
A major expansion of battery storage may be the most economical and environmentally beneficial way for Illinois to maintain grid reliability as it phases out fossil fuel generation, a new study finds.
The analysis was commissioned by the nonprofit Clean Grid Alliance and solar organizations as state lawmakers consider proposed incentives for private developers to build battery storage.
“The outlook is not great for bringing on major amounts of new capacity to replace the retiring capacity,” said Mark Pruitt, former head of the Illinois Power Agency and author of the study, which suggests batteries will be a more realistic path forward than a massive buildout of new generation and transmission infrastructure.
The proposed legislation — SB 3959 and HB 5856 — would require the Illinois Power Agency to procure energy storage capacity for deployment by utilities ComEd and Ameren. Payments would be based on the difference between energy market prices and the costs of charging batteries off-peak, to ensure the storage would be profitable. The need for incentives would theoretically ratchet down over time.
“As market prices for power go up, your incentive goes down,” Pruit said. “The idea is to provide an incentive that bridges the gap between the cost of battery technology and the value in the market. Over time, those will equalize and level out.”
The bills, introduced in May at the end of the legislature’s spring session, would amend existing energy law to add energy storage incentives to state policy, along with existing incentives for nuclear and renewables.
The study noted that Illinois will need at least 8,500 new megawatts of capacity and possibly as much as 15,000 new megawatts between 2030 and 2049, with increased demand driven in part by the growth of data centers. Twenty-five data centers being proposed in Illinois would use as much energy as the state’s five nuclear plants generate, according to nuclear plant owner Exelon’s CEO Calvin Butler Jr., quoted by Bloomberg.
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) found in its summer and winter 2024 assessments that within MISO and PJM regional grids, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana are all at “elevated” risk of insufficient capacity.
“NERC, PJM, MISO and the Illinois Commerce Commission have all identified the potential for capacity shortfalls,” said Pruitt. “You do have some options for alleviating that. You can build transmission and bring in capacity from outside the state. You can maintain your current domestic generating capacity [without retiring fossil fuel plants]. You could expand your domestic generating capacity. And an independent variable is your growth rate. All these have to work together, there’s no silver bullet. We know there are major challenges on each of those fronts.”
The latest PJM capacity auction results showed capacity prices increasing from $28.92/MW-Day for the 2024/25 period to $269.92/MW-Day — a nearly 10-fold increase — for the following year. That “translates into an annual cost increase of about $350 for a typical single-family household served by ComEd,” Pruitt said. “The increase in costs indicates that more capacity supply is required to meet capacity demand in the future.”
There are many new generation projects in the queue for interconnection by MISO and PJM, but many of them drop out before ever being deployed because of unviable economics, long delays, regulatory challenges and other issues. A recent study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory noted that while interconnection requests for renewables have skyrocketed since the Inflation Reduction Act, only 15% of interconnected capacity was actually completed in PJM and MISO between 2000 and 2018, and experts say similar completion rates persist.
“This finding indicates that deploying sufficient new capacity resources to offset [fossil fuel] retirements is not likely to occur in the near term,” said Pruitt. “Just because something is planned doesn’t mean it gets built.”
Meanwhile the state is running out of funds for the purchase of renewable energy credits (RECs) that are crucial to driving wind and solar development. The 2024 long-term renewable resources procurement plan by the IPA shows the state’s fund for renewables reaching a deficit in 2028, so that spending on RECs from renewables will have to be scaled back by as much as 60%.
Long-distance transmission lines could bring wind energy or other electricity from out of state. But planned transmission lines have faced hurdles. The Grain Belt Express transmission line, in the works for a decade, was in August denied needed approval from an Illinois appellate court. The transmission line, proposed by Invenergy, would have brought wind power from Kansas to load centers to the east.
“That sets it back years,” Pruitt said. “Transmission is a very long-term solution. I’m sure people are working diligently on it, but it’s five to 10 years before you get something approved and built.”
Pruitt’s study found that if 8,500 MW of energy storage were deployed between 2030 and 2049, Illinois customers could see up to $3 billion in savings compared to if they had to foot the bill for increased capacity without new storage. The savings would come because of lower market prices in capacity auctions, as well as investment in new transmission and generation that would be avoided.
Pruitt found that $11 billion to $28 billion in macro-level economic benefits could also result, with blackouts avoided, reduced fossil fuel emissions and jobs and economic stimulus created.
Pruitt’s analysis indicates that the incentives proposed in the legislation would cost $6.4 billion to customers. But the storage would result in $9.4 billion in savings compared to the status quo, hence a $3 billion overall savings between 2030 and 2049.
“Solar is great, but solar is an intermittent resource; battery storage when paired with solar allows it to be far more reliable,” said Andrew Linhares, Central Region senior manager for the Solar Energy Industry Association. “Battery storage is not as cheap as solar, but its reliability is its hallmark. Combining the resources gives you a cheap and reliable resource.”
“Solar and storage is this powerful tool that can help reduce costs for consumers and create new jobs and economic activity,” he continued. “I don’t believe that same picture is there for building out new natural gas resources. Anything that helps storage, helps solar and vice versa. CEJA sees these two technologies as being joined at the hip for the future, they are being seen more and more as a single resource.”
GRID: The San Carlos Apache Tribe calls on the federal government to replace an aging transmission line after unusually high winds damaged it and left the northern half of the southeastern Arizona reservation without power. (Associated Press)
ALSO:
SOLAR: The federal Bureau of Land Management seeks public input on the proposed 600 MW Samantha solar-plus-storage project in eastern Nevada. (news release)
HYDROGEN:
UTILITIES: A southern Idaho utility breaks ground on a 17.5 MW natural gas peaker plant and energy research center. (Local News 8)
STORAGE: Industry observers worry a proposed 150 MW battery energy storage system in Idaho could run into opposition after a county in the state rejected a utility-scale solar project. (Power Engineering)
CARBON CAPTURE: A study finds previous estimates vastly overinflate the amount of carbon dioxide that can be stored in crops and soil, throwing an Oregon initiative relying on agricultural carbon sequestration into question. (OPB)
OIL & GAS:
TRANSPORTATION: A historic tourist railroad in southwestern Colorado converts its coal-burning steam locomotives to run on oil in an effort to reduce wildfire hazard. (KSUT)
GEOTHERMAL: Colorado regulators adopt rules for deep geothermal development after expanding their focus from oil and gas to other energy and carbon capture projects. (Colorado Politics)
COAL: Wyoming leads 17 other states in a lawsuit seeking to block new U.S. EPA coal ash impoundment rules scheduled to take effect in November. (Cowboy State Daily)
GRID: The Department of Energy awards $2.2 billion in grants to eight transmission projects that, matched with $10 billion in private investment, are expected to support 13 GW of new clean energy. (Canary Media)
ALSO:
CLEAN ENERGY: A key oversight body says nearly one-third of the carbon offset credits on the market do not meet its standards, a sign of further upheaval in a process that is already heavily criticized. (Bloomberg)
CLIMATE: The window for lawmakers to repeal the SEC’s climate-risk disclosure rule closed last week, but the policy still faces legal challenges. (Utility Dive)
OIL & GAS:
TRANSPORTATION:
HYDROGEN: Oregon advocates push back against a utility’s pilot project blending hydrogen into its natural gas distribution system in Portland, joining other critics around the region citing safety concerns, high costs and limited effectiveness at decarbonization. (Oregon Capital Chronicle, Floodlight)
NUCLEAR: Federal regulators are seeking more information about plans to sell power from a Pennsylvania nuclear plant to an Amazon data center to be located nearby. (Utility Dive)
HYDROPOWER: Hydropower associations are suing the Biden administration over new rules to protect vulnerable fish populations. (E&E News, subscription)
COMMENTARY: Advocates urge federal lawmakers to protect the Biden administration’s oil and gas leasing rules from legislative attacks, saying they help protect the West’s outdoor recreation economy from drilling’s impacts. (Colorado Sun)
The following commentary was written by Sophie Loeb, policy analyst at the Center for Progressive Reform, and Michelle Carter, director of clean energy campaigns at the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters. See our commentary guidelines for more information.
If your energy bills seem high this very hot summer, brace yourself. Without drastic measures to curb pollution, summers will be hotter and staying cooler will be more expensive. Unfortunately, the biggest strain on our future electricity bills isn’t our air conditioning, our electric cars, or even our businesses — it’s artificial intelligence (AI).
Data centers have been consuming power all over the country since the 1960s. As the Internet has rapidly been integrated into our lives, so too have data centers. Big data’s assault on North Carolina continues unabated, creating more demand on our energy system and raising our bills.
The new wave of artificial intelligence has the power to change the very nature of our society, in many ways for the worse. Data centers running AI require a constant and consistent power supply, something the utilities in the Southeast have struggled with for decades. These centers raise our bills while providing virtually no benefits to our communities. Data centers across the nation have been given tax incentives, lower electricity rates, and have created few jobs for the amount of resources they use.
As more energy intensive industries take root, we must protect our residents from both the increases in our power needs and our monthly power bills. Unfortunately, Duke Energy’s plans to meet the growing needs of industry expose us to further financial and health risks. Duke Energy claims that their plan, which proposes the biggest methane gas build out in the nation, is needed to meet growing demand, particularly for data centers.
Duke has also warned that ratepayers’ bills will rise if they don’t build these plants, but the opposite is true. Building out solar and utility-scale battery storage instead of gas would yield $8 to $12 billion in electricity savings by 2030 and $18 to $23 billion in savings by 2050. An Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) analysis shows that, for Duke Energy Carolinas customers, increases in fuel costs account for roughly 67 percent of rate increases since 2017. The research is clear: more dirty methane gas means higher energy bills, both now and in the future.
According to Goldman Sachs, data centers will require a $50 billion expansion in electricity generation infrastructure to meet the industry’s demand. This money to build big power plants will come directly from North Carolina consumers like you and me without proper protections from the state.
Why should residential customers, particularly those who struggle to pay their energy bills, pay for these costly plants? Who really benefits from the environmental, social, and economic burdens of artificial intelligence?
Unfortunately, protections from the pressures of data centers are nowhere to be found — for now. Duke Energy has undertaken deals with Microsoft, Google, and other major power consumers to expand renewable generation and protect our grid. Through these agreements, large customers can transition to clean energy while lessening the burden of their power demands on the rest of Duke’s consumer base.
Data centers must be subject to these same agreements — and more — to keep North Carolina ratepayers safe from massive price increases. Consumers deserve transparency and accountability with any new data center project in our state.
In lieu of data centers, North Carolina should invest in good, clean energy manufacturing jobs that promote economic development, resilience, and environmental sustainability. Already, the Inflation Reduction Act is slated to create almost 40,000 jobs by 2030. Tech companies could support these efforts with electric vehicle manufacturing plants, solar panel and battery storage manufacturing facilities, and further build the Southeast as a hub of clean energy manufacturing.
To better center people over tech companies and promote an affordable energy transition:
As temperatures get hotter, there is no doubt our energy bills will go up. However, we must do everything we can to prevent massive projects from raising our bills even more. Investing in energy-draining artificial intelligence data centers not only increases electric rates for everyone, it takes away valuable jobs for rural communities. It’s time to invest in people over profits in North Carolina!
GRID: Minnesota regulators approve key permits for a utility’s $940 million plan to upgrade and boost the capacity of a 465-mile transmission line, allowing it to carry more wind energy from North Dakota and help meet clean energy targets. (Star Tribune)
ALSO:
PIPELINES: Minnesota regulators conclude that a small portion of the Summit carbon pipeline in the state’s northwestern corner would have a net benefit on greenhouse gas emissions. (North Dakota Monitor)
TRANSPORTATION: Owners of the nation’s last coal-fired steamship, which runs between Michigan and Wisconsin, examine potential carbon-free ways to power the vessel. (Bridge)
UTILITIES: Michigan’s attorney general says DTE Energy’s $456.4 million electric rate increase, which the utility says prioritizes grid infrastructure, is “excessive and unnecessary.” (Michigan Advance)
CLEAN ENERGY:
POLITICS:
EFFICIENCY: Homebuilders threaten to move their work to Kansas City’s suburbs as city officials consider stricter building codes for energy efficiency. (Kansas City Business Journal, subscription)
COMMENTARY: An Ohio building trades official says U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown has backed key federal legislation that led to large clean energy manufacturing investments in the state. (Columbus Dispatch)
TRANSMISSION: The U.S. Energy Department awards eight projects in six Western states $92.9 million to fund initiatives aimed at “uplifting communities impacted by transmission development.” (news release, RTO Insider, subscription)
ALSO: Western state utility regulators support a new federal rule giving states a larger role in transmission planning, saying it will lower energy costs. (Utility Dive)
OIL & GAS:
UTILITIES:
POLLUTION: Satellites detect high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide pollutants around e-commerce distribution hubs and warehouses in southern California. (New York Times)
ELECTRIFICATION: Washington state officials certify a November ballot initiative seeking to overturn rules aimed at phasing out natural gas and encouraging electrification in buildings. (Washington State Standard)
SOLAR:
BATTERIES: A developer brings a 147 MW battery energy storage system online at a solar facility in southern California. (Solar Quarter)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A southern California police department adds a Tesla Cybertruck to its fleet as a community outreach tool, not a patrol car. (Los Angeles Times)
HYDROGEN: A California company’s hydrogen-electric aircraft successfully completes a 523-mile flight. (Mercury News)
COAL: The Colstrip coal plant in Montana urges a federal appeals court to block the U.S. EPA’s new emissions standards, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision overturning the Chevron deference. (Montana Free Press)
CLIMATE:
GRID: A new academic paper warns the U.S. won’t be able to decarbonize the grid by 2050 if federal regulators don’t adopt significant grid reforms and implement a national transmission strategy. (Utility Dive)
ALSO:
POLITICS: Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, acknowledged climate change and the need for a clean energy transition as recently as 2020, but has since become publicly skeptical of renewables and turned to boosting fossil fuels. (New York Times, E&E News)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Electric vehicle sales grew 11% in the second quarter compared to a year earlier, exceeding expectations and suggesting predictions of an industry decline were premature. (Forbes)
OIL & GAS: The U.S. oil industry is booming, benefitting from cost-cutting and automation to produce record levels of crude from west Texas shale, generate more cash for shareholders, and disconcert clean energy advocates. (New York Times)
HYDROGEN:
CLEAN ENERGY: Michigan has added nearly 21,500 clean energy jobs over the past two years, serving as a national leader in clean energy development after adopting several supportive policies, according to a new report. (Michigan Advance)
SOLAR: The U.S. solar industry’s leading trade group issues standards for companies to follow to ensure ethical sales practices as state attorneys general claim companies use deceptive sales tactics to draw business. (E&E News, subscription)
CLIMATE: Unlike heating mandates, very few regulations exist that require landlords to provide air conditioning to renters, an increasingly dangerous public health problem as heat waves become more frequent and longer. (Vox)
COMMENTARY: A journalist and an advocate argue that only phasing out fossil fuels will slash Permian Basin methane emissions, and that new pollution-detecting satellites and inadequate regulations will fall short. (Scientific American)
Minnesota solar developers frustrated with the process of connecting projects to the electric grid will soon have a new place to turn to answer questions and resolve disputes.
State lawmakers recently passed legislation calling on the state Public Utilities Commission to hire an interconnection ombudsperson to provide clean energy companies with information, guidance, and mediation on connecting projects of 10 megawatts and less to the grid.
The legislation follows years of complaints by solar companies about disputes with utilities, Xcel Energy in particular, that have contributed to years-long delays for some projects to connect.
“We hope that we can create a role dedicated to understanding the entire interconnection process and help manage those disagreements when they arise,” said Logan O’Grady, executive director of the Minnesota Solar Energy Industries Association.
The legislation says the ombudsperson will track disputes and serve as a mediator between customers and investor-owned utilities. They will be expected to review policies, convene stakeholder groups, and assess ways to reduce conflicts.
O’Grady said customers, installers, and developers could contact the ombudsperson for assistance on issues involving rooftop, commercial, or community solar projects.
The ombudsperson would not eliminate the state’s existing dispute process for interconnection issues, which can take over a month and require mediation if unresolved issues remain.
O’Grady said he hopes having an interconnection ombudsperson will more efficiently resolve some disputes and provide a new option for developers that haven’t wanted to deal with the time and attention required to file a formal complaint.
Solar developers’ complaints have varied, but some involve inaccurate information leading to “weeks of back and forth to get clarity on a simple misunderstanding,” O’Grady said. The hope is that an ombudsperson with experience in the industry could more efficiently answer those questions or know who to contact in utilities to provide guidance.
State Rep. Patty Acomb, a suburban Democrat and chair of Climate and Energy Finance and Policy committee, said the ombudsperson’s work is less likely to draw skepticism because it comes from an independent source.
Solar company leaders support the new position. Bobby King, Minnesota program director for Solar United Neighbors, said the ombudsperson could “centralize” information, advocate for interconnection, create solutions to improve the process and avoid litigation. “I think it’s a positive step in the right direction,” King said.
Michael Allen, CEO of All Energy Solar, said the ombudsperson would provide “unbiased information” to the Commerce Department, the Public Utilities Commission, installers, and utilities. He also believes an ombudsperson could reduce the number of disputes that reach the Public Utilities Commission.
Marty Morud, CEO and owner of TruNorth Solar, said he’d had few issues with Xcel but sees an ombudsperson as a source for helping move utilities to respond if installer emails and phone calls go unanswered.
More than a dozen states already have positions similar to interconnection ombudspersons, including California, Massachusetts and New York. Sky Stanfield, a lawyer who works with the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, said states approach the ombudsperson differently, not all requiring them to have the technical skills Minnesota seeks.
She said that having someone see all the disputes and detect patterns could also help the Public Utilities Commission target rulemaking in problem areas.
“I do think having a person whose job is to stay up to date on what is happening seems to me like a positive step,” Stanfield said.
To be effective, the ombudsperson must be “empowered” by the Public Utilities Commission and accepted as an objective mediator by utilities and clean energy developers, she said.
The Legislature created an initial $150,000 budget. The ombudsperson position, which has not been posted, is expected to be filled later this year.
GRID: Grid operator MISO says it could face a capacity shortfall starting next summer in its northern and central regions without swift efforts to add new generation or delay retirements. (Utility Dive)
OHIO: Lt. Gov. Jon Husted allegedly helped lead the charge with now-indicted FirstEnergy executives to pass House Bill 6, which became the subject of a major bribery scheme, text messages show. (WEWS)
SOLAR:
COAL: DTE Energy completes the demolition of a southeastern Michigan coal plant where the utility plans to build a large battery storage facility. (Associated Press)
ELECTRIFICATION: Evanston, Illinois, is among U.S. communities banning gasoline-powered leaf blowers to cut down on noise and pollution, drawing pushback from the landscaping industry. (Associated Press)
CLIMATE: Researchers say climate-driven weather patterns are contributing to temporary price spikes for food and raise the risks of long-term inflation. (Washington Post)
OIL & GAS: North Dakota officials approve a $32 million loan for a processing facility that will convert natural gas into liquid hydrocarbon products. (North Dakota Monitor)
BATTERIES: A struggling Michigan battery startup enters into a strategic partnership with manufacturing giant Foxconn to help scale up production. (Crain’s Detroit, subscription)
BIOGAS: Two companies partner to develop a renewable natural gas facility at an eastern Illinois landfill that backers say will improve local air quality. (WCCU)
EMISSIONS: A large office furniture manufacturer based in western Michigan plans to cut carbon emissions 90% by 2050, which executives say gives it a competitive advantage and helps suppliers meet their own climate targets. (Crain’s Grand Rapids, subscription)
COMMENTARY:
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