Court considers whether carbon pipelines are a public good

PIPELINES: The South Dakota Supreme Court hears arguments in a case over whether a proposed carbon pipeline is a public commodity and thus eligible to survey private land and use eminent domain. (South Dakota Searchlight)

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ALSO: Iowa lawmakers advance a bill that would allow either party in a utility eminent domain case to ask a district court to decide whether the project is a public necessity. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)

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GRID:

• Utility officials say grid operator MISO’s latest plan to build up to $23 billion of new transmission is especially sparse in Minnesota and North Dakota. (Star Tribune)
• We Energies will spend $25 million this year to ramp up efforts to remove dead and dying trees that pose a threat to grid reliability in southeastern Wisconsin. (Journal Sentinel)

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SOLAR:

• University of Michigan researchers say utility-scale solar development on agricultural land brings pros and cons for residents living among projects. (MLive)
• Nine of an Illinois school district’s 17 schools have solar arrays that total 3.3 MW of capacity. (Northern Public Radio)

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CLIMATE: Rapid City, South Dakota, will seek $50 million in federal climate funding after state officials declined to apply for the money. (South Dakota Searchlight)

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RENEWABLES: As Michigan regulators collect public input on a new law giving the state final say on where clean energy projects can be built, a developer notes that projects need to be completed with landowner cooperation in the first place. (WWMT)

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OIL & GAS: BP’s large oil refinery in northwestern Indiana resumes normal operations more than six weeks after a power outage prompted a temporary shutdown of the complex. (Associated Press)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Rivian is leasing space for what’s expected to be the electric vehicle startup’s second service center in Michigan. (Crain’s)

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STORAGE: Western Michigan is poised for additional growth in battery storage production based on the number of suppliers currently operating there, economic development groups say. (Second Wave Media)

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COMMENTARY:

• A Michigan tribal member and activist criticizes President Biden’s silence on whether to shut down the Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac. (Planet Detroit)
• Ohio’s former secretary of state and state treasurer claims President Biden’s clean power plan would force fossil fuel plants to shut down and threaten the state’s power grid. (Cleveland.com)

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