COAL: Despite touting investments in renewable energy, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns 12 of the dirtiest coal plants in the country, including in Nebraska and Iowa, an analysis of federal emissions data finds. (Reuters)
CLEAN ENERGY:
- Illinois officials say state incentives helped double private clean energy sector investments from the previous year to $4 billion in 2024. (WTVO)
- Illinois lawmakers pass a scaled back clean energy bill that would generate more revenue for renewable energy credits paid to developers, and may take up broader reforms later this year. (Capitol News Illinois)
- The USDA awards more than $6 billion in grants and loans to help rural, member-owned electric cooperatives build renewable energy and battery storage projects. (Canary Media)
PIPELINES: The Michigan Court of Appeals hears arguments from tribes and environmental groups challenging a state permit allowing Enbridge to build a tunnel for Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac. (Michigan Advance)
CLIMATE:
- A Nebraska lawmaker introduces legislation to create a state climate office that would create a climate action plan and coordinate federal grants. (Nebraska Public Media)
- Governors across the country are poised to continue state-level climate action if the incoming Trump administration scales back federal efforts, advocates say. (Grist)
SOLAR:
- Most of the $1 million in federal clean energy funding in Iowa will support solar projects on rural farms and businesses. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
- Local officials across Michigan criticize investor-owned utilities’ opposition to community solar, which advocates say allows more people to participate in clean energy and avoids utility-scale projects. (Michigan Public)
- Michigan officials last week opened a three-month public comment period on plans to lease more than 400 acres of state-owned land for solar development. (Interlochen Public Radio)
GRID:
- Clean energy advocates say PJM’s proposal to expand grid access through underused interconnection capacity would free up more than 26 gigawatts to address a widespread capacity shortage. (Utility Dive)
- MISO selects Ameren to build $1.3 billion in transmission projects in multiple Midwest states to improve reliability. (news release)
POLITICS: Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan concludes 12 hours of testimony over four days in his corruption trial that addressed quid-pro-quo allegations involving jobs with associates at ComEd. (Chicago Sun-Times)
BIOFUELS: Some Iowa biodiesel plants have at least temporarily shut down after the Biden administration failed to finalize guidance on a new tax incentives program. (Des Moines Register)
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