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EDF and Google partner to map global methane emissions from space
Mar 21, 2025

By this time next year, a new satellite will be detecting how much methane is leaking from oil and gas wells, pumps, pipelines and storage tanks around the world — and companies, governments and nonprofit groups will be able to access all of its data via Google Maps.

That’s one way to describe the partnership announced Wednesday by the Environmental Defense Fund and Google. The two have pledged to combine forces on EDF’s MethaneSat initiative, one of the most ambitious efforts yet to discover and measure emissions of a gas with 80 times the global-warming potential of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.

MethaneSat’s first satellite is scheduled to be launched into orbit next month, Steve Hamburg, EDF chief scientist and MethaneSat project lead, explained in a Monday media briefing. Once in orbit, it will circle the globe 15 times a day, providing the ​“first truly detailed global picture of methane emissions,” he said. ​“By the end of 2025, we should have a very clear picture on a global scale from all major oil and gas basins around the world.”

That’s vital data for governments and industry players seeking to reduce human-caused methane emissions that are responsible for roughly a quarter of global warming today. The United Nations has called for a 45 percent cut in methane emissions by 2030, which would reduce climate warming by 0.3 degrees Celsius by 2045.

EDF research has found that roughly half of the world’s human-caused methane emissions can be eliminated by 2030, and that half of that reduction could be accomplished at no net cost. Emissions from agriculture, livestock and landfills are expected to be more difficult to mitigate than those from the oil and gas industries, which either vent or flare fossil gas — which is primarily methane — as an unwanted byproduct of oil production, or lose it through leaks.

That makes targeting oil and gas industry methane emissions ​“the fastest way that we can slow global warming right now,” Hamburg said. While cutting carbon dioxide emissions remains a pressing challenge, ​“methane dominates what’s happening in the near term.”

Action on methane leakage is being promised by industry and governments. At the COP28 U.N. climate talks in December, 50 of the world’s largest oil and gas companies pledged to ​“virtually eliminate” their methane emissions by 2030, Hamburg noted. The European Union in November passed a law that will place ​“maximum methane intensity values” on fossil gas imports starting in 2030, putting pressure on global suppliers to reduce leaks if they want to continue selling their products in Europe.

In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed rules to impose fines on methane emitters in the oil and gas industry, in keeping with a provision of 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act that penalizes emissions above a certain threshold. And in December, the EPA issued final rules on limiting methane emissions from existing oil and gas operations, including a role for third-party monitors like MethaneSat to report methane ​“super-emitters” — sources of massive methane leaks — and spur regulatory action.

Accurate and comprehensive measurements are necessary to attain these targets and mandates, Hamburg said. ​“Achieving real results means that government, civil society and industry need to know how much methane is coming from where, who is responsible for those emissions and how those emissions are changing over time,” he said. ​“We need the data on a global scale.”

Turning satellite data into regulatory action

That’s where Google will step in, said Yael Maguire, head of the search giant’s Geo Sustainability team. Over the past two years, Google has been working with EDF and MethaneSat to develop a ​“dynamic methane map that we will make available to the public later this year,” he said during Monday’s briefing.

EDF and Google researchers will use Google’s cloud-computing resources to analyze MethaneSat data to identify leaks and measure their intensity, Maguire said. Google is also adapting its machine-learning and artificial-intelligence capabilities developed for identifying buildings, trees and other landmarks from space to ​“build a comprehensive map of oil and gas infrastructure around the world based on visible satellite imagery,” he said — a valuable source of information on an industry that can be resistant to providing asset data to regulators.

“Once those maps are lined up, we expect people will be able to have a far better understanding of the types of machinery that contribute most to methane leaks,” Maguire said. These maps and underlying data will be available later this year on MethaneSat’s website and from Google Earth Engine, the company’s environmental-monitoring platform used by researchers to ​“detect trends and understand correlations between human activity and its environmental impact.”

The work between Google and EDF on MethaneSat is part of a broader set of methane-emissions monitoring efforts by researchers, governments, nonprofits and companies. At the COP28 climate summit, Bloomberg Philanthropies pledged $40 million to support what Hamburg described as an ​“independent watchdog effort” to track the progress of emissions-reduction pledges that companies in the oil and gas industry made at the event.

MethaneSat will bring new technology to the table, he said. Its sensors can detect methane at concentrations of 2 to 3 parts per billion, down to resolutions of about 100 meters by 400 meters. That’s a much tighter resolution than the methane detection provided by the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel satellite, which nonetheless has been able to detect gigantic methane plumes in oil and gas basins in Central Asia and North Africa in the past three years, he said.

At the same time, MethaneSat can scan 200-kilometer-wide swaths of Earth as it passes overhead, he said. That combination of detail and scope will allow it to ​“see widespread emissions — those that are across large areas and that other satellites can see — as well as spot problems where other satellites aren’t looking.”

This image, taken from a scan using MethaneSat’s sensors in an airplane flying over the Permian Basin, the major oil- and gas-producing region in West Texas and eastern New Mexico, shows the combination of area emissions and point-source emissions that the sensor can capture.

Graphical representation of MethaneSat's area-wide and point-source methane detection capabilities
MethaneSat can track area-wide methane concentrations and pinpoint emissions "hot spots." (Google)

EDF’s work with Google is also enabling the use of MethaneSat data to detect not only the concentration of methane in the atmosphere but also its ​“flux,” he said — the volumes of methane leaking and their change over time. That’s important information for government regulators seeking to quantify leakage rates to impose penalties or measure industry mitigation efforts, he noted. ​“We’re telling everyone the information they need to take action, as opposed to scientific information that requires further processing.”

Hamburg pointed to other satellite, aerial and ground-based monitoring technologies that can provide more fine-grained data on which parts of oil and gas infrastructure are the source of individual leaks, so that ​“any individual company or actor in a specific spot can make a repair.”

This granular monitoring is being provided today by Canadian-based company GHGSat, which can focus its sensors to collect data from a point on the Earth as small as roughly 25 meters square. It will be aided by Carbon Mapper, a joint effort of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, the California Air Resources Board, private satellite company Planet, and universities and nonprofit partners including RMI and Bloomberg Philanthropies. (Canary Media is an independent affiliate of RMI.)

Later this year, Carbon Mapper plans to launch into orbit two satellites that will be able to deliver 30-meter-square resolution of point-source methane emissions.

“What Carbon Mapper is focused on is how to discover and isolate super-emitters,” Riley Duren, CEO of the public-private consortium, told Canary Media in a December interview.

Duren compared Carbon Mapper to ​“a collection of telephoto lenses, zooming in to give you a single view.” MethaneSat, by comparison, is ​“regional accounting, wall to wall, all the emissions in the Permian Basin or Uinta Basin,” or other oil- and gas-producing regions, he said.

“This has to be a system of systems,” he added. ​“No one technology will solve this.”

MethaneSat has spent $88 million on the design, construction and launch planning for its first satellite, Hamburg said. The work is funded by a $100 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund, the philanthropic organization launched by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

MethaneSat’s data will be open to analysis from ​“scientists around the world to validate, to make sure that everybody understands what it can do and what it can’t do,” he added.

Maguire noted that the data from Google Earth Engine, including the MethaneSat data it will make available later this year, is ​“available to researchers, nonprofits and academic institutions for free.” He noted that oil and gas companies will also be able to access the data to inform their own methane leak mitigation efforts. While Google doesn’t have ​“any information to share at this point” about if or how it might charge companies for that data, ​“our goal is to make sure that this information is as broadly accessible as possible.”

As for how regulators might make use of MethaneSat data, Hamburg said the organization is ​“working with the global community of scientists and talking with governments about how to utilize these data to effectively drive the change they’re looking to drive.” He declined to provide specifics on what those conversations with governments have entailed. ​“I wouldn’t call them formal talks, but active talks,” he said.

Chart: Global clean industry investment fell sharply in 2024
Feb 14, 2025

Canary Media’s chart of the week translates crucial data about the clean energy transition into a visual format.


Global investment in efforts to decarbonize heavy industries totaled just $31 billion in 2024, marking a tough year for areas including hydrogen-based steelmaking and carbon capture and storage.

Money for clean industry–related projects fell by nearly 60% last year compared with 2023 — even as investment in the broader energy transition grew to a record $2.1 trillion in 2024, per BloombergNEF.

The diverging outcomes reflect a ​“two-speed transition” emerging in markets around the world, according to the research firm. The vast majority of today’s energy-transition investment is flowing to more established technologies, such as renewable energy, electric vehicles, energy storage, and power grids.

Meanwhile, efforts to slash planet-warming emissions from heavy industrial sectors — including steel, ammonia, chemicals, and cement — continue to face more fundamental challenges around affordability, maturity, and scalability.

Clean steel projects took the biggest hit in financial commitments, with investment falling to around $17.3 billion in 2024, down from $40.2 billion the previous year, BNEF found.

The category includes new furnaces that can use hydrogen instead of coal to produce iron for steelmaking. Green hydrogen made from renewables remained costly and in scarce supply, leading producers like Europe’s ArcelorMittal to delay making planned investments in hydrogen-based projects. Electric arc furnaces — which turn scrap metal and fresh iron into high-strength steel using electricity — are also considered clean steel projects. Mainland China saw a sharp decline in funding for new electric furnaces as steel demand withered among its automotive and construction industries.

Investment held flat in 2024 for new facilities that use ​“low-emissions hydrogen” instead of fossil gas to produce ammonia, a compound that’s mainly used in fertilizer but could be turned into fuel for cargo ships and heavy-duty machinery. However, funding declined last year for circular economy projects that recycle plastics, paper, and aluminum, as well as for bio-based plastics production.

BNEF found that, unlike in 2023, few developers of new clean steel and ammonia facilities allocated capital for ​“co-located” hydrogen plants and renewable energy installations. Likewise, fewer commitments were made to install carbon capture and storage units on polluting facilities like cement factories and chemical refineries.

Whether these investment trends will continue in 2025 depends largely ​“on a few crucial policy developments in key markets,” Allen Tom Abraham, head of sustainable materials research at BNEF, told Canary Media.

In the United States, companies are awaiting more clarity on the future of federal incentives for industrial decarbonization. The Biden administration previously directed billions of dollars in congressionally mandated funding to support cutting-edge manufacturing technologies and boost demand for low-carbon construction materials — money that is now entangled in President Donald Trump’s federal spending freeze.

Investors are also watching to see what unfolds this month in the European Union. Policymakers are poised to adopt a ​“clean industrial deal” to help the region’s heavily emitting sectors like steel, cement, and chemicals to slash emissions while remaining competitive. And in China, the government is drafting new rules aimed at easing the country’s overcapacity of steel production, which could impact the deployment of new electric arc furnaces.

“Positive developments on these initiatives could boost clean-industry investment commitments in 2025,” Abraham said.

Clean cement startup Brimstone can make another key material: alumina
Feb 5, 2025

Since launching in 2019, the U.S. startup Brimstone has positioned itself as a pioneering producer of low-carbon cement. The company’s technology can make the essential material without using any limestone — the carbon-rich rock that, when heated up in fiery kilns, releases huge amounts of planet-warming gases into the air.

Now, Brimstone is looking to use its same process to supply another emissions-intensive industry: aluminum production.

The Oakland, California-based company sources carbon-free rocks that are widely available in the United States but are primarily used today as aggregate for building and road construction. Brimstone pulverizes those rocks and adds chemical agents to leach out valuable minerals. Certain compounds are then heated in a rotary kiln to make industry-standard cement.

Last month, Brimstone announced that its novel approach can also yield alumina, which is the main component of aluminum — the lightweight metal found in everything from household appliances and smartphones to buildings, bridges, and airplanes. Aluminum is also a key ingredient in many clean energy technologies, such as solar panels, heat pumps, power cables, and electric vehicles.

Alumina production today involves extracting and refining a reddish clay ore called bauxite from a handful of countries using environmentally destructive methods. The United States imports nearly all of the alumina it needs to feed its giant, energy-hungry smelters. Over half that supply comes from Brazil, with Australia, Jamaica, and Canada providing most of the rest.

Brimstone says its approach could reduce or supplant the need to scrape bauxite from overseas mines, a process that generates copious amounts of toxic waste. Instead, the company aims to supply U.S. aluminum smelters by sourcing common calcium silicate rocks from domestic quarries and by using chemicals that can be more efficiently recycled than bauxite.

The strategy might also help the six-year-old startup navigate the fraught early period that many newcomers face when trying to break into giant, incumbent industries. Cement is a fairly cheap and abundant material, and the construction sector is inherently wary of deviating from tried-and-true — if carbon-intensive — practices. But the U.S. makes relatively little smelter-grade alumina, despite the essential role it plays in the country’s economy.

“Alumina is a very high-value product that allows us to get into the market…and be very investable in the beginning,” Cody Finke, Brimstone’s co-founder and CEO, told Canary Media. He said that producing alumina could help his team ​“bridge that valley of death” as it works to scale low-carbon production of cement, which he described as a ​“larger but lower economic driving force” for the business.

The company, which has raised more than $60 million in venture funding, is slated to open a pilot plant in Oakland later this year that will produce alumina alongside Portland cement — the product that comprises the vast majority of cement made today — and supplementary cementitious materials. Brimstone also plans to build a $378 million commercial demonstration plant by the end of the decade, the site for which is still being decided.

Tariffs, funding turbulence ensnare aluminum production

Brimstone is expanding its scope during an especially dynamic period for the aluminum sector.

In recent decades, U.S. aluminum producers have significantly reduced domestic production in response to spiking energy prices and increased competition from China. That in turn has reduced alumina demand from U.S. smelters — which dissolve the alumina in a molten salt called cryolite, then heat and melt it to make aluminum metal. From 2019 to 2023, U.S. alumina imports fell by nearly 33% as manufacturers closed or curtailed their operations.

President Donald Trump has called for imposing fresh tariffs on U.S. aluminum, copper, and steel imports as a way to ​“bring production back to our country,” and his administration this week imposed or threatened duties on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China, a sweeping action that affects aluminum products. Industry analysts told Reuters that aluminum tariffs would result in higher costs for U.S. consumers, at least until domestic output ramps back up. The country-focused tariffs have already sparked volatility across commodities markets.

At the same time, however, Trump is trying to block federal investments that could boost domestic production of both aluminum and alumina.
Century Aluminum
, for example, is set to receive up to $500 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to build the nation’s first new smelter in 45 years. The Biden administration finalized the award on January 15 as part of its larger initiative to slash emissions from industrial manufacturing. Century’s ​“green smelter” — the location of which hasn’t been announced — will purportedly emit 75% less carbon dioxide than traditional smelters, thanks to its use of carbon-free energy and energy-efficient designs.

The DOE award is currently entangled in Trump’s freeze on tens of billions of dollars in congressionally mandated climate and energy spending. Brimstone is also affected by the pause. In December, the DOE awarded Brimstone up to $189 million to cover half the cost of its planned commercial demonstration plant.

Brimstone declined to comment on the federal funding fracas, which remains in flux even though federal courts have ordered the flow of investment to resume.

The case for homemade alumina

Despite the policy uncertainty, there are still potential upsides to making alumina from alternatives to bauxite and within the United States.

Producing alumina using less environmentally intensive techniques — and supplying that material to smelters powered by clean energy — would help lower emissions across the U.S. supply chain and provide much-needed metal for domestic manufacturers. Lessening the country’s reliance on imports could also help insulate the United States from supply chain disruptions and national security risks, according to a 2018 report by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

“Aluminum is a linchpin of domestic aerospace, defense, and automotive applications,” Kevin Kramer, a former executive for U.S. aluminum maker Alcoa who is now a Brimstone senior advisor, said in a statement. ​“Establishing a new alumina source stateside is vital, and Brimstone’s 100% U.S.-based solution is exactly what the industry needs.”

Three U.S. states — Alabama, Arkansas, and Georgia — mine small amounts of bauxite for chemical and industrial applications. The nation’s single alumina refinery, located in Louisiana, uses imported bauxite to make alumina for aluminum smelting. But most of the world’s alumina production happens in other countries with much larger bauxite deposits.

Other types of minerals and clays also contain alumina, though the modern industry only deals with bauxite. That’s because of ​“the relatively straightforward nature of extracting bauxite, combined with its commercial abundance,” Adam Merrill, a mineral commodity specialist at the U.S. Geological Survey, said by email. Nearly all commercially produced alumina uses the Bayer process, which involves dissolving bauxite in a high-temperature caustic solution and filtering it to remove impurities.

“Today, the process is used much in the same way as when it was patented in 1888,” he added.

Merrill said that, aside from Brimstone, he isn’t aware of other current research efforts that involve using calcium silicate rocks for alumina production. Earlier studies in the mid-20th century pointed to the fact that silicates contain relatively tiny quantities of alumina — meaning producers would have to dig up substantially more rocks to match what they’d get from bauxite.

Finke said that Brimstone’s answer to this challenge is ​“co-production,” something he said the industry hasn’t tried before in a meaningful way.

“We’re not just taking the bit of alumina that’s in this and then throwing the rest out,” he said, holding up a small chunk of the silicate rock basalt. ​“We’re additionally making Portland cement and supplementary cementitious materials. That’s really what our insight was.”

Brimstone plans to mine rocks from existing surface quarries across the United States. At its future commercial demonstration plant, about 20% of its total product will be smelter-grade alumina, with the remaining materials turned into inputs for concrete.

“This would be the first time that alumina is produced from a rock quarry in the United States in a generation,” Finke said of the facility.

Colorado regulators move to evict oil and gas firm
Jan 28, 2025

OIL & GAS: Colorado regulators consider blocking an oil and gas firm from operating in the state, seizing $317,000 in reclamation bonds and adding its 107 aging wells to the orphaned well program. (Colorado Sun)

CLIMATE: California lawmakers introduce legislation that would allow climate change-related disaster victims and insurance companies to sue fossil fuel companies for damages. (Associated Press)

BATTERIES: California researchers find unusually high concentrations of toxic metals in wetlands downwind of the Moss Landing battery energy storage facility that caught fire recently. (Mercury News)

SOLAR: Wyoming lawmakers advance a bill that would open the door to slashing net metering compensation for rooftop solar after it was changed to exempt existing arrays. (WyoFile)

UTILITIES:

  • Pacific Gas & Electric and other power companies urge Congress to pass a forest management bill that would loosen regulations on utilities’ wildfire hazard mitigation work. (Utility Dive)
  • Southern California Edison reports that it found a fault in its distribution grid in the moments before the ignition of the deadly Eaton Fire. (Associated Press)
  • Federal investigators accuse Southern California Edison of suppressing evidence indicating its equipment sparked a 2017 wildfire, casting doubt on the utilities’ claims it is not responsible for recent Los Angeles-area blazes. (Los Angeles Times)

POLITICS:

NUCLEAR:

GRID: Southern New Mexico utility El Paso Electric joins SPP’s day-ahead regional power market. (news release)

COMMENTARY:

  • A California energy analyst says the state’s net metering policy did not kill the rooftop solar industry after all, and urges policymakers not to waste time trying to revise it. (Energy Institute Blog)
  • A Wyoming analyst urges policymakers to lure data centers as a way to diversify the economy and utilize abundant energy resources. (WyoFile)

Hydrogen-powered Minnesota iron project hopes to survive funding freeze
Jan 29, 2025

HYDROGEN: Backers of a planned hydrogen-powered iron production facility in Minnesota say they are confident that $1.3 million in federal funding just announced for the project will survive the Trump administration’s spending freeze. (Star Tribune)

CLIMATE: The Trump administration’s freeze on federal grants and loans could jeopardize funding for several climate and pollution-reduction projects for northeastern Ohio organizations. (Cleveland.com, subscription)

EFFICIENCY: Twenty-four states lack energy efficiency standards meant to curb energy use, which advocates say come with economic as well as climate advantages, according to a new industry report. (Grist)

OIL & GAS: A state-backed report in North Dakota says higher federal tax incentives for using carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery could unlock up to 8 billion more barrels of oil and generate $9 billion in more oil tax revenue over the next decade. (North Dakota Monitor)

EMISSIONS: U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy signs an order seeking to roll back fuel economy standards enacted by President Biden, arguing that ​“artificially high” fuel efficiency rules raise costs for consumers. (New York Times)

CLEAN ENERGY: Food and beverage production facilities across the U.S. begin to deploy low-carbon heating technologies as an alternative to gas-powered systems, though high costs remain a barrier. (Canary Media)

NUCLEAR: An Indiana utility will seek a $50 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to begin exploring the potential for a small modular reactor at a retiring coal plant. (Inside Indiana Business)

COAL: Springfield, Illinois, reaches an agreement with the U.S. EPA over two coal ash disposal sites that will require improved groundwater monitoring and addressing potential releases of heavy metals. (Environmental Protection)

BIOFUELS: Kansas agriculture and energy companies ask state lawmakers to approve a $5 million annual state tax credit to entice reluctant gas station owners to distribute more ethanol made with crops grown in-state. (Kansas Reflector)

SOLAR:

  • A developer starts construction on a 117 MW solar project in central Ohio, marking the company’s fifth solar project in the state. (Solar Power World)
  • More than 30 Wendy’s and McDonald’s franchises in northern Illinois expect to save at least $20,000 a year in electricity costs by subscribing to community solar projects. (PV Magazine)

BIOMASS: Michigan biomass energy advocates say a new state law eliminating biomass as a clean energy source eliminated a market for burning old tires. (MLive, subscription)

COMMENTARY: A former Iowa lawmaker says restrictive local ordinances hinder the state’s ability to remain a renewable energy leader, particularly as new demand comes online from data centers. (Des Moines Register)

Report: Southeast ranks last in the nation for energy efficiency
Jan 21, 2025

EFFICIENCY: A new report finds utilities in Tennessee and other Southeast states have the lowest energy efficiency ranking of any region in the U.S. (Tennessee Lookout)

OIL & GAS: Texas regulators adopt updated oilfield waste rules that now cover drill cuttings, mud that oozes from wells and the wastewater that comes to the surface during fracking. (Inside Climate News)

SOLAR: A 900 MW Texas solar farm uses roughly 3,000 sheep to maintain vegetation at its 4,000-acre site, illustrating a broader trend pairing livestock with solar energy development across the U.S. (Associated Press)

POLITICS:

COAL:

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE:

GRID:

CARBON CAPTURE: The U.S. EPA approves West Virginia’s request for primary enforcement authority for the drilling of injection wells for carbon capture projects. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

EMISSIONS:

  • A new report finds upstream oil and gas equipment and oil wells leaked 25% less methane in 2023 than the year before, though environmentalists question the report’s methodology and findings. (Texas Tribune)
  • Federal agencies and nonprofit groups like The Nature Conservancy have rewetted 60,000 acres of the Great Dismal Swamp since 2012 in an effort to restore layers of peat and their ability to reduce the amount of carbon emitted into the air. (Inside Climate News)

COMMENTARY:

Trump declares national energy emergency
Jan 21, 2025

POLITICS: On his first day in office, President Trump declares a national energy emergency to give himself broad powers to encourage fossil fuel production to meet growing power demand, though the move could face legal challenges. (The Guardian, The Hill)

ALSO:

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

WIND: Trump orders a stop to new permitting for onshore and offshore wind projects and directs the Interior Department to find out whether it can end or amend existing leases. (E&E News)

OIL & GAS: Trump issues executive orders aimed at spurring more oil & gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and revoking policies that “burden the development of domestic energy resources.” (The Hill)

OVERSIGHT: President Trump names a longtime Virginia utility regulator to lead the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. (Cardinal News)

SOLAR:

CLIMATE: A study shows how fossil fuel companies collaboratively used Twitter to seed doubt about international climate action. (Grist)

GRID: Illinois lawmakers and advocates are drafting legislation that would allow merchant transmission line developers to access subsidies under the state’s renewable energy credits program to help remove cost barriers for wind and solar developers. (Energy News Network)

EFFICIENCY: A new report finds utilities in Tennessee and other Southeast states have the lowest energy efficiency ranking of any region in the U.S. (Tennessee Lookout)

Michigan on track to hit carbon neutral target
Jan 23, 2025

CLIMATE: Michigan climate officials say the state is on track to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 26% over 2005 levels by the end of 2025 and is on pace to reach a carbon neutrality goal by 2050. (Michigan Public)

PIPELINES:

  • A rift over the use of eminent domain for carbon pipelines has caused division among South Dakota Republicans, who are now under new leadership after unsuccessful efforts last year to reach a compromise between supporters and opposing landowners. (South Dakota Searchlight)
  • The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s latest lawsuit to shut down the Dakota Access pipeline should be tossed because the agency hasn’t yet issued a permit for the project. (North Dakota Monitor)

NUCLEAR: Officials at a northern Michigan electric cooperative want to buy power from a nuclear plant slated to restart this year, in part to help meet the state’s climate goals a decade ahead of time. (Interlochen Public Radio)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

  • The Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate a $7,500 rebate for electric vehicle purchases could soften sales in Minnesota, where full EV purchases have started to slow in favor of hybrid models. (Star Tribune)
  • Annual benefits of incentivizing EV charging away from high-demand periods exceed annual costs once at least 5% of customers have EV chargers, according to a new study by AES Indiana. (PV Magazine)
  • Michigan Democrats rescind claims that a Michigan EV plant was idled because of President Trump’s early executive orders, when the plant was idled around the holidays and is scheduled to restart on Feb. 3. (Detroit Free Press)

UTILITIES: Ameren Missouri customers push back on the utility’s proposed 15% rate increase that executives say is needed to pay for various grid infrastructure investments. (St. Louis Public Radio)

SOLAR:

  • Ohio regulators approve plans for a 100 MW solar project with battery storage outside Cincinnati, but reject plans for two other projects totaling 320 MW of capacity. (Cleveland.com)
  • A developer starts construction on a 182 MW solar project on the site of a former subsurface Illinois mine after securing financing for the $345 million project. (Renewables Now)
  • An Iowa county plans to revisit decommissioning provisions in its ordinance regulating utility-scale solar projects to clarify requirements when a project transfers ownership. (Hawk Eye)

CLEAN ENERGY: Rural Minnesota electric cooperatives receive more than $17 million in federal funding for renewable energy projects and load management through virtual power plants. (KIMT)

Study questions economics of Line 5 tunnel
Jan 13, 2025

PIPELINES: Declining residential demand for propane and escalating costs of a tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac cast doubt on the future of Line 5, according to a new study by an energy economics organization. (Michigan Advance)

ALSO:

  • Landowners expect to rally at the South Dakota capital today to call on lawmakers to adopt tighter restrictions on eminent domain for pipelines in the new legislative session. (South Dakota News Watch)
  • Iowa House lawmakers anticipate revisiting legislation to tighten eminent domain restrictions, though Senate support remains unclear after unsuccessful efforts in the past two years. (KCCI)
  • The Summit carbon pipeline developer faces ongoing legal challenges in Iowa, North and South Dakota as it hopes to bring the $8 billion project online in 2026 at the earliest. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)

RENEWABLES: Two North Dakota utilities receive a combined $1.57 billion to add thousands of megawatts of renewable energy under an Inflation Reduction Act program. (KXNET)

CLIMATE: The future of Des Moines, Iowa’s climate change programs are uncertain after officials eliminated the city’s office of sustainability to help plug a $17 million budget deficit. (KCCI)

NUCLEAR:

  • The owner of a Wisconsin nuclear plant along Lake Michigan continues to seek a 20-year extension to operate the plant as nuclear energy critics raise concerns about the plant’s safety. (WUWM)
  • Federal regulators will hold a public meeting this week on plans to replace about 1,400 cracked cooling tubes at a shuttered Michigan nuclear plant that seeks to reopen. (Michigan Public)

SOLAR: The Ohio Supreme Court is weighing the fate of four utility-scale solar projects as the state faces a spike in electricity demand from data centers. (Cleveland.com, subscription)

GRID: American Electric Power will sell a nearly 20% stake in two Midwest transmission subsidiaries for $2.82 billion to fund investments in transmission, distribution and generation projects. (Utility Dive)

EMISSIONS: Efforts to decarbonize large commercial vehicles like semi-trucks and school buses could be in jeopardy under the Trump administration, creating public health risks and derailing climate measures, advocates say. (Inside Climate News)

BIOFUELS: Iowa biofuel advocates say the Biden administration’s failure to finalize sustainable aviation fuels tax credits leaves the guidelines unclear as the Trump administration takes over. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

  • Michigan’s second-largest city receives $1.5 million in federal funding to add eight electric vehicle charging stations. (WOOD-TV8)
  • The Biden administration announces $635 million for electric vehicle charging stations in 27 states as it races to commit funding for a $2.5 billion program before the Trump administration takes over. (E&E News, subscription)

COMMENTARY: Minnesota should lift its moratorium on new nuclear plant construction to help attract large data centers, writes the head of a Minnesota private equity firm. (Star Tribune)

Warren Buffett’s fleet of dirty coal plants
Jan 15, 2025

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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