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AEP backs bill to reshape Ohio energy market

By Andy Balaskovitz

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This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Midwest Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

NUCLEAR

  • American Electric Power is pushing legislation in Ohio that would allow distribution utilities to own nuclear power plants, a move backers say is driven by data centers and demand growth outpacing supply. (Signal Ohio)

COAL

  • Residents living near a Lansing, Michigan, coal plant that closed three years ago are still living with contaminated groundwater linked to coal ash pollution, raising concerns that further protections will be removed by the Trump administration. (MLive)

  • Illinois residents and regulators say they shouldn’t be on the hook for covering the costs of continuing to operate a large polluting Indiana coal plant that the Trump administration has ordered to stay online. (Chicago Tribune)

  • U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from power plants increased 4% last year as coal generation surged during President Trump’s first year back in office. (E&E News)

OIL & GAS

  • North Dakota mineral rights owners celebrate a recent state Supreme Court ruling that they believe will lead to larger payments from oil companies that are drilling wells. (North Dakota Monitor)

UTILITIES

  • Illinois is among U.S. states that experienced double-digit increases in electric rates in 2025 as a mix of utility infrastructure investments and fuel prices contribute to rising prices nationally. (Inside Climate News)

  • Michigan’s Democratic attorney general and ratepayer advocates push back on DTE Energy’s new rate increase request just days after regulators approved a $242 million hike to support grid upgrades. (Michigan Advance)

WIND

  • A developer officially withdraws plans for a Kansas wind project nearly four years after a county ordinance banned commercial wind and solar projects. (Heatmap)

DATA CENTERS

  • A Michigan Republican state representative introduces legislation to stop data center development until 2027 to give communities time to voice concerns as new proposals surface. (FOX 17)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

  • A Chicago Democrat backs Illinois legislation to increase EV drivers’ annual registration fee to $320 or allow them to pay a new tax on miles traveled in an effort to generate annual road-funding revenue. (Daily Herald)

CLIMATE

  • A Wisconsin environmental group joins a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s attempt to repeal the endangerment finding, arguing that the state has seen a three-fold increase in weather-disaster events and some of the worst recent air quality in the country. (WUWM)

FOSSIL FUELS

  • A mix of market forces, cold weather, and state-approved rate increases have caused Ohio gas bills to increase 84% over the past year, according to a survey. (Signal Ohio)

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