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Carbon capture would drain Iowa water supplies, critics say

By Andy Balaskovitz

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CO2 CAPTURE: Capturing carbon emissions at ethanol plants along the route of a proposed carbon pipeline would increase water use by billions of gallons annually, according to a new Sierra Club report criticizing the pipeline. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)

GRID:

  • A new Illinois program asking utilities and transmission operators to consider grid-enhancing technologies in future planning could be a model as states set out to hit decarbonization targets, advocates say. (Utility Dive)
  • A ruling from federal energy regulators is expected to slash transmission costs that western Kansas utility customers pay for exporting wind power to other parts of the region. (KWCH)
  • Michigan regulators advance a proposal that would allow them to charge utilities up to $10 million a year for failing to meet grid reliability improvement benchmarks. (MLive)

UTILITIES: Xcel Energy is at odds with Minnesota officials over whether customers should pay at least $23 million in costs incurred last year after a maintenance worker error caused a nuclear plant to shut down for 100 days. (Star Tribune)

CLIMATE: Insurers are the ​“climate change canary in the coal mine,” one former state insurance commissioner says as billion-dollar disasters reach record highs, driving up policy costs and making homeownership less attainable. (Stateline)

SOLAR:

  • An executive with First Solar, which has a manufacturing plant in northwestern Ohio, says China is flooding the market with cheap solar panels that put U.S. businesses at risk. (WTVG)
  • Analysts say trade restrictions on China have still made prices for solar modules in the U.S. much higher than the global average by forcing companies to use more expensive components. (Inside Climate News)
  • Ames, Iowa, introduces 50 sheep to control tall grass at a community solar project. (Ames Tribune)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The engineering researchers behind a project electrifying a section of highway in Indiana hope the technology makes electric vehicles more palatable for drivers. (NPR)

EMISSIONS:

  • As ports across the Great Lakes land support for decarbonization projects, freighter operators say they haven’t received the same level of funding support to cut their emissions. (The Guardian)
  • Residents near an Omaha, Nebraska, coal plant want the regional utility to speed up emission-reduction targets and limit harmful pollution. (WOWT)
  • A Republican Congress member from Ohio says the Biden administration’s latest clean power rules threaten the large natural gas-producing counties in his district. (Cleveland.com, subscription)

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