Clean energy hope in central Illinois

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Midwest Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

CLEAN ENERGY

• A clean energy workforce hub in Decatur, Illinois, provides job training to disadvantaged communities while creating economic promise in a city where manufacturing has declined. (Canary Media)

• Michigan business leaders defend federal clean energy tax credits that are under threat from the GOP-led Congress, saying they have helped grow jobs in the state and will help lower energy bills. (MLive)

SOLAR

• A western Minnesota utility vows to cut off power supplies to the Upper Sioux Community if the tribe follows through with a solar project to help power casino and hotel operations. (Star Tribune)

• Construction is expected to start this summer on a $256 million solar project in southeastern Minnesota. (Post Bulletin)

PIPELINES

• Indigenous tribes keep up pressure to stop plans for an underground tunnel for Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac as the Trump administration looks to fast track the project. (Chicago Tribune)

• Line 5 owner Enbridge says it’s taken a careful approach to planning the proposed tunnel for five years. (Northern Express)

• Iowa’s Republican House speaker expects Gov. Kim Reynolds to sign legislation that restricts the use of eminent domain for carbon pipeline projects, even though Reynolds hasn’t taken a public position on the topic. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)

CLIMATE

• A Minnesota nonprofit sues the U.S. EPA for freezing tens of millions of dollars in grants intended for climate and environmental justice projects in disadvantaged communities. (Star Tribune)

• A growing number of states pursue ​“climate Superfund” laws that would require major oil and gas companies to pay for climate-related disaster and adaptation costs based on their share of global greenhouse gases. (Grist)

NUCLEAR

• Iowa county officials gather public input on proposed zoning regulations for nuclear generation and waste storage facilities as a utility intends to restart a plant that shut down in 2020. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)

BIOENERGY

• Michigan environmental groups say proposed state legislation to reclassify waste from biodigesters as solid rather than liquid would threaten well water supplies and drive harmful algal blooms. (Planet Detroit)

COMMENTARY

• Iowa solar and conservation advocates say repealing federal clean energy tax credits would undo the state’s manufacturing progress and job growth. (Des Moines Register)

NEW FROM CANARY

• The Interior Department used a mysterious NOAA report to justify its stop-work order on Equinor’s Empire Wind project, which hasn’t been shared publicly or with the developer, Clare Fieseler reports.

• House Republicans’ budget plans would gut the Inflation Reduction Act while derailing nuclear and geothermal power development, which have explicit Trump administration support, Dan McCarthy reports.