Coal boost threatens Indiana drinking water

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COAL

• Two U.S. EPA proposals this spring to roll back coal ash and Clean Water Act regulations would be particularly harmful for drinking water in Indiana, a state with a long history of coal mining and coal-fired power plants. (Canary Media)

• The rollbacks are part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to bolster the coal industry, keep existing facilities operating indefinitely, and potentially build new power plants. (Canary Media)

• Indiana Gov. Mike Braun (R) directs state energy officials to revisit prior settlements that would shut down coal plants, citing rising power demand. (Indiana Capital Chronicle)

• Data centers are slowing the country’s shift away from coal-fired power, which grew by 13% last year and contributed to a 4% increase in U.S. power sector emissions, according to the Energy Information Administration. (Grist)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Illinois’ plan to retire coal and gas plants and reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2045 will ramp up as data centers cause power demand to increase, leaving power companies scrambling to bring new capacity online. (Crain’s Chicago)

• More than 100 Wisconsin faith leaders call on the state’s next governor to commit to transitioning to 100% renewable energy. (Wisconsin Examiner)

OIL & GAS

• Ohio has become the country’s largest repository for fracking wastewater injected into underground wells, and concerns are growing about the potential for drinking water contamination. (New York Times)

DATA CENTERS

• DTE Energy’s data center demand pipeline grows to more than 8 GW following large power purchase agreements with Oracle and Google and advanced discussions with other hyperscalers. (Data Center Dynamics)

• Amy Acton, the Democrat running for Ohio governor in this fall’s election, lays out a plan that would require data centers to meet several conditions involving energy costs, transparency and union labor, but does not call for reducing or eliminating lucrative tax credits for the industry. (Signal Ohio)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Ameren Missouri seeks state permission to build a 2.1 GW gas plant under a new state law allowing the utility to charge customers for the project as it’s built. (St. Louis Public Radio)

CARBON CAPTURE

• Indiana is drafting state-level regulations to oversee carbon capture and storage projects and take over permitting responsibility from the U.S. EPA. (Indiana Capital Chronicle)

GEOTHERMAL

• Developers break ground on Chicago’s first all electric, geothermal-powered apartment project after more than three years of planning. (Chicago Sun-Times)

STORAGE

• Ameren Missouri plans to build three utility-scale grid storage batteries across the state, including at the site of a former coal plant. (KMOV)

• Lincoln Electric System’s 30 MW microgrid serving government facilities in Nebraska’s state capital will soon bring online a 3 MW zinc-based battery. (Utility Dive)

HYDROELECTRIC

• Michigan regulators in the coming months will decide the fate of 13 aging hydroelectric dams that owner Consumers Energy wants to sell to a private equity firm, with multiple options on the table as opponents challenge the proposal. (MLive)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• General Motors takes over a major supplier’s Detroit-area seating manufacturing plant after the automaker scaled back its EV plans in favor of gasoline trucks and SUVs. (Crain’s Detroit)

UTILITIES

• Montana-Dakota Utilities seeks its first rate increase in North Dakota in four years as operations and maintenance costs, as well as infrastructure needs, grow. (North Dakota Monitor)