Critics target Wisconsin utility’s $2 billion gas plan

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

FOSSIL GAS

• Clean energy advocates call on Wisconsin regulators to reject key pieces of We Energies’ more than $2 billion plan for new gas plants and infrastructure to replace retiring coal units. (Wisconsin Public Radio)

• Michigan lawmakers consider legislation that would allow certain Upper Peninsula gas-fired power plants to qualify as clean energy under state law. (Michigan Public)

• Three gas-fired power plants totaling 520 MW of capacity are planned in an Ohio city to meet demand from local data centers. (Power)

• Evergy announces plans for a 440 MW gas plant in northern Missouri, joining the utility’s two other gas plant announcements in recent months. (Maryville Forum)

PIPELINES

• Wisconsin residents express ongoing public safety and transparency concerns with state officials about the lingering effects of an Enbridge oil pipeline spill four months ago. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

• Energy Transfer, which is led by President Trump’s biggest campaign donor, is contesting the legitimacy of a fine levied in response to a fatal accident on its gas pipeline between Texas and Michigan in a case that could upend federal pipeline oversight. (E&E News)

SOLAR

• A Minnesota bill would sunset the state’s first-in-the-nation community solar law in 2028, a move advocates call a ​“gift to powerful utilities.” (PV Magazine)

COAL

• The operator of two Ohio River coal plants in Ohio and Indiana is among power companies that may be successful in pressing the Trump administration to relax coal ash storage regulations. (WOSU)

UTILITIES

• Speakers during a Duluth City Council meeting this week called on local officials to oppose a private equity firm’s acquisition of Minnesota Power’s parent company over concerns about the company’s financial motivations. (Star Tribune)

FOSSIL FUELS

• The Army Corps of Engineers is drafting a policy in response to President Trump’s energy emergency declaration to fast-track permitting for oil, gas and coal projects. (E&E News)

FINANCE

• A St. Paul, Minnesota-based community development financial institution launches a net-zero banking initiative that allows customers to opt in to a program in which their deposits are loaned to projects that limit or eliminate carbon emissions. (Next City)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Two large electric vehicle factories planned by General Motors and LG in Michigan remain on track as state officials shift millions in subsidies to support the projects. (Bridge)

EFFICIENCY

• Evanston, Illinois, which has set net-zero energy targets for commercial buildings by 2050, is the latest example of smaller U.S. cities adopting more stringent energy performance standards. (Facilities Dive)

NEW FROM CANARY MEDIA

• Alison Takemura dives into a new report detailing buildings’ many climate dilemmas, and the levers that developers and owners will need to pull to slash their carbon emissions

• Hyundai’s proposed $6 billion steel plant in Louisiana aims to use an electric arc furnace — a step away from blast furnaces, but not a big one toward green steel, Alexander C. Kaufman reports.