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Faulty study may have exposed Indiana residents to coal ash

By Andy Balaskovitz

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Note to readers: Midwest Energy News will be taking a break tomorrow and Monday for Memorial Day weekend. We will return on Tuesday, May 28.

COAL: Residents in northwestern Indiana were potentially exposed to cancer-causing chemicals from coal ash, despite being told otherwise, for nearly a decade after a utility consultant included misleading soil samples that should have been dismissed from studies. (Indianapolis Star)

GRID:

  • Facing wildfire-related lawsuits in Texas and Colorado, Xcel Energy is among the U.S. utilities grappling with how to reinforce grid infrastructure to prevent disasters. (Star Tribune)
  • States will be left to decide which companies build and profit from a potentially massive transmission build out after federal regulators declined to adopt right-of-first-refusal requirements. (E&E News)

NUCLEAR: Nuclear energy has made inroads with centrist Michigan Democrats for its potential economic and climate benefits, though some environmental groups say public funding would be better spent on other clean energy options. (MLive)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Auto industry analysts warn that a U.S. retrenchment on electric vehicles, including if a Republican takes the White House in November, would give up significant market share to China. (CQ Roll Call)

SOLAR:

  • The value of home solar installations is poised to increase over the coming decades as a growing need to cool buildings will increase power demand, a University of Michigan study finds. (Michigan Daily)
  • Funding recipients from the federal Solar for All program will soon confront construction industry labor shortages as they look to install projects. (Bloomberg Law)
  • DTE Energy breaks ground on a 132 MW solar project in central Michigan. (WOOD-TV8)
  • Amazon enters into a power purchase agreement to offtake all of the power from a new 150 MW Ohio solar project that was co-developed by Enbridge. (Renewables Now)
  • Electric vehicle startup Rivian will buy renewable energy credits and subscribe to a 10 MW community solar project to offset power demand at the company’s Illinois manufacturing plant. (PV Magazine)
  • Solar-powered streetlights are among environmental projects that Detroit residents are requesting to help local officials land federal grant funding. (Planet Detroit) 

CLIMATE: GOP attorneys general from 19 states argue that more than two dozen climate liability lawsuits nationwide that seek to hold fossil fuel companies accountable ​“threaten our way of life.” (E&E News, subscription)

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