Former Ohio House Speaker to ask Trump for clemency

CLEAN ENERGY: Three northeastern Ohio foundations collaborate to help cities, counties, utilities and communities coordinate clean energy projects to maximize benefits and secure funding. (Energy News Network)

POLITICS: Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for his role in a bribery scheme involving FirstEnergy, plans to ask Donald Trump for clemency. (Cleveland.com)

MATERIALS:

• Donald Trump is expected to lift a ban on copper-nickel mining in about 225,000 acres of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota, while Congress considers a bill to return leases to a mining company. (MPR News)
• A company aims to tap vast reserves of cobalt, an essential component of lithium-ion batteries, from legacy mining areas about two hours south of St. Louis. (St. Louis Magazine)

PIPELINES: Minnesota regulators could decide at a Dec. 12 meeting whether to approve Summit Carbon Solutions’ request to build 28 miles of its multi-state carbon pipeline in the southwestern corner of the state. (Minnesota Reformer)

HYDROGEN: Environmental justice advocates raise concerns about the potential prolonged use of fossil fuels to power hydrogen hubs planned across the U.S. (Environmental Health News)

GRID:

• A company working to cut roughly a year off the grid interconnection process receives a $49.5 million federal grant to roll out its software in several states, including Indiana, Minnesota and Ohio. (Canary Media)
• Federal regulators approve PJM’s request to delay its next three capacity auctions by six months in response to concerns from environmental and consumer advocates about the role of must-run power plants. (Utility Dive)
• MISO members will soon vote on the grid operator’s proposed $21.8 billion transmission investment plan amid some concerns about the necessity of the long-term plan. (RTO Insider, subscription)

SOLAR:

• Officials with Kansas City and Evergy are mum on what’s holding up the development of a 35 MW solar project at the city’s airport. (Flatland)
• ComEd updates a resource for solar developers seeking information on grid capacity to handle new distributed solar projects as development interest grows in northern Illinois. (Solar Industry)

EFFICIENCY: The first tenants will soon start moving into Iowa’s first ​“zero carbon certified” building, a mixed-use housing and commercial project that hit zero carbon emission benchmarks through construction and operations. (Radio Iowa)

COMMENTARY:

• Streamlining renewable energy development in low-impact areas should be a key conservation priority for Kansas lawmakers, says an official with The Nature Conservancy. (Kansas Reflector)
• Fewer cattle and drought conditions in recent years contributed to lower U.S. agriculture emissions more than voluntary and market-based programs, a journalist writes. (South Dakota Searchlight)