Fracking fails to deliver Appalachian jobs boom

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Midwest Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

OIL & GAS

• The fracking boom has so far failed to become a major jobs creator in northern Appalachia, where top producing counties in three states have smaller populations and net job losses compared to 2008, according to a think tank’s new report. (Canary Media)

• An Ohio city council president clashes with a Republican state senator during a public meeting, claiming that the fracking waste disposal industry, including one company the lawmaker ran for years, is threatening local water supplies. (Signal Ohio)

UTILITIES

• Ohio utility customers as of Thursday no longer pay subsidies for two uneconomic coal plants, but the fallout from the House Bill 6 corruption scandal continues as major penalties are still at stake for FirstEnergy utilities. (Canary Media)

RENEWABLES

• Energy Secretary Chris Wright emphasized the need to end solar and wind tax credits during a visit in Iowa, a state that gets about 60% of its power from renewables and has built a leading wind industry. (Des Moines Register)

STORAGE

• Indiana has more than 28 GW of battery storage projects waiting in MISO’s interconnection queue that energy groups hope are prioritized under the grid operator’s plan to fast track dozens of projects. (WFYI)

CARBON CAPTURE

• The U.S. EPA clears Archer-Daniels-Midland to restart carbon storage injections at an Illinois well about a year after a leak was detected. (WCIA)

GRID

• Residents in northern Michigan where a historic ice storm last winter pummeled the power grid will likely foot the mounting costs of restoration. (MLive)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Energy Secretary Chris Wright joins top North Dakota elected officials to tout the potential for enhanced oil recovery and how the state’s coal plants can work in tandem with oil producers. (North Dakota Monitor)

SOLAR

• Columbus, Ohio, will lose out on $15.5 million in federal Solar for All funding, which was mostly planned for rooftop solar for low- and moderate-income residents as well as a community solar project. (WOSU)

• Iowa regulators approve a developer’s request to extend the deadline for building a 200 MW solar project after ​“legislative and market constraints.” (Southeast Iowa Union)

NUCLEAR

• Minnesota regulators approve Xcel Energy’s request to extend the operating licenses of a 1,100 MW nuclear plant until the early 2050s. (KIMT)

CLEAN ENERGY

• A new Michigan program will place 10 advisers in communities across the state to help nonprofits, schools, tribes, and municipalities access federal clean energy tax incentives. (WZMQ)

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COMMENTARY

• Michigan offers a clear example of how Republican support for energy efficiency and renewable energy has deteriorated in recent decades, leaving key questions about how to overcome that opposition, a Michigan clean energy veteran writes. (Michigan Advance)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• China is winning on renewables. Will it win on green steel, too? — Alexander C. Kaufman

• Heat pumps can help clean up factories — and save lives — Alison F. Takemura

• Chart: Trump’s war on wind energy will hit these states hardest — Dan McCarthy

• Forcing dirty power plants to stay open would cost Americans billions — Jeff St. John

• Massachusetts residents no longer have to subsidize new gas hookups — Sarah Shemkus