Gas investments threaten Michigan climate goals

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

NATURAL GAS

• Three large Michigan gas utility providers could spend $57.6 billion on gas infrastructure by 2050, causing spikes in customer bills while making it more difficult for the state to meet its climate goals, consumer and clean energy advocates say. (Planet Detroit)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Seventeen states sue the Trump administration for withholding billions of dollars in federal electric vehicle charging funding allocated under former President Biden. (Associated Press)

• Large southeastern Michigan auto supplier BorgWarner is ending its electric vehicle charging unit and consolidating its battery business as it contends with shrinking volume and tariff uncertainty. (Crain’s Detroit)

• Ohio clean air advocates worry that federal efforts to revoke waivers for stricter vehicle emission standards as well as EV incentives will lead to more air pollution. (Public News Service)

CLEAN ENERGY

• The GOP-led Michigan House passes legislation to exempt Upper Peninsula gas plants from the state’s clean energy targets. (Detroit News)

GRID

• The developer of the 800-mile Grain Belt Express transmission line announces $1.7 billion in contracts to local firms building the project. (Kansas Reflector)

SOLAR

• A Minnesota solar installer says a proposed state energy omnibus bill contains multiple threats to the industry, such as eliminating a utility funding program, scaling back net metering and ending community solar. (Minnesota Reformer)

• Construction starts on a 430 MW solar project in Missouri that’s part of the state’s larger development pipeline over the next five years. (PV Magazine)

• Northern Illinois local officials delay a vote on a proposed solar project to consider residents’ concerns over safety and local labor use. (Shaw Local)

EFFICIENCY

• The Trump administration plans to end the popular Energy Star efficiency certification program for appliances, which has saved more than $500 billion in energy costs since its creation in 1992. (New York Times)

BATTERIES

• Opponents of a planned $2.36 billion battery plant in rural western Michigan testify before a state House committee on corporate subsidies and state investment as the project remains on hold pending litigation. (Michigan Advance)

GEOTHERMAL

• An Iowa school district settles a nearly $400,000 lawsuit over contamination and damage caused by the installation of a geothermal system. (Ames Tribune)

BIOMASS

• Local officials in northern Michigan set up dropoff sites for residents’ wood debris left behind after a recent ice storm that will be turned into energy at biomass plants. (Interlochen Public Radio)

COMMENTARY

• Rising electric bills, economic uncertainty and shrinking federal support for clean energy means Minnesota should be expanding its community solar program rather than eliminating it, a nonprofit executive writes. (Star Tribune)