Hung jury in Ohio

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.

CORRUPTION TRIAL

• The trial of two former FirstEnergy executives accused of bribing a former consultant who went on to become the state’s top energy regulator ends in a hung jury, with the state vowing to retry the case. (Signal Ohio)

OIL & GAS

• An Ohio commission votes to open more than 8,500 acres of state wildlife and state park areas for fracking leases that will be put out for bid later this year. (Ohio Capital Journal)

PIPELINES

• The Michigan Supreme Court rejects Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s effort to toss Enbridge’s federal lawsuit challenging the state’s 2020 order revoking Line 5’s easement in Straits of Mackinac. (E&E News)

GRID

• Michigan utility executives weigh opportunities to bury power lines to improve grid resilience, particularly in northern parts of the state that were hit hard by debilitating ice storms a year ago. (Interlochen Public Radio)

• Ameren Illinois installs dynamic line rating technology on some of its most congested transmission lines as part of a pilot project aiming to free up capacity as demand grows. (Utility Dive)

CLIMATE

• Illinois lawmakers fail to gain enough support to advance a bill forcing fossil fuel companies to pay into a climate superfund for resilience projects. (E&E News)

• The Trump administration claims victory in a Michigan antitrust lawsuit bringing novel claims that the fossil fuel industry acted like a cartel to block renewable energy development, saying that its chances of victory are better in federal court. (E&E News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• General Motors idles a Detroit EV plant and temporarily lays off 1,300 workers as EV demand lags. (Reuters)

NUCLEAR

• Holtec reaches another milestone in restarting the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan by bringing the facility up to operating temperature. (MLive)

• TerraPower says it is not ready to announce any sites for a potential Kansas nuclear plant as it weighs several options. (FOX 4)

BIOFUELS

• Iowa’s biodiesel industry collectively lost $89.5 million while three plants closed in 2025, which advocates say is a result of federal policies slashing biodiesel blending limits. (Des Moines Register)

• Gevo plans to double the production capacity of a North Dakota ethanol plant it bought last year, citing the state’s carbon capture and sequestration infrastructure. (North Dakota Monitor)