Illinois insurance rates climb as companies back oil and gas

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CLIMATE CHANGE

• Consumer groups criticize insurance companies for underwriting oil and gas projects while raising customer premiums in the wake of climate-fueled extreme weather events. (Chicago Sun-Times)

EMISSIONS

• Illinois is among states experimenting with alternative rate structures to reduce emissions from industrial facilities by encouraging companies to switch from gas to electricity. (Canary Media)

SOLAR

• Clean energy advocates say Indiana lawmakers could pass legislation to reduce the cost of rooftop solar installations at warehouses and big-box stores. (WFYI)

• Solar developers have dropped plans for dozens of utility-scale solar projects in PJM’s territory in recent years as the grid operator’s slow interconnection process continues. (E&E News)

• Local officials and a developer await PJM’s interconnection approval for large solar projects planned in northern Illinois. (WIFR)

• Wisconsin regulators approve a utility’s plan for a 20 MW solar project with 40 MW of battery storage outside Madison. (Daily Energy Insider)

NUCLEAR

• Officials in Iowa’s second most-populous county start preparing updates to zoning regulations as an energy company plans to restart the state’s only nuclear plant. (CBS 2)

• The owner of a shuttered Wisconsin nuclear power plant partners with WEC Energy to explore the potential for small modular reactors at the dormant site along Lake Michigan. (Utility Dive)

• Indiana lawmakers in recent weeks passed several bills with financial incentives meant to attract small nuclear reactor development. (Statehouse File)

CARBON CAPTURE

• Illinois lawmakers advance a bill that would ban carbon sequestration over, under or through portions of an aquifer following a leak discovered at a separate site. (Capitol News Illinois)

EFFICIENCY

• Lansing, Michigan launches an initiative to cut emissions from aging buildings by 2030 by initiating strong energy efficiency measures. (WKAR)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Illinois Republicans criticize Democrats’ clean energy legislation aimed at boosting generation and improving reliability ahead of the end to the general assembly’s session on May 31. (WMBD)

BIOGAS

• Northern Indiana county officials approve plans to collect methane gas from a landfill and produce renewable natural gas with options to expand capacity in the future. (WNDU)

COMMENTARY

• Indiana Republicans have failed to deliver on promises to lower utility bills while prioritizing legislation that unravels progress on retiring coal plants, a Democratic state senator writes. (Indianapolis Star)

NEW FROM CANARY

• House Republicans’ proposed rollback of two tax credits for weatherization and clean energy installations could prevent homeowners from lowering their energy costs and cost hundreds of thousands of jobs, Alison F. Takemura reports.

• Researchers recommend ways states can continue cleaning up heavy industry even as the Trump administration moves to cancel funding for decarbonization projects, Jeff St. John reports.