Illinois leads in energy democracy scorecard

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

UTILITIES

• Illinois is the highest ranking state in a nonprofit’s new energy democracy scorecard measuring utility customers’ control over their own energy systems, thanks to its consumer-friendly rules for installing solar and joining community solar. (Inside Climate News)

PIPELINES

• More than half of the jurors selected for Energy Transfer’s defamation trial against Greenpeace have ties to the fossil fuel industry or view pipeline protests negatively, signaling how difficult it was to seat a jury in oil country. (The Guardian)

GRID

• Michigan utilities could be fined up to $10 million under a new order for failing to improve the number and duration of power outages that have affected customers of the state’s two large investor-owned utilities. (Detroit News)

• PJM approves $5.9 billion in new transmission projects across its 13-state footprint, including about $600 million in projects AEP will build in Indiana and Ohio. (Utility Dive)

NUCLEAR

• Residents living near a shuttered Michigan nuclear plant that seeks to reopen in the coming months want stronger public health safeguards to address concerns about higher rates of thyroid cancer. (Inside Climate News)

• A coalition of nonprofits, labor groups and business advocates call on Minnesota lawmakers to act swiftly to lift the state’s moratorium on new nuclear plants. (KSTP)

ADVOCACY

• Young climate advocates in Nebraska call on lawmakers to support a state constitutional ​“green amendment” that creates a legal right to a clean environment, water and soil. (Nebraska Examiner)

CLIMATE

• Wisconsin’s dairy industry sues the Democratic state attorney general for hiring an outside attorney to work on environmental cases whose salary is paid by a Bloomberg Philanthropies-backed fellowship program. (E&E News)

SOLAR

• An Indiana bill to create state rules governing community solar projects has so far failed to get a hearing this session. (Indianapolis Star)

• Inconsistent and costly permitting processes are hindering Minnesota residents’ ability to install rooftop solar, and particularly affecting lower-income residents, according to a nonprofit’s report. (PV Magazine)

• A University of Wisconsin research group will launch an agrivoltaics demonstration project this year with various seed mixtures around the perimeter to attract pollinator species. (Badger Herald)

• A Missouri lawmaker proposes additional solar regulations that would require developers to apply for county approval before seeking state permits. (Fulton Sun)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Attempts to repeal federal clean energy tax credits could cut crucial incentives for clean energy projects and startups in Nebraska, which relies heavily on gas and coal imports for electricity. (Nebraska News Connection)

EFFICIENCY

• Consumers Energy will pay for various home energy efficiency upgrades in three ZIP codes in Kalamazoo, Michigan, that are in most need. (MLive)

COMMENTARY

• U.S. energy policy should prioritize the responsible use of fossil fuels, scaling up R&D in carbon capture and storage, and strategically investing in renewables and other emerging technologies, a Michigan engineering professor emeritus writes. (Bridge)