Illinois revamps clean energy job training

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CLEAN ENERGY

• Illinois revamps a clean energy job training curriculum to be more responsive to shifting economic and political climates by including skills that can transfer to other industries, like housing and data centers. (Canary Media)

FRACKING

• Nearly 2,800 acres of Ohio’s Wayne National Forest, the state’s only national forest, were leased for fracking operations this week by the Bureau of Land Management for more than $11 million. (Ohio Capital Journal)
• Ohio’s Democratic candidate for governor calls for a three-year moratorium on permits for fracking wastewater injection wells in an area where the toxic waste poses a threat to drinking water, illustrating how the issue is increasingly political. (New York Times)
• A fracking waste injection company appeals to reopen two wells that the state suspended after a 2021 incident that contaminated nearby land. (Athens County Independent)

DATA CENTERS

• ComEd’s strategy to limit speculative data center developers by requiring deposits and transmission security agreements with letters of credit has shrunk its pipeline from 11 large-load projects to four. (Crain’s Chicago)

FOSSIL FUELS

• The Trump administration’s move to eliminate restrictions on emissions from coal and gas plants could have a tempered effect in Michigan, where utilities have retired almost all coal plants, though it could speed up gas plant development, one researcher says. (MLive)

PIPELINES

• Members of the Bad River Band of Chippewa Indians warn that the risk of a spill remains high with Line 5 as the pipeline reopens following a natural gas liquids spill in northern Wisconsin. (Chicago Tribune)
• A state audit finds Ohio’s penalties for oil and gas pipeline safety violations are among the lowest in the nation and are not keeping up with minimum federal penalties, which could jeopardize future federal funding. (Toledo Blade)

GRID

• A report commissioned by Pennsylvania regulators shows rolling blackouts could occur approximately 13 days a year in PJM’s territory if data center growth continues unrestrained and adequate new power supplies fail to come online. (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)

COAL

• Indiana is poised to take on oversight of coal combustion residual disposal permits from the federal government, which would make it the largest state-level program in the country. (Indiana Capital Chronicle)

SOLAR

• An Iowa county zoning board approves plans for an 800-MW solar project that would span 3,200 acres near the Missouri River and has local landowner support. (KETV)
• An agrivoltaics pilot project northwest of Minneapolis that allows farmers to affordably lease farmland around the solar installation became permanent this year after three farmers entered 10-year leases for the property. (Sahan Journal)
• D3Energy brings online a 6-MW floating solar array on a reservoir in Ohio, the largest floating array in the state and among the top five in the country. (Solar Power World)

STORAGE

• A southwestern Michigan township advances plans for a 400-MW battery storage project that would include about $6.6 million in payments to the township over 20 years. (MLive)