Minnesota regulators approve $575 million solar project

SOLAR: Minnesota regulators unanimously approve plans for a 460 MW solar project to help replace electricity that will be lost when Xcel Energy closes its major Sherco coal plant in 2030. (Star Tribune)

ALSO:
• A Chicago commission approves a developer’s plan to renovate a vacant warehouse on the city’s South Side into dozens of solar-powered apartments. (Chicago Tribune)
• Despite solar supply chain delays, a northern Michigan city remains on track to reach its renewable energy targets. (News-Review)

UTILITIES: FirstEnergy CEO Steven Strah abruptly retires effective today as the utility completes a required management review as part of an HB 6 settlement, though it is unclear whether the departure is related. (Cleveland.com)

OIL & GAS:
• BP agrees to pay $2.75 million to settle a lawsuit from environmental groups claiming its northwestern Indiana refinery repeatedly emitted dangerous levels of particulate pollution from 2015 to 2018. (Chicago Sun-Times)
• North Dakota oil production dropped 2.5% in July after two months of growth, which state officials attributed to workforce shortages. (Bismarck Tribune)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• General Motors will invest $491 million to upgrade an Indiana manufacturing plant to support electric vehicle production. (Indiana Public Radio)
• Nebraska is set to receive an initial $11 million in federal funding to build electric vehicle charging stations along the I-80 corridor. (World-Herald)

WIND:
• Nuclear missiles housed in underground U.S. military silos have blocked efforts to build a sprawling wind project in Nebraska. (Flatwater Free Press)
• A company operating in Iowa recycles wind turbine blades from across the country to divert them from landfills. (KCRG)

PIPELINES:
• Lawmakers in 24 states have taken up legislation to toughen penalties for pipeline protesters following the Dakota Access pipeline protests in 2016. (Minnesota Reformer)
• Iowa landowners argue in court that a state law allowing pipeline companies to access private property for surveying is unconstitutional. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

CLIMATE: Congressional Democrats during hearings this week accuse oil companies of slow-walking and overselling the industry’s initiatives to cut emissions. (Inside Climate News)

COAL: Environmental groups estimate that 2 million tons of coal ash could be left behind at a northwestern Indiana coal plant with little oversight, risking a spill into Lake Michigan. (Indianapolis Recorder)

BIOFUELS: Ethanol spot prices swiftly dropped as freight railroad companies and unions reached a tentative labor agreement to avoid a nationwide rail strike. (S&P Global)

GRID: A North Dakota authority begins taking public comment on proposals to spend federal infrastructure funding on bolstering the state’s electric grid over the next five years. (KFYR)

COMMENTARY: A Minnesota environmental advocate writes that recycling metals and diverting them from landfills is a more practical climate solution than permitting a large copper mine in the northern part of the state. (Star Tribune)