Missouri AG investigates Grain Belt Express

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.

GRID

• Missouri’s attorney general opens an investigation into the Grain Belt Express transmission line, claiming that the developer fraudulently inflated the number of jobs it would create, misled landowners, and overstated cost savings. (New York Times)

PIPELINES

• Tribal leaders say Enbridge may have sidestepped the National Historic Preservation Act with multiple moves to reroute and maintain Line 5 through Wisconsin and Michigan. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

• The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case on whether state or federal courts should hear a dispute between Michigan and Enbridge over shutting down Line 5, as a venue could play out more favorably to one party or the other. (Detroit Free Press)

SOLAR

• The developer behind Wisconsin’s largest solar project approved to date reaches a settlement with a state conservation group to protect Greater Prairie Chicken habitat. (Wisconsin Public Radio)

• A floating solar energy project that would power a western Michigan township’s water plant is unlikely to move forward as the developer confronts multiple cost pressures. (Crain’s Grand Rapids)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Democrats lost their bet that clean energy job creation in Republican-led congressional districts under the Inflation Reduction Act would make the law withstand opposition, as the Senate tax bill to phase out tax credits narrowly passes. (New York Times)

FOSSIL FUELS

• A North Dakota electric power cooperative plans a nearly $4 billion natural gas plant to meet needs from large industrial users, but says data centers aren’t driving its plans. (North Dakota Monitor)

• Ameren files plans with Missouri regulators for a proposed 800 MW gas plant and a large energy storage facility. (Daily Energy Insider)

NUCLEAR

• Hundreds of bills in half of the states across the country seek to promote nuclear energy as small reactors, rising demand, and low emissions draw bipartisan support. (Stateline)

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

• Chicago advocates want residents to keep up pressure on local elected officials to pass an environmental justice ordinance that would more carefully consider industrial projects that would add pollution in disadvantaged neighborhoods. (Inside Climate News)

CLIMATE

• Michigan taps its state general fund and repurposes federal pandemic funding to provide stipends that continue the work of climate corps workers who lead various climate projects across the state. (Interlochen Public Radio)

POLITICS

• Federal prosecutors seek more than four and a half years in prison for ComEd’s former lobbyist for his role in a bribery conspiracy to sway former House Speaker Michael Madigan. (Chicago Sun-Times)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Senate’s​‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ would be a disaster for clean energy — Kathryn Krawczyk

• Redwood Materials built record grid-storage project using old EV batteries — Julian Spector

• Dominion Energy’s latest plan sidesteps Virginia’s 2045 clean power goal — Elizabeth Ouzts