Missouri to boost landowner payouts for transmission projects

TRANSMISSION: Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is expected to sign legislation requiring landowners to be paid 150% of fair market value for land taken through eminent domain for electric transmission projects, a result of a yearslong dispute over the Grain Belt Express project. (Missouri Independent)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• A trade group representing Minnesota auto dealers petitions the state Court of Appeals to overturn the state’s clean cars rules that will require automakers to ship more electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles to the state. (Star Tribune)
• Advocates say installing fast-charging electric vehicle stations along heavily traveled highways will be key as Ohio spends $140 million in federal funding on charging infrastructure. (Journal-News)
• U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois pursues more electric vehicle battery manufacturing investments in the state. (WBEZ)
• Iowa begins collecting public input on a statewide infrastructure plan for electric vehicles using federal infrastructure funding. (KCCI)

PIPELINES:
• An Enbridge consultant says shutting down the Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac would cause gasoline prices to increase a half-cent per gallon — well short of the price spikes Enbridge has claimed. (Michigan Radio)
• South Dakota regulators grant a carbon pipeline developer’s request for more time in a project permitting case. (KELO)

WIND:
• Voters in a northern Ohio county will likely decide the fate of a proposed 300 MW wind project in an upcoming referendum vote. (Telegraph Forum)
• A clean energy developer and local wind energy opponents are squaring off as a central Illinois county weighs whether to overhaul or slightly amend its existing wind zoning regulations. (Heart of Illinois)
• A northwestern Iowa county is similarly weighing whether to amend its wind zoning regulations after development has already taken place there. (KTIV)

OIL & GAS: North Dakota regulators approve a permit for a landfill to begin storing radioactive oilfield waste. (Associated Press)

MICROGRIDS: Cuyahoga County in northeastern Ohio issues a request for information from experts and potential developers on potential microgrid projects. (Cleveland.com)

SOLAR:
• Central Indiana county planning officials research neighboring states’ solar zoning regulations as they prepare rules for proposed utility-scale projects. (The Republic)
• Northern Indiana county officials approve a new development agreement for a 150 MW solar project. (South Bend Tribune)

TRANSPORTATION: Vehicles registered in a Missouri county west of St. Louis will no longer need to pass an emissions test starting next month. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

CLIMATE: Springfield, Missouri, officials begin work developing a citywide climate action plan that relies more heavily on renewable energy. (News-Leader)

EFFICIENCY: A developer abandons plans to build a dozen highly efficient homes on land previously owned by Xcel Energy along the St. Croix River bordering Wisconsin and Minnesota. (Star Tribune)