New research confirms fracking links to health problems

OIL & GAS: New research on hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas confirms earlier data that links the practice to an array of health harms such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, asthma and birth defects. (Inside Climate News)

SOLAR: Alliant Energy and Iowa State University partner on what will be the state’s first utility-scale agrivoltaics project that pairs solar production with crops and pollinator habitats. (Cedar Rapids Gazette) 

PIPELINES: Summit Carbon Solutions pushes back the expected operation date for its five-state carbon pipeline by more than a year to 2026 because of delays in North and South Dakota. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• After General Motors’ concession to allow its electric vehicle and battery workers to unionize, it remains to be seen whether other major automakers will follow suit. (Grist)
• Iowa City, Iowa, officials have started charging user fees at public electric vehicle charging stations to offset costs from a new state tax on non-residential charging stations. (Daily Iowan)

TRANSPORTATION: A five-year, $6.4 billion federal program aims to reduce tailpipe emissions via small-scale transportation alternative projects designed to take vehicles off the road. (Stateline)

CLEAN ENERGY:

• Environmental groups criticize Ameren Missouri’s clean energy plan for failing to ramp up renewable energy development while relying on new natural gas plants. (St. Louis Public Radio)
• Michigan lawmakers are considering bills that would create an economic transition office focused on helping workers and communities avoid job losses related to the clean energy transition. (Bridge)

WIND: Xcel Energy seeks proposals to build about 1,200 MW of wind power in southwestern Minnesota to replace some of the power produced at a soon-to-retire coal plant. (MPR)

HYDROGEN: Nebraska leaders and utility officials say the state will continue to pursue hydrogen projects despite recently missing out on billions in federal grant funding. (World-Herald)

ELECTRIFICATION: Evanston, Illinois, officials are working on a draft ordinance that would ban natural gas connections in most new construction. (Evanston RoundTable)

EMISSIONS: As technology to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere advances, researchers are increasingly focusing on doing the same for methane. (E&E News)

CLIMATE: Despite various emission-reduction pledges, a sustainability official at Miami University in Ohio decries an overall lack of awareness on campus about the school’s climate efforts. (Journal-News)

GRID: A Michigan community college has a waitlist for a lineworker and electric technician training program because of strong demand. (WOOD-TV)

UTILITIES: Ohio regulators bar a New York-based electricity supplier from doing business in the state after alleging the company forged customer contracts and issued misleading statements. (Center Square)