What’s next for Greenpeace?

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Midwest Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

PIPELINES

• The interim leader of Greenpeace USA says last week’s $660 million verdict handed down over its alleged role in Dakota Access pipeline protests could chill environmental advocacy, and discusses the nonprofit’s appeals options. (Inside Climate News)

DATA CENTERS

• The mayor of a village southwest of Chicago believes the investment and tax revenue from a large-scale data center is worth the tradeoffs of massive power and water consumption, which continue to hold up the project. (Chicago Tribune)

NUCLEAR

• Great Lakes states consider a variety of policy changes to spur nuclear energy development as plans progress in Michigan for the country’s first restart of a shuttered plant. (Crain’s)

POWER PLANTS

• Ohio House lawmakers prepare to vote on their version of a bill that mirrors a recently passed Senate plan but includes a community energy program that would support multiple energy sources, including solar and natural gas. (Ohio Capital Journal)

GRID

• MISO’s lengthy interconnection queue is stalling the development of clean energy projects in Michigan and across the country, as some advocates say the process is fundamentally broken. (MLive)

• North Dakota landowners speak out against a proposed bill that would strip zoning authority over transmission lines from local governments and give it to the state. (North Dakota Monitor)

• Michigan regulators approve a $153.8 million electric rate increase for Consumers Energy that includes various strategies to improve grid reliability. (MLive)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Former Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb joins the board of a Philadelphia-based renewable energy developer, his first new role since leaving office at the beginning of 2025. (Indiana Capital Chronicle)

• Michigan House Republicans begin work to repeal a recent state law that gives final zoning authority over utility-scale renewable energy projects to state regulators. (Capital News Service)

SOLAR

• A northeastern Ohio winery installs solar panels that meet about 60% of the operation’s power needs. (Cleveland.com)

OIL & GAS

• A North Dakota bill would add a mediation step in negotiations between oil and gas developers and landowners in hopes of resolving disputes without a lawsuit. (North Dakota Monitor)

EFFICIENCY

• A company that acts as an energy efficiency aggregator by calculating savings from various efficiency products and then bids those savings at capacity auctions is accused by federal regulators of making bogus claims to grid operators. (Inside Climate News)

COMMENTARY

• Established clean energy sources, along with energy efficiency and batteries, are much better low-carbon options compared to small modular nuclear reactors, which bring a host of economic, safety and security concerns, the Union of Concerned Scientists writes. (Crain’s)

NEW FROM CANARY MEDIA

• A Massachusetts vehicle-to-everything pilot program will pay EV owners to let utilities tap the power stored in their vehicle batteries and provide the expensive bidirectional chargers that let electricity flow back to the grid, Jeff St. John reports.

• Texas legislators look to upend the state’s competitive energy market with a bill that would boost new gas deployment while penalizing renewables and battery storage, Julian Spector reports.