Midwest

Transmission

Trump admin cancels $4.9B loan for biggest transmission line in US

The Grain Belt Express is over a decade in the making and would bring huge amounts of cheap wind and solar from the plains to the East. Its future is now murky.

By Jeff St. John . 23 July 2025
Fossil fuels

Trump’s EPA delays rules requiring toxic coal ash cleanup

The agency’s move to extend compliance deadlines for “legacy” coal ash dumps is the latest in a string of Trump admin attacks on environmental regulations.

By Kari Lydersen . 22 July 2025
Carbon capture

In Ohio, oil and gas industry is steering new carbon capture bill

Newly obtained public records show that the industry has worked hard to ensure the legislation prioritizes their interests over climate change concerns.

By Kathiann M. Kowalski . 22 July 2025
Clean energy

Trump’s rural energy freeze hits Midwest, GOP districts hardest

More than three-quarters of federal Rural Energy for America Program grants over the last decade have gone to Republican congressional districts.

By Kari Lydersen . 17 July 2025
Solar

An Ohio solar project overcomes local opposition and misinformation

State regulators greenlit the Frasier Solar development, taking into account that opposition was not unanimous. That’s good and bad news for future projects.

By Kathiann M. Kowalski . 14 July 2025
Clean energy jobs

Will Congress pull the plug on Ohio's clean energy momentum?

Thousands of jobs and over $7 billion in investments are on the line as lawmakers debate the future of the Inflation Reduction Act's tax credits.

By Kathiann M. Kowalski . 30 June 2025
Energy storage

LG opens massive Michigan factory to make LFP batteries for the grid

The $1.4 billion investment onshores production of a popular battery chemistry that had been almost exclusively made in China, amid tariff and tax policy uncertainty.

By Julian Spector . 25 June 2025
Solar

Minnesota community solar makes it past bipartisan attempt to end program

Lawmakers ditched language in the state energy bill that would have repealed its successful Community Solar Garden program after supporters rallied to save it.

By Alison F. Takemura . 23 June 2025
Clean energy

Melissa Hortman was a climate and clean energy champion for Minnesota

The former state House speaker, assassinated by a gunman Saturday, helped to pass some of the country’s most ambitious state clean energy policy.

By Frank Jossi . 19 June 2025
Green steel

Major US steel company backs away from plan to make green steel

Cleveland-Cliffs was going to outfit an Ohio plant with pollution-reducing tech. Now, to align with Trump’s priorities, the firm is turning back to fossil fuels.

By Alexander C. Kaufman . 17 June 2025