Minnesota regulator chides Xcel for being ‘childish and ridiculous’

UTILITIES: A Minnesota regulator accuses Xcel Energy of being “childish and ridiculous” for withdrawing planned clean energy investments after the company was denied the full rate increase it had requested. (Star Tribune)

ALSO:• Missouri utilities are beginning to notify customers about an upcoming requirement to switch to time of use rates that set electricity prices based on demand. (KMBC)• Northwest Indiana utility customers’ electric bills will soon go up by about $12 a month to pay for NIPSCO’s renewable energy projects and to maintain coal plants. (Lakeshore Public Media)• Exelon has set aside more than $46 million in anticipation of settling a federal agency’s four-year probe into the lobbying of the company’s Chicago-based ComEd utility. (Crain’s Chicago Business, subscription)

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EMISSIONS:• Failing to decarbonize with clean energy and more sustainably produced materials could threaten the economic strength of Indiana’s manufacturing industry, according to a new report. (Indianapolis Star)• Indiana regulators determine that an air quality permit is no longer valid for a company’s plan to build a coal-to-diesel plant. (Indiana Public Radio)• Frequent and long power outages have led more southeastern Michigan residents to buy backup generators, potentially worsening local air pollution during summer months. (Planet Detroit)

CARBON CAPTURE: South Dakota regulators say they are being tasked with permitting a carbon pipeline before the developer has submitted complete analyses, while other experts say the company’s data on potential rupture impacts is incomplete. (South Dakota Searchlight, Argus Leader)

BUILDINGS: A 7,000-square-foot building under construction outside of Minneapolis will be the first net-zero library in the Upper Midwest and one of just a handful in the country, according to the project designer. (Finance & Commerce)

WIND: Construction begins on a 66-turbine wind project in northwestern Iowa. (KCHA)

OIL & GAS: • Regulatory bodies and private companies often perform training exercises in Michigan in preparation for a potential Great Lakes oil spill. (Michigan Radio)• The “Halliburton Loophole” in the federal Safe Drinking Water Act has made it difficult to determine which chemicals are used in hydraulic fracturing and potentially contaminating groundwater. (Inside Climate News)

GRID: Illinois regulators begin to investigate whether the state’s two major utilities are better off solely in grid operator PJM’s territory rather than split between PJM and MISO. (E&E News, subscription)

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BIOENERGY: Operations begin at a large Ohio plant that converts landfill gas into renewable gas that is added to the local gas distribution system. (WKBN)

COMMENTARY: Kansas utilities have been slow to unroll meaningful energy efficiency programs for customers that could save them money during extreme heat, a columnist writes. (Wichita Eagle)

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Andy compiles the Midwest Energy News digest and was a journalism fellow for Midwest Energy News from 2014-2020. He is managing editor of MiBiz in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was formerly a reporter and editor at City Pulse, Lansing’s alternative newsweekly.