Catch the latest energy news from around the Great Lakes region. Check back for these biweekly Energy News Roundups.
Just shy of six years since the passage of Ohio’s infamous House Bill 6, a more than $1 billion coal and nuclear bailout at the center of the largest bribery and money laundering scandal in state history, state lawmakers approved a bill that would repeal the coal subsidy House Bill 6 established. Supporters of the bill — which includes numerous other changes to Ohio’s energy policy and comes four years after the state repealed the nuclear subsidy — say it is meant to incentivize more power generation in the state.
And on Wednesday, days after Ohio lawmakers sent the coal subsidy repeal to Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk, a federal appeals court upheld the convictions of former House Speaker Larry Householder and former Republican leader Matt Borges for their roles in the bribery scheme. The court backed the jury’s findings that Householder was guilty of accepting a $61 million bribe in exchange for the bailout in House Bill 6 and that Borges was a knowing participant.
Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota are among 17 states that sued the Trump administration Monday over an executive order suspending federal permits for wind energy projects. The order, signed by President Donald Trump on his first day in office, halts approvals, permits and loans for onshore and offshore wind projects until the Secretary of the Interior completes an assessment. The evaluation will include wind projects’ environmental impact on wildlife, the economic costs associated with intermittent electricity generation and the effects of subsidies on the viability of the wind industry. The state attorneys general argue in their lawsuit that Trump lacks the authority to “categorically and indefinitely” shut down the permitting process and that the order poses an “existential threat to the wind industry.”
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is pushing forward with its review of Enbridge’s Line 5 tunnel project under the Straits of Mackinac after the Trump administration fast-tracked the project. A few weeks after announcing that it would expedite the review process under a national energy emergency declaration also made on Trump’s first day in office, the Army Corps said it will release the draft environmental review on May 30 and then hold a curtailed 30-day public comment period. A decision on the permit could come this fall.
Slate Auto, an electric vehicle startup backed by billionaire Jeff Bezos, revealed plans this week to build its first cars in a former printing plant in northern Indiana. The company expects to produce its first highly customizable electric pickup trucks at the former LSC Communications plant in Warsaw by late 2026 and ramp up to production levels of 150,000 vehicles per year. It’s aiming for a starting price of around $27,500.
More energy news, in case you missed it:
- Most Americans are worried about rising utility bills, regardless of their political affiliation, a recent poll found.
- Utilities in northern Michigan are using woody debris from the region’s recent ice storm to generate electricity.
- General Motors may be pivoting away from plans to exclusively produce EVs at its Orion Assembly Plant near Detroit.
- Ohio’s Supreme Court affirmed state regulators’ approval of a solar project, which was challenged by a group of residents, while regulators rejected another project that faced local opposition.
- EV automaker Rivian is building a $120 million supplier park near its central Illinois manufacturing plant.
Catch more news at Great Lakes Now:
In Indiana, natural gas is clean energy now
Musk fails to flip top Wisconsin court amid Tesla lawsuit over dealerships
Featured image: Coal ash power plant. (Photo Credit: GLN)
