Environmental Updates from Around the Midwest

November 2020 E-News
Big Win in Iowa: Utility Shifts from Uneconomic Coal to Clean Solar Energy ([link removed])
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Following ELPC’s and Iowa Environmental Council’s effective advocacy, Alliant Energy will close its Lansing coal plant by the end of 2022 and convert its Burlington coal plant to natural gas by next year. Alliant will add 400 MW of utility-scale solar by 2023 and 100 MW of distributed generation, or smaller-scale solar and battery storage, by 2026. In 2019, we intervened in Alliant’s rate case before the Iowa Utilities Board and, among other things, achieved a rate case settlement requiring Alliant to complete an analysis of the economics of its coal plants.

As ELPC Senior Attorney Josh Mandelbaum said, "uneconomic coal plants are in nobody’s interest. The voluntary resource planning process we agreed to last year in our rate case settlement … is a step forward for the state, and we are seeing the benefits of that process. Retiring the uneconomic Lansing plant and the commitment to adding solar will benefit consumers and the environment."
ELPC Region 7 Report: Troubling Trends put Midwest Water at Risk ([link removed])

ELPC analysis shows the Trump EPA has backed down from appropriate and necessary Clean Water Act enforcement in Region 7, which covers Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and nine tribal nations. The latest report complements ELPC’s Region 5 report ([link removed]) , released in April, which showed similar trends in Great Lakes states. ELPC Senior Attorney Josh Mandelbaum said in the Des Moines Register ([link removed]) that this lack of enforcement “sends a signal to companies that should be following the law that it doesn’t matter. They don’t think there’s going to be penalties for polluting, and it creates a lot of bad behavior.”

ELPC Urging Michigan to Consider Climate in the Line 5 Oil Tunnel Decision ([link removed])
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ELPC and the Michigan Climate Action Network have filed an appeal ([link removed]) after a Michigan Public Service Commission Administrative Law Judge denied our motion to consider the impacts of climate change on the permitting of Enbridge’s proposed Line 5 tunnel through the Straits of Mackinac.

ELPC Senior Attorney Margrethe Kearney said, “the conduct at issue in this case – construction of a tunnel and pipeline that will lead to the transport and use of significantly more greenhouse gas-emitting petroleum products – must be subject to environmental review under Michigan law. Not only is the consideration of greenhouse gas emissions required by law, but Gov. Whitmer’s recent Executive Order on Climate Change also makes clear that reducing carbon emissions is a high priority for the future well-being of Michiganders.”
Protecting Wisconsin’s Scenic Driftless Area Natural Resources and Communities ([link removed])
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ELPC public interest attorneys filed a flurry of briefs and motions last month in Wisconsin on behalf of the Driftless Area Land Conservancy and Wisconsin Wildlife Federation. We are challenging the merits of the Commission’s approval of the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) for the unneeded Cardinal-Hickory Creek transmission line, which would cut a wide swath through the scenic Driftless Area’s valued natural resources, family farms, and communities with 17-story high towers.

We are also challenging two of the Public Service Commissioners’ participation in approving the proposed 345 kV high-voltage transmission line because of their, at least, the appearance of bias, lack of impartiality, and ex parte communications with parties during the contested case proceedings before the Commission. Find additional coverage by the Wisconsin State Journal ([link removed]) .

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Support ELPC on Giving Tuesday as we stand together in unity to protect this planet we all call home. ([link removed])

ELPC NEWS CENTER
ELPC Thinks Video: Election Debrief & What it Means for the Midwest Environment ([link removed])
WTTW: What a Biden Administration Could Mean For Environmental Issues In the Midwest ([link removed])
Inside Climate News: Four Charts Tell the Story of the Post-Covid Energy Transition ([link removed])
Crain’s Detroit: Judge: Consumers Should Begin Value of Solar Study ([link removed])
ELPC Blog: Keeping our Clean Water Promise ([link removed])
Cedar Rapids Gazette: Op-Ed by Josh Mandelbaum & Steve Falck: Trump's EPA is Risking Health of Iowa Waterways - Here's Three Ways to Fix it ([link removed])
Energy News Network: Southern Illinois Solar Energy Growth Prompts Fight Over Net Metering Math ([link removed])
Great Lakes Now: Great Aspirations: Great Lakes States grapple with climate change and carbon ([link removed])
ELPC Blog: ELPC starts planning for life after net metering ([link removed])

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