Minnesota invests $130 million in wind power upgrades; clean energy debates and production rise across Midwest.

A group of utilities in Minnesota will spend $130 million on 19 small-scale transmission upgrades to open bottlenecks and move more wind power from western Minnesota to the Dakotas. The definition of “clean energy” in Michigan’s new climate law is being contested in the state House, where Democrats hold only a single-vote majority. Despite local misinformation, renewable energy has generated $9 billion in investment in Indiana and paid nearly $27 million in local and state taxes. The economics of clean energy development become “messy” as projects become more costly to finance, despite a rise in demand. A legal dispute over a hydraulic fracturing contract in Ohio is reaching the Ohio Supreme Court, with the focus on how the Utica Shale formation is defined. North Dakota gas production reached an all-time high in September as oil production also increased by nearly 5% over the previous month.