Appleton's Common Council takes up a ban on automated license plate readers Oct. 21, with exceptions for parking and weigh stations. Oshkosh tabled a weaker measure so it could borrow Appleton's language.
Federal money will buy welding, cutting and automation equipment for the Marinette, Sturgeon Bay and Green Bay yards, which lost four frigates last year and are waiting to start a new class of Navy landing ships.
The two-term west side alder and former YWCA chief says she'll decide in the coming days. Her entry would make it a three-way race with Alyssa Proffitt and Jim Schmitt, with Amaad Rivera-Wagner still deciding.
The U.S. Department of Transportation canceled a 2024 FAA grant for a solar array and battery-backed microgrid at Appleton International Airport, saying it no longer fit agency priorities.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has canceled a $1.5 million federal grant that was set to pay for a solar array and a battery-backed microgrid at Appleton International Airport, according to U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin's office.1,2 The department said the project did not meet agency priorities.1,3 No construction stops, because the work hadn't started, but the airport loses money it had been awarded in 2024 to cut energy bills and keep its new concourse running through power outages.1,2
The Federal Aviation Administration awarded the money in September 2024 through its Airport Improvement Program, which provides entitlement and discretionary grants to more than 3,300 eligible airports.4 The funding traced to fiscal 2023 appropriations that Baldwin supported, and she had pressed the Biden administration that May to back the project, according to her office's announcement at the time.4
That announcement described a system meant to lower the airport's long-term energy costs, cut its reliance on fossil fuels and keep the airport operating during grid failures and severe weather, preserving its role in emergency response as well as daily flights.4 Airport officials said the solar panels and microgrid were planned for the new concourse.2 WBAY reported the setup would have kept the concourse's lights and fans on during an outage.3
The dollar figure is small by federal standards. The Airport Improvement Program hands out $1.5 billion in discretionary grants every fiscal year, WBAY reported, which makes Appleton's award about one-tenth of 1% of a single year's discretionary pool.3
The grant was tied to a major construction project at the Greenville airport. Airport Director Abe Weber said in 2024 that the solar award was part of a comprehensive renovation and expansion of the terminal.4 That expansion added a roughly 47,000-square-foot concourse, twice the size of the old one, and doubled the airport's boarding gates from five to at least 10.5 NBC 26 put the project's cost at $66 million.6
Traffic has grown alongside it. More than 1 million passengers used the airport in 2024, and Weber told NBC 26 the airport set a record of more than 100,000 passengers in a single March.5,6 Weber has said the added gates position Appleton to take on more aircraft, more routes and possibly new airlines.5
Weber said in a statement Friday that losing the grant won't change the airport's long-term plan to use sustainable energy across its facilities, and that it will keep applying for federal and state money for similar projects to hold down energy costs.2,3 He also thanked Baldwin, calling her a longtime champion of the airport.3
Baldwin called the decision "flat out wrong" and said President Donald Trump was "playing politics" with a project that would have lowered the airport's energy costs for years.3,7 She asked the administration to reverse the cancellation.3 WHBY attributed the agency-priorities language to a White House statement.7 No outlet reported a fuller explanation from DOT or the FAA, and WBAY said it had asked airport officials whether they'd received one.3
Appleton's grant isn't the first airport clean energy award the administration has pulled. In October 2025, U.S. Rep. André Carson (D-Ind.) said the FAA planned to end nearly $37 million in clean energy infrastructure grants, including $6.7 million for a solar-powered battery storage facility at Indianapolis International Airport, on the grounds that the grant did not align with the administration's priorities.8,9 The Indianapolis airport said afterward that it had not received the money or begun work on the project.9
The cancellations reverse a direction the FAA took under the previous administration. Under President Joe Biden, the agency announced about $92 million for 21 airports for solar panels, electric buses, charging stations and electrification studies, part of a nearly $268 million grant round tied to a goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.10
For now, Appleton's solar array and microgrid have no funding source. Weber said the airport will look for one, and Baldwin has called on the administration to reverse the decision immediately.2,3
Appleton's Common Council takes up a ban on automated license plate readers Oct. 21, with exceptions for parking and weigh stations. Oshkosh tabled a weaker measure so it could borrow Appleton's language.
Federal money will buy welding, cutting and automation equipment for the Marinette, Sturgeon Bay and Green Bay yards, which lost four frigates last year and are waiting to start a new class of Navy landing ships.
The two-term west side alder and former YWCA chief says she'll decide in the coming days. Her entry would make it a three-way race with Alyssa Proffitt and Jim Schmitt, with Amaad Rivera-Wagner still deciding.
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