Discover the Latest News and Initiatives for a Sustainable Future

HYDROGEN: Backers of a planned hydrogen-powered iron production facility in Minnesota say they are confident that $1.3 million in federal funding just announced for the project will survive the Trump administration’s spending freeze. (Star Tribune)

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‍CLIMATE: The Trump administration’s freeze on federal grants and loans could jeopardize funding for several climate and pollution-reduction projects for northeastern Ohio organizations. (Cleveland.com, subscription)

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‍EFFICIENCY: Twenty-four states lack energy efficiency standards meant to curb energy use, which advocates say come with economic as well as climate advantages, according to a new industry report. (Grist)

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‍OIL & GAS: A state-backed report in North Dakota says higher federal tax incentives for using carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery could unlock up to 8 billion more barrels of oil and generate $9 billion in more oil tax revenue over the next decade. (North Dakota Monitor)

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‍EMISSIONS: U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy signs an order seeking to roll back fuel economy standards enacted by President Biden, arguing that ​“artificially high” fuel efficiency rules raise costs for consumers. (New York Times)

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‍CLEAN ENERGY: Food and beverage production facilities across the U.S. begin to deploy low-carbon heating technologies as an alternative to gas-powered systems, though high costs remain a barrier. (Canary Media)

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‍NUCLEAR: An Indiana utility will seek a $50 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to begin exploring the potential for a small modular reactor at a retiring coal plant. (Inside Indiana Business)

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‍COAL: Springfield, Illinois, reaches an agreement with the U.S. EPA over two coal ash disposal sites that will require improved groundwater monitoring and addressing potential releases of heavy metals. (Environmental Protection)

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‍BIOFUELS: Kansas agriculture and energy companies ask state lawmakers to approve a $5 million annual state tax credit to entice reluctant gas station owners to distribute more ethanol made with crops grown in-state. (Kansas Reflector)

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‍SOLAR:

• A developer starts construction on a 117 MW solar project in central Ohio, marking the company’s fifth solar project in the state. (Solar Power World)
• More than 30 Wendy’s and McDonald’s franchises in northern Illinois expect to save at least $20,000 a year in electricity costs by subscribing to community solar projects. (PV Magazine)

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BIOMASS: Michigan biomass energy advocates say a new state law eliminating biomass as a clean energy source eliminated a market for burning old tires. (MLive, subscription)

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‍COMMENTARY: A former Iowa lawmaker says restrictive local ordinances hinder the state’s ability to remain a renewable energy leader, particularly as new demand comes online from data centers. (Des Moines Register)

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EFFICIENCY: A new report finds utilities in Tennessee and other Southeast states have the lowest energy efficiency ranking of any region in the U.S. (Tennessee Lookout)

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OIL & GAS: Texas regulators adopt updated oilfield waste rules that now cover drill cuttings, mud that oozes from wells and the wastewater that comes to the surface during fracking. (Inside Climate News)

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SOLAR: A 900 MW Texas solar farm uses roughly 3,000 sheep to maintain vegetation at its 4,000-acre site, illustrating a broader trend pairing livestock with solar energy development across the U.S. (Associated Press)

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POLITICS:

• President Trump names a longtime Virginia utility regulator to lead the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. (Cardinal News)
• Louisiana housing advocates wince at their fellow state residents’ support for Trump and his promise to roll back a federal climate package that could provide funding to repair and retrofit hurricane-damaged houses. (ProPublica)
• Trump’s inaugural promises and executive orders to reverse climate change initiatives, roll back regulation of oil and gas, and block offshore wind development echo actions Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken in Trump’s home state. (USA Today)

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COAL:

• Federal prosecutors say coal companies owned by West Virginia U.S. Sen. Jim Justice’s family still owe more than $434,000 in mine safety penalties, some of which have lingered since the 2010s. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• The University of Notre Dame has pledged to curb its use of fossil fuels and attain carbon neutrality, but it has yet to change the lease of its Alabama mineral rights to a coal company planning a sizable mining infrastructure buildout. (Inside Climate News)

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ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE:

• Federal officials ask the U.S. Justice Department to investigate claims that Texas discriminated against Black and Hispanic residents in flood-prone coastal communities when it distributed $1 billion in Hurricane Harvey aid in 2021. (Houston Chronicle, Texas Tribune)
• A Virginia nonprofit operates a community garden and partners with a Norfolk State University to help historically marginalized communities exposed to polluting facilities. (WHRO)

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GRID:

• Texas’ grid operator reports a 4% increase in power demand in 2024, with additional spikes expected amid a rise in data centers, artificial intelligence and state population. (Houston Chronicle)
• Texas regulators approve Entergy’s three-year, $137 million grid hardening plan, but reject its request for conditional approval of $198 million in projects to be paid through a state fund for power facilities. (Houston Chronicle, Utility Dive)
• A Virginia developer announces plans to build a “hyperscale” Kentucky data center complex that will use 130 MW when it launches in 2026, and up to 400 MW at full size. (Kentucky Lantern)

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CARBON CAPTURE: The U.S. EPA approves West Virginia’s request for primary enforcement authority for the drilling of injection wells for carbon capture projects. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

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EMISSIONS:

• A new report finds upstream oil and gas equipment and oil wells leaked 25% less methane in 2023 than the year before, though environmentalists question the report’s methodology and findings. (Texas Tribune)
• Federal agencies and nonprofit groups like The Nature Conservancy have rewetted 60,000 acres of the Great Dismal Swamp since 2012 in an effort to restore layers of peat and their ability to reduce the amount of carbon emitted into the air. (Inside Climate News)

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COMMENTARY:

• Appalachian Power’s high rates in Virginia came about largely because of its ongoing reliance on fossil fuels amid price spikes for natural gas and coal, writes a columnist. (Virginia Mercury)
• Virginia has overtaken California as the nation’s top importer of electricity as it seeks to feed its ravenous data centers, while California has significantly grown its rooftop solar capacity, writes an editor. (Cardinal News)

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POLITICS: On his first day in office, President Trump declares a national energy emergency to give himself broad powers to encourage fossil fuel production to meet growing power demand, though the move could face legal challenges. (The Guardian, The Hill)

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ALSO:

• Trump withdraws the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, as he had in his previous term, and rescinds Biden administration efforts to center environmental justice in federal decisions. (Associated Press, Axios)
• Trump signs a series of additional executive orders directing government agencies to review Biden administration environmental policies and reverse or rewrite them if possible. (Washington Post)
• All of Trump’s day-one energy and environmental actions echo moves Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken in the president’s home state. (USA Today)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Trump rescinds the Biden administration’s nonbinding 2021 goal of making half of new vehicle sales in 2030 electric, which had directed automakers’ investments and won their public support. (The Guardian)
• U.S. electric vehicle sales growth slowed in 2024 largely due to speed bumps for Tesla, but the industry remains on track for expansion even if the Trump administration shrinks or ends EV purchase incentives. (Inside Climate News)
• The number of publicly available electric vehicle chargers doubled to 207,000 during former President Biden’s term, but still lags the 1.2 million needed by 2030 to support anticipated EV sales. (Axios)

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WIND: Trump orders a stop to new permitting for onshore and offshore wind projects and directs the Interior Department to find out whether it can end or amend existing leases. (E&E News)

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OIL & GAS: Trump issues executive orders aimed at spurring more oil & gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and revoking policies that “burden the development of domestic energy resources.” (The Hill)

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OVERSIGHT: President Trump names a longtime Virginia utility regulator to lead the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. (Cardinal News)

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SOLAR:

• A 900 MW Texas solar farm uses roughly 3,000 sheep to maintain vegetation at its 4,000-acre site, illustrating a broader trend pairing livestock with solar energy development across the U.S. (Associated Press)
• Analysts say a 1,200 MW solar-plus-storage installation under development in Oregon is an example of a trend toward larger clean energy projects. (Canary Media)

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CLIMATE: A study shows how fossil fuel companies collaboratively used Twitter to seed doubt about international climate action. (Grist)

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GRID: Illinois lawmakers and advocates are drafting legislation that would allow merchant transmission line developers to access subsidies under the state’s renewable energy credits program to help remove cost barriers for wind and solar developers. (Energy News Network)

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EFFICIENCY: A new report finds utilities in Tennessee and other Southeast states have the lowest energy efficiency ranking of any region in the U.S. (Tennessee Lookout)

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CLIMATE: Michigan climate officials say the state is on track to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 26% over 2005 levels by the end of 2025 and is on pace to reach a carbon neutrality goal by 2050. (Michigan Public)

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PIPELINES:

• A rift over the use of eminent domain for carbon pipelines has caused division among South Dakota Republicans, who are now under new leadership after unsuccessful efforts last year to reach a compromise between supporters and opposing landowners. (South Dakota Searchlight)
• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s latest lawsuit to shut down the Dakota Access pipeline should be tossed because the agency hasn’t yet issued a permit for the project. (North Dakota Monitor)

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NUCLEAR: Officials at a northern Michigan electric cooperative want to buy power from a nuclear plant slated to restart this year, in part to help meet the state’s climate goals a decade ahead of time. (Interlochen Public Radio)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• The Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate a $7,500 rebate for electric vehicle purchases could soften sales in Minnesota, where full EV purchases have started to slow in favor of hybrid models. (Star Tribune)
• Annual benefits of incentivizing EV charging away from high-demand periods exceed annual costs once at least 5% of customers have EV chargers, according to a new study by AES Indiana. (PV Magazine)
• Michigan Democrats rescind claims that a Michigan EV plant was idled because of President Trump’s early executive orders, when the plant was idled around the holidays and is scheduled to restart on Feb. 3. (Detroit Free Press)

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UTILITIES: Ameren Missouri customers push back on the utility’s proposed 15% rate increase that executives say is needed to pay for various grid infrastructure investments. (St. Louis Public Radio)

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SOLAR:

• Ohio regulators approve plans for a 100 MW solar project with battery storage outside Cincinnati, but reject plans for two other projects totaling 320 MW of capacity. (Cleveland.com)
• A developer starts construction on a 182 MW solar project on the site of a former subsurface Illinois mine after securing financing for the $345 million project. (Renewables Now)
• An Iowa county plans to revisit decommissioning provisions in its ordinance regulating utility-scale solar projects to clarify requirements when a project transfers ownership. (Hawk Eye)

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CLEAN ENERGY: Rural Minnesota electric cooperatives receive more than $17 million in federal funding for renewable energy projects and load management through virtual power plants. (KIMT)

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PIPELINES: Declining residential demand for propane and escalating costs of a tunnel in the Straits of Mackinac cast doubt on the future of Line 5, according to a new study by an energy economics organization. (Michigan Advance)

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ALSO:

• Landowners expect to rally at the South Dakota capital today to call on lawmakers to adopt tighter restrictions on eminent domain for pipelines in the new legislative session. (South Dakota News Watch)
• Iowa House lawmakers anticipate revisiting legislation to tighten eminent domain restrictions, though Senate support remains unclear after unsuccessful efforts in the past two years. (KCCI)
• The Summit carbon pipeline developer faces ongoing legal challenges in Iowa, North and South Dakota as it hopes to bring the $8 billion project online in 2026 at the earliest. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)

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RENEWABLES: Two North Dakota utilities receive a combined $1.57 billion to add thousands of megawatts of renewable energy under an Inflation Reduction Act program. (KXNET)

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CLIMATE: The future of Des Moines, Iowa’s climate change programs are uncertain after officials eliminated the city’s office of sustainability to help plug a $17 million budget deficit. (KCCI)

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NUCLEAR:

• The owner of a Wisconsin nuclear plant along Lake Michigan continues to seek a 20-year extension to operate the plant as nuclear energy critics raise concerns about the plant’s safety. (WUWM)
• Federal regulators will hold a public meeting this week on plans to replace about 1,400 cracked cooling tubes at a shuttered Michigan nuclear plant that seeks to reopen. (Michigan Public)

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SOLAR: The Ohio Supreme Court is weighing the fate of four utility-scale solar projects as the state faces a spike in electricity demand from data centers. (Cleveland.com, subscription)

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GRID: American Electric Power will sell a nearly 20% stake in two Midwest transmission subsidiaries for $2.82 billion to fund investments in transmission, distribution and generation projects. (Utility Dive)

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EMISSIONS: Efforts to decarbonize large commercial vehicles like semi-trucks and school buses could be in jeopardy under the Trump administration, creating public health risks and derailing climate measures, advocates say. (Inside Climate News)

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BIOFUELS: Iowa biofuel advocates say the Biden administration’s failure to finalize sustainable aviation fuels tax credits leaves the guidelines unclear as the Trump administration takes over. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Michigan’s second-largest city receives $1.5 million in federal funding to add eight electric vehicle charging stations. (WOOD-TV8)
• The Biden administration announces $635 million for electric vehicle charging stations in 27 states as it races to commit funding for a $2.5 billion program before the Trump administration takes over. (E&E News, subscription)

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COMMENTARY: Minnesota should lift its moratorium on new nuclear plant construction to help attract large data centers, writes the head of a Minnesota private equity firm. (Star Tribune)

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COAL: Despite touting investments in renewable energy, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns 12 of the dirtiest coal plants in the country, including in Nebraska and Iowa, an analysis of federal emissions data finds. (Reuters)

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CLEAN ENERGY:

• Illinois officials say state incentives helped double private clean energy sector investments from the previous year to $4 billion in 2024. (WTVO)
• Illinois lawmakers pass a scaled back clean energy bill that would generate more revenue for renewable energy credits paid to developers, and may take up broader reforms later this year. (Capitol News Illinois)
• The USDA awards more than $6 billion in grants and loans to help rural, member-owned electric cooperatives build renewable energy and battery storage projects. (Canary Media)

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PIPELINES: The Michigan Court of Appeals hears arguments from tribes and environmental groups challenging a state permit allowing Enbridge to build a tunnel for Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac. (Michigan Advance)

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CLIMATE:

• A Nebraska lawmaker introduces legislation to create a state climate office that would create a climate action plan and coordinate federal grants. (Nebraska Public Media)
• Governors across the country are poised to continue state-level climate action if the incoming Trump administration scales back federal efforts, advocates say. (Grist)

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SOLAR:

• Most of the $1 million in federal clean energy funding in Iowa will support solar projects on rural farms and businesses. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
• Local officials across Michigan criticize investor-owned utilities’ opposition to community solar, which advocates say allows more people to participate in clean energy and avoids utility-scale projects. (Michigan Public)
• Michigan officials last week opened a three-month public comment period on plans to lease more than 400 acres of state-owned land for solar development. (Interlochen Public Radio)

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GRID:

• Clean energy advocates say PJM’s proposal to expand grid access through underused interconnection capacity would free up more than 26 gigawatts to address a widespread capacity shortage. (Utility Dive)
• MISO selects Ameren to build $1.3 billion in transmission projects in multiple Midwest states to improve reliability. (news release)

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POLITICS: Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan concludes 12 hours of testimony over four days in his corruption trial that addressed quid-pro-quo allegations involving jobs with associates at ComEd. (Chicago Sun-Times)

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BIOFUELS: Some Iowa biodiesel plants have at least temporarily shut down after the Biden administration failed to finalize guidance on a new tax incentives program. (Des Moines Register)

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TRANSPORTATION: California abandons regulations aimed at phasing out diesel trucks and requiring cleaner locomotives, saying the incoming Trump administration is unlikely to issue waivers allowing the rules’ implementation. (CalMatters)

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ALSO:

• The Biden administration awards a California city $14 million to install 101 electric vehicle charging stations at 15 locations. (KTLA)
• Daimler resumes big rig sales in Oregon after regulators clear up misunderstandings around new medium and heavy-duty clean truck rules. (OPB)

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PUBLIC LAND:

• The Biden administration proposes banning new mining claims on federal land targeted for lithium extraction near the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
• President Biden orders the federal Bureau of Land Management to identify parcels of public land for clean energy development to power data centers proposed for Department of Energy and Defense sites. (Utility Dive)

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NUCLEAR: Wyoming regulators greenlight construction of non-nuclear portions of TerraPower’s proposed advanced reactor facility in the southwestern part of the state. (WyoFile)

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CLIMATE:

• California advocates look to revive legislation that would require the state’s largest carbon polluters to help cover the costs of climate disasters, but the oil lobby is already gearing up to fight it. (The Guardian)  
• California lawmakers create a $50 million legal fund to defend its climate and environmental policies against expected Trump administration challenges. (CalMatters)
• California lawmakers propose allocating $1.5 billion from a new climate bond to fund wildfire resilience projects. (Sacramento Bee)

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UTILITIES:

• Documents show California regulators scrutinized Southern California Edison’s wildfire hazard mitigation efforts in the months leading up to the deadly Los Angeles-area wildfires. (Los Angeles Times)
• San Diego Gas & Electric opens centers for customers experiencing wildfire hazard-related public power safety outages. (KPBS)

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GRID: Federal data show utility equipment has sparked more than 3,600 California wildfires since 1992, but the cause of the deadly Los Angeles blazes remains under investigation. (New York Times)

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OIL & GAS: Colorado advocates push back on proposed natural gas and produced water pipelines on federal land in the western part of the state. (Post-Independent)

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SOLAR: Washington state officials say a 2017 law aimed at encouraging solar panel recycling has yet to be enforced and has driven some manufacturers from doing business in the state. (Seattle Times)

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HYDROGEN: A report finds California lost a net total of three light-duty hydrogen fueling stations last year, casting doubt on the state’s ability to meet targets. (RTO Insider, subscription)

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OVERSIGHT: A Utah city considers revising its land-use code to encourage solar, energy storage, natural gas and small modular nuclear reactor development. (Deseret News)

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POLITICS: Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte announces a new task force aimed at  developing ways to “unleash” energy development and production. (Montana Free Press)

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EMISSIONS: More than a dozen states — including most of the Northeast — expect President-elect Trump to take away their authority to impose stringent rules on motor vehicle emissions in line with California’s regulations. (New Jersey Monitor)

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POLITICS:

• Maryland Gov. Wes Moore announces plans to cut $2 billion from state programming, including energy and climate initiatives, in the attempt to ease a looming budget shortfall. (Washington Post)
• Environmental advocates in Connecticut express frustration with Gov. Ned Lamont’s embrace of natural gas and nuclear power in his State of the State address. (CT Insider)
• Maine Gov. Janet Mills proposes creating a cabinet-level department of energy, a move supporters say will strengthen the office’s energy planning and give it more authority to procure clean energy. (Maine Public)

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NUCLEAR: As New York faces rising power demand and the need to lower greenhouse gas emissions, it’s taking a serious look at the possibilities of advanced nuclear power plants. (Inside Climate News)

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SOLAR:

• State officials approves a 125-MW solar array that developers say will repurpose a former western New York industrial site, but which concerned locals say will destroy hundreds of acres of active farmland. (WGRZ)
• Maryland regulators schedule hearings for two solar projects that are seeking approval from the state to avoid county-level prohibitions on solar developments on farmland. (Baltimore Sun, subscription)
• A solar array in a Massachusetts suburb is the last installation funded by a Jimmy Carter-era pilot program still in operation, surviving the hostility of the Reagan administration with the support of volunteers and grant funding. (CNHI News)

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GRID: A new study of the New England power system finds the region’s reliance on natural gas power generation poses risks in case of an extended cold snap or gas infrastructure problems. (RTO Insider, subscription)

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OFFSHORE WIND: Offshore wind development can be responsibility sited and managed to avoid hurting bird populations, says the National Audubon Society. (news release)

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ELECTRIFICATION: Burlington, Vermont’s electric department announces expanded rebates for heat pumps, used electric vehicles, e-bikes, and other electric appliances and equipment. (news release)

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COMMENTARY: Connecticut should follow in New York and Vermont’s footsteps and pass legislation to make fossil fuel companies pay for the damages caused by climate change, says an environmental activist. (CT Mirror)

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A planned 325-megawatt battery energy storage system at a key location on New England’s power grid could boost Connecticut’s access to carbon-free power — but only if it can overcome complicated legal and political barriers.

An Israeli firm, Sunflower Sustainable Investments, filed an application in October for the project with the Connecticut Siting Council, which has regulatory authority over the siting of power facilities.

The $200 million project, called Windham Energy Center, would be located on a largely undeveloped 63-acre site in Killingly, Connecticut, that was slated for construction of a fossil fuel power plant a few years ago. There is existing electric transmission infrastructure immediately adjacent to the site, and the project will connect to the grid via a 345-kilovolt transmission line.

A spokesman for Windham Energy, Jonathan Milley, said the location is ideal for a battery facility.

“If you look at the topology of the New England grid, this is at the intersection of the Millstone nuclear power plant and Brayton Point,” in Somerset, Massachusetts, where approved offshore wind projects will eventually be connected to the grid, Milley said. “This nodal location will at certain times of the day and under certain conditions have some of the lowest cost energy available to it on the grid.”

The project would consist of lithium-ion batteries installed in racks in prefabricated containers, and a switching station operated by Eversource to connect them to the transmission line. The equipment would be located within 20 acres of the total project site.

But the project is currently hung up by an administrative roadblock. That’s because in 2019, the siting council approved an application from NTE Energy to build a 650-megawatt natural gas plant on a portion of the same property.

That project, which ran into a storm of opposition from environmental advocates, was never built, and NTE Energy has since dissolved. But nevertheless, on Nov. 8, the siting council’s executive director, Melanie Bachman, notified Windham Energy that it is “premature” for the body to review their application because the Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need previously issued to NTE still exists.

The certificate has not been surrendered to the council, she said. And it will otherwise only be void if construction on the gas plant has not been completed by September 28, 2026.

Windham Energy has asked the council to declare the certificate no longer valid, noting that NTE Energy no longer exists nor holds an option to purchase the property, and that its energy supply agreement with regional grid operator ISO-New England was also revoked in 2022.

Milley said battery storage is needed to complement the state’s offshore wind goals; the batteries can store surplus energy from wind sources when production is high, and then dispatch it to the grid when it is needed. In 2021, state lawmakers set a goal of at least 1,000 megawatts of energy storage deployment by December 31, 2030.

“If there’s a developer willing to build what the state is looking for and not asking for anything else, it doesn’t seem like asking too much for the council to nullify an existing certificate for an entity that doesn’t exist,” Milley said.

For now, counsel for Windham Energy has sent a letter by certified mail to Stephanie Clarkson, who they say is the last known contact for NTE Energy, asking her to “advise whether the Certificate issued to NTE should be an impediment” to their proposed project.

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Addressing safety concerns

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The town of Killingly has requested party status in the hearings before the siting council.

In a letter to Windham Energy following a meeting with the developers, Town Council chair Jason Alexander and vice chair Tammy Wakefield raised concerns about the potential for fire at the facility, pointing to a recent fire at a battery storage facility in New York, and asked how they would prevent a similar event.  

Three battery storage projects caught fire in New York in 2023, prompting Gov. Kathy Hochul to convene a working group to draft updates to the state’s fire code to improve safety and emergency preparedness in the planning of such projects.

Other towns in Connecticut have also raised concerns about fires for much smaller battery storage projects proposed by Key Capture Energy, of Albany, New York.

Milley says town officials are “right to ask these questions,” and he is focused on addressing their concerns. He noted that Windham plans to use lithium iron phosphate batteries, a type of lithium battery he says is much less prone to fire.

“The element in the battery is iron, which doesn’t burn,” he said.

However, he added, Windham fully intends to work with town and state fire authorities to develop a response plan “whether it’s a strict requirement or not.”

In the meantime, Windham Energy has filed a motion with the siting council to reopen the docket concerning NTE Energy so that it might modify its decision and revoke the earlier issued certificate.

The council is expected to take up that motion during its Feb. 6 meeting.

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OIL & GAS: Oil and gas companies move to expand pipelines across Virginia as the rapidly growing number of data centers strain energy demand and existing infrastructure. (Virginia Mercury)

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ALSO:

• The Gulf Coast oil and gas industry prepares to build out a wave of planned liquified natural gas export terminals as it anticipates President-elect Trump to lift a nearly year-long pause on federal permitting. (Houston Chronicle)
• North Carolina activists look to the state’s incoming Democratic officials to keep the state on track for its climate goals as utilities lean into fossil fuels and Trump aims to unleash oil and gas projects. (Inside Climate News)

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TRANSITION: A Texas electric cooperative will convert a coal-fired power plant into a solar and battery facility, aided by more than $1.4 billion in federal funding to support clean energy and maintain rural jobs. (Texas Tribune)

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GRID: The private company that oversees Puerto Rico’s power grid announces it’s restored power for 98% of its 1.47 million customers after a blackout knocked out power across the island on New Year’s Eve. (Associated Press)

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SOLAR:

• Former President Jimmy Carter is remembered for his progressive stance on energy production and independence, as exemplified by the 2017 conversion of his Georgia peanut farm into a 1 MW solar farm. (Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)
• Dominion Energy operates a 1.6 MW Virginia solar farm that’s also home to beehives as the utility tests to see whether the pollinators can increase local farmers’ crop production. (Farmville Herald)

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WIND:

• An Oklahoma lawmaker files a bill to block tax subsidies for wind farms that were grandfathered in after a 2017 law outlawed tax breaks for new wind farms. (KOKH)
• A Texas judge orders a new trial to set a wind farm’s tax valuation after overturning a jury verdict valuing its property at $197.4 million because it included nontaxable federal production tax credits and power purchase agreements. (Bloomberg, subscription)

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COAL:

• An investigation finds Alabama regulators who eschew federal regulation of coal mining have largely rubber-stamped permits while doing little to address residents’ longstanding concerns about longwall mining. (Inside Climate News)
• A new book details the court battle that followed a 2008 coal ash spill in Tennessee and pushed the U.S. EPA to regulate the toxic substance. (Inside Climate News)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Virginia lawmaker will again introduce a bill to establish funding incentives for companies to build electric vehicle charging stations in rural parts of Virginia. (Cardinal News)

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OVERSIGHT: A clean energy nonprofit sues Georgia regulators for allegedly violating an open records law after the state fails to turn over public records from a state board member who the group claims used her personal email and cellphone for public business. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

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CLIMATE: A family’s experience with Hurricane Helene and its aftermath illustrates how climate-exacerbated extreme weather disproportionately affects undocumented residents. (NPR)

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UTILITIES:

• A growing number of states are passing laws to prevent power cutoffs during heat waves as rates spike, but Tennessee, Florida and Kentucky lack such protections. (Inside Climate News)
• Duke Energy asks Florida regulators to allow it to bill customers $1.1 billion in costs from hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton. (S&P Global)
• Florida Power & Light seeks a $1.55 billion Florida rate hike, along with additional money to pay for solar and battery installations. (WGCU/News Service of Florida)

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POLITICS:

• Experts say global markets, the already-low price of natural gas, and the cost of building out the power grid make it unlikely Trump will be able to deliver on his promise to cut energy costs in half. (Houston Chronicle)
• Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget slowed the delivery of billions of dollars in disaster aid to Puerto Rico after 2017’s Hurricane Maria. (E&E News)

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COMMENTARY: A Virginia legislative commission’s report confirms the booming data center sector will triple power demand over the next 15 years, threatening not just the state’s emission reduction goals, but its ability to produce that much power even without them, writes a columnist. (Virginia Mercury)

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