Welcome to a new week! President Trump is pushing coal as a one-size-fits-all solution to rising power demand — but the country’s looming grid crisis needs a far more complex fix, Jeff St. John reports in today’s top story.
Rising demand is also at the center of Kari Lydersen’s new story out of Wisconsin, where critics fear they’ll be stuck paying for overbuilt fossil fuel infrastructure if data centers don’t materialize. Plus, I break down Trump’s new order targeting state climate laws.
China suspends exports of critical minerals and magnets essential to the battery, auto, semiconductor, and other industries. (New York Times)
COAL
President Trump’s attempts to revive the coal industry will likely fail, as the fading fossil fuel can’t compete with cheaper and cleaner power from fossil gas and renewables. (New York Times)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
General Motors’ Ontario plant halts production of BrightDrop delivery vans and announces layoffs. (Detroit Free Press)
More than 500 school districts nationwide are waiting on about $1 billion in funding the EPA has frozen to cover the costs of more than 3,400 electric buses. (Associated Press)
GRID
The Trump administration decides the nation’s four power marketing administrations are essential as the Energy Department weighs workforce cuts, after it previously laid off Bonneville Power Administration workers and had to quickly rehire them. (Latitude Media)
DATA CENTERS
Roughly a dozen proposals in state legislatures across the U.S. seek to ensure that potential new power plants and infrastructure for data centers don’t result in increased rates for other customers. (States Newsroom)
FOSSIL FUELS
Trump’s seesawing tariffs increase uncertainty for oil and gas companies that already were looking to renegotiate contract terms for a wave of planned liquified natural gas export terminals. (Houston Chronicle)
BATTERIES
Sodium-ion battery startup Bedrock Materials will shut down and return its seed funding to investors after deciding its business model no longer makes sense. (Heatmap)
Swedish scientists are developing a soft, fluid-based battery with a texture like toothpaste that can be shaped to meet any form, though it is far from ready for industrial use. (The Hill)
CLIMATE
Massachusetts legal experts predict the Trump administration will target the state’s 2021 climate law and regional carbon trading initiative in the name of “energy dominance,” but doubt the challenges will hold up in court. (WBUR)
PIPELINES
Federal regulators say the Keystone pipeline needs a series of improvements and fixes before it can resume operations after a leak. (E&E News)
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