8 May 2025

GRID

• Amid soaring demand projections, a Texas lawmaker carries a bill to place more requirements on large businesses to better help the state grid operator forecast its electricity needs, though some critics say the measure is too heavy-handed. (Texas Tribune)
• The Memphis, Tennessee, chamber of commerce says Elon Musk’s xAI project is now using power from the city’s municipal utility and will stop using some of its gas-fired turbines, but critics say pollution from the turbines still operating is harming nearby communities. (WMC)
• Memphis, Tennessee’s municipal utility partners with the Tennessee Valley Authority to provide incentives to customers who allow adjustments to their smart thermostats during periods of peak power demand. (WKNO)

FOSSIL FUELS

• The Trump administration grants an export permit for Venture Global’s recently announced second liquified natural gas export terminal alongside its Calcasieu Pass facility in Louisiana, marking the White House’s fifth LNG-related approval since Trump took office. (Grist)
• Trump’s order exempting some coal plants from federal air pollution rules has rattled environmental advocates and led the Tennessee Valley Authority to delay planned retirements, but Entergy says it’s still on track to close its coal plants in Louisiana by 2030. (Floodlight) 
• The White House announces another round of cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services, worrying advocates who say the downsizing will negatively affect coal miner safety in West Virginia and elsewhere. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• Lawyers for the federal government argue that a lawsuit challenging the  dismantling of black lung screening by a federal office in West Virginia should not go forward, partly because it’s unclear whether the closure will happen. (WV Metro News)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Georgia’s Democratic U.S. senators warn Republican budget cuts could undercut the state’s growing battery storage, electric vehicle, and solar manufacturing industries. (Georgia Recorder)

SOLAR

• A Virginia county board deadlocks on votes to approve 3 MW and 5 MW solar farms, leaving the projects in limbo until a supervisor who represents the tie-breaking vote can visit both sites. (Gazette-Virginian)

HYDROGEN

• Republican Congress members consider ending tax credits passed during the Biden administration that Exxon Mobil and Chevron want to use for investments in clean hydrogen and carbon storage. (Houston Chronicle)

NUCLEAR

• The Tennessee Valley Authority holds a public meeting to discuss its plans to build a small modular nuclear reactor in Tennessee. (WBIR)

CLIMATE

• The Trump administration has denied federal assistance for federal assistance for tornadoes in Arkansas, flooding in West Virginia, and extended relief after Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, with officials calling on states to take a more active role instead. (Stateline)
• North Carolina launches a new state agency to manage a $1.4 billion home rebuilding program after Hurricane Helene, but some lawmakers are wary after a previous effort to rebuild from hurricanes in 2016 and 2018 went broke before completing its mission. (Carolina Public Press)
• A Texas lawmaker sponsors a bill to guarantee tenants’ rights to air conditioning as extreme heat becomes a more pressing issue in cities like Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. (Houston Chronicle)

COMMENTARY

• Texas lawmakers consider multiple bills aimed at reducing insurance premium spikes that have risen 43% since 2023, but the real source of the problem is climate change and the rising cost of natural disasters, writes a columnist. (Houston Chronicle)

NEW FROM CANARY

• California lawmakers consider a bill that would undo net-metering contracts for nearly 2 million homes that have installed rooftop solar, but would hardly reduce high electricity costs the proposal is meant to address, Jeff. St John reports.
• Federal funding cuts worry electric cooperatives who are relying on them to build renewable generation and make needed grid updates, Keaton Peters reports for High Country News.