Good morning. President Trump last week ordered federal officials to prevent uneconomical coal plants from closing, ostensibly to prop up the power grid against new demand. But as Jeff St. John reports in today’s top story, experts say continued reliance on coal will likely undermine not just the transition to cleaner power, but low energy prices and grid reliability.
Elsewhere, Trump’s trade wars threaten the oil and gas industry, and South Carolina’s state utility now mandates time-of-use power plans.
TODAY'S TOP NEWS
GRID
Trump’s order to keep coal plants open could violate carbon and environmental mandates, raise energy costs, and threaten grid reliability if utilities lean on the fossil fuel instead of building renewables and other clean energy, experts say. (Canary Media)
Residents of a southern Virginia county gear up for a protracted fight against a company that wants to build a 3,500 MW gas-fired power plant and accompanying 12-building data center campus. (Cardinal News)
LS Power seeks federal approval for its plans to sell up to 300 MW from a Virginia gas-fired power plant to a behind-the-meter data center. (Utility Dive)
FOSSIL FUELS
Trump’s seesawing approach to tariffs increases uncertainty for oil and gas companies that already were looking to renegotiate contracts with likely customers for a wave of planned liquified natural gas export terminals on the Gulf Coast. (Houston Chronicle)
West Virginia regulators order coal company Core Natural Resources to temporarily stop working a coal mine while officials investigate an explosion that was caused when a woman smoking a lit cigarette apparently ignited methane escaping from the mine. (Inside Climate News)
Federal officials authorize exports to non-free-trade-agreement countries for Louisiana liquefied natural gas terminal Calcasieu Pass 2, moving the massive $28 billion project a step closer to completion. (Sierra)
Advocates warn the Trump administration’s job cuts at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health will endanger coal miners in West Virginia and beyond. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
UTILITIES
South Carolina state-owned utility Santee Cooper shifts to mandate time-of-use plans that charge customers more during times of high power demand. (Post and Courier)
Texas lawmakers push to resurrect a program that collects a surcharge from utility ratepayers to spend on helping low-income families pay their power bills. (Houston Chronicle)
A Virginia city council considers whether to use revenue from a casino for a fund to help residents avoid utility cutoffs or to restore disconnected services. (Cardinal News)
SOLAR
An energy company begins commercial operations at a 600 MW solar farm in Texas. (Power Technology)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
A Florida anti-tax group’s report estimates hybrid and electric vehicles already cost the state up to $78.3 million annually in lost gas tax revenues. (Florida Politics)
COMMENTARY
Texas legislation could undermine the state’s wind, solar, and battery boom by pushing investment elsewhere, raising energy costs and threatening grid reliability while also imposing top-down control on the state’s deregulated power market, writes the Texas vice president of the Advanced Power Alliance. (Austin American-Statesman)
Louisiana should spurn the use of carbon sequestration because it might block access to oil and gas beneath storage sites, writes a state lawmaker. (Times-Picayune)
NEW FROM CANARY MEDIA
Wisconsin advocates fear a wave of planned data centers will fail to materialize, sticking them with the bill for gas plants built to power them, Kari Lydersen reports.
States are the country’s best hope for climate action, but President Trump is targeting them with a new round of executive orders. Kathryn Krawczyk writes.
Canary Media is an independent, nonprofit newsroom covering the transition to clean energy and solutions to the climate crisis. Donate to support us.
