Biggest solar plant east of Mississippi opens

This roundup of U.S. energy news headlines is part of our Canary Media Daily newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

FOSSIL FUELS

• The Trump administration is suing New York and Vermont over their climate ​“superfund” laws that would make major fossil-fuel emitters pay for their historical emissions. (Politico)

• It’s also pre-emptively suing Hawaii and Michigan in an attempt to block the states from suing oil and gas companies for climate damages. (New York Times)

• The U.S. Export-Import bank lifts a 12-year-old ban on lending money to coal power plants in other countries as the Trump administration looks to revive the industry. (Bloomberg Law)

• Exxon and Chevron report lower profits for the first quarter of 2025 as the trade war with China raises their expenses and erodes fuel demand. (New York Times)

CLEAN ENERGY

• The U.S. Bureau of Land Management approves permits for a utility-scale solar project in Arizona, possibly a first under the Trump administration, which paused solar permitting on federal lands earlier this year. (Heatmap)

• The Ohio Supreme Court affirms state regulators’ decision to allow a 350 MW solar project to continue after landowners sued to stop the project. (WOSU)

• The Connecticut House approves a bill setting a goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and establishing new incentives for solar canopies, electric heat pumps, and green job creation. (CT Mirror)

UTILITIES

• The Tennessee Valley Authority’s new CEO says the federal utility is rethinking its plans to close its four coal-fired power plants by 2035 even though they’re ​“well beyond their book life.” (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

• Massachusetts regulators order gas utilities to spend less on a major pipeline repair initiative and instead study whether leak-prone pipes should be shut down and replaced with electric heat pumps for customers. (WBUR)

POLITICS

• A group of 38 House Republicans send a letter to the House Ways and Means Chair calling for a full repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act and expressing concern that some GOP congress members will vote to retain portions of the law. (The Hill)

• The U.S. Senate votes to overturn an Environmental Protection Act rule that curbs emissions of the seven most hazardous air pollutants from heavy industry, marking the first time Congress has ever moved to roll back Clean Air Act regulations. (Washington Post)

OFFSHORE WIND

• Dominion Energy says its Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind farm is on track to begin delivering power in 2026, despite tariff-related cost increases and fierce opposition to offshore wind from the Trump administration. (E&E News, Bloomberg)

• U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer encourages Empire Wind’s parent company, Equinor, to sue the Trump administration, saying the government has ​“no basis to suspend it.” (E&E News)

DATA CENTERS

• Elon Musk’s xAI is using 35 gas turbines that lack emissions controls to run a huge data center in Memphis, Tennessee, making it one of the largest emitters of smog-producing nitrogen oxides in an area already considered unhealthy. (E&E News)