Casinos and cannabis: Virginia struggles to replace coal jobs

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Southeast Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

TRANSITION

• Virginia and federal officials have spent tens of millions of dollars supporting projects like a casino, retail cannabis, and data centers to replace lost coal jobs, but most don’t pay anywhere close to what the coal industry did — and Trump’s orders to boost the coal industry can’t restore it to what it was. (New York Times)

• Even after West Virginia lawmakers passed a law to attract data centers, residents of a tourist destination known for its wilderness organize to keep out a proposed project. (Wall Street Journal)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Hyundai’s massive Georgia electric vehicle and battery plant seems likely to become a major hub for EV and robotics manufacturing as the company announces a $21 billion investment to ramp up its activities in the U.S. (WAGA)

OVERSIGHT

• Voter registration closes today for the June primary to elect two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission, which marks the first time elections have been held since 2020 because of lawsuits challenging redistricting and the fairness of the statewide elections for Black voters. (Georgia Recorder)

• North Carolina clean energy advocates express wariness about the confirmation of a new member of the North Carolina Utilities Commission who has shown skepticism about the clean energy transition. (Winston-Salem Journal)

GRID

• A new report finds community opposition has blocked or delayed $64 billion in U.S. data center development, including $900 million in blocks and $45.8 billion in delays in Virginia alone. (Inside Climate News)

• An energy expert warns Texas legislation requiring solar and wind projects to have battery or fossil fuel-fired backup power systems could slow the transition to renewables and threaten the statewide power grid’s stability. (KTBC)

EFFICIENCY

• Louisiana regulators agree to discuss a proposed statewide energy efficiency program during a meeting today after voting to cut the program last month. (KSLA)

SOLAR

• Korean solar company Hanwha Qcells, which has a large factory in Georgia, announces a stability milestone in its efforts to combine traditional silicon photovoltaic technology with perovskite to increase efficiency. (Utility Dive)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Texas officials order an oilfield disposal company to stop injecting wastewater in a part of the state where earthquakes have become increasingly frequent, including a 5.4 magnitude quake earlier this month. (Houston Chronicle)

• Arkansas natural gas royalty owners expect changes when a new state law takes effect in August that alters how royalty payments are calculated. (Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

COMMENTARY

• A former member of the Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors who was fired by Trump calls for Congress to preserve clean energy tax credits and funding to protect investments in grid stability and prevent rising energy bills. (Power, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

• Florida’s Republican leaders should move to protect its jobs and investment in the clean energy economy as the conservative, ​“America First” approach, writes the executive director of Florida Conservatives for Clean Energy. (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

• Louisiana is well-positioned to embrace ​“blue hydrogen” produced from natural gas to diversify its reliance on fossil fuels and petrochemicals if it can overcome challenges with policy, funding, and infrastructure, writes the associate director of The Tulane Energy Institute. (Times-Picayune)

NEW FROM CANARY

• The Interior Department used a mysterious NOAA report to justify its stop-work order on Equinor’s Empire Wind project, which hasn’t been shared publicly or with the developer, Clare Fieseler reports.

• In Decatur, Illinois, clean energy installation training programs and a rise in EV manufacturing are creating jobs and changing lives after years of factory closures, Kari Lydersen reports.

• House Republicans’ budget plans would gut the Inflation Reduction Act while derailing nuclear and geothermal power development, which have explicit Trump administration support, Dan McCarthy reports.