Coal ash dangers continue

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.

EMISSIONS

• The U.S. EPA is reportedly drafting a plan to rescind the endangerment finding, which establishes that greenhouse gas emissions harm humans and underpins the agency’s ability to regulate climate pollution from vehicles, power plants, and other sources. (New York Times)

POLITICS

• The U.S. Energy Department faces funding setbacks from the passage of the ​“Big, Beautiful Bill,” but a staffing exodus and administrative gridlock pose even greater threats. (Latitude Media)

• Lobbyists spent a record $3.8 million in the second quarter of the year as they pushed Congress to preserve clean energy tax credits, but saw few results. (E&E News)

• U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum urges congressional Republicans to continue to roll back Biden-era energy regulations and environmental protections for federal lands. (E&E News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• General Motors calls EVs its ​“north star” as Q2 sales rebound from a first quarter slump, and as the company secures the No. 2 U.S. market position behind Tesla. (CNBC)

• The Government Accountability Office says the office overseeing a nationwide EV charging buildout hasn’t set measurable targets and has so far only built 384 ports. (Reuters)

SOLAR

• Bankrupt Texas solar company Sunnova Energy becomes a case study for the U.S. residential solar industry, which has struggled due to consumer complaints and some companies’ misleading sales tactics even as utility-scale solar farms have boomed across the state and nation. (Houston Chronicle)

• Indigenous-led nonprofit Native Renewables continues its effort to bring rooftop solar and battery storage to off-grid Navajo Nation homes even as federal funding is thrown into doubt. (New York Times)

• Data show that California’s solar curtailment rates are declining as energy storage capacity climbs. (PV Magazine)

• Enbridge announces it will invest $900 million to build a 600 MW solar farm in Texas to supply power to Meta data centers. (Reuters)

GRID

• Some 67 million consumers in the territory of grid operator PJM will see even higher prices for electricity as of next June after the region’s capacity auction hit record high prices for a second year in a row. (WHYY)

• A bipartisan group of nine governors asks for the power to nominate candidates to fill seats on grid operator PJM’s board of managers and to provide additional input as they grapple with rising power demand. (Inside Climate News)

OFFSHORE WIND

• Massachusetts officials consider buying power from planned offshore wind developments in Canada as they face a legal mandate to procure 5.6 GW of offshore wind by 2027. (CommonWealth Beacon)

COAL

• Northwest Colorado communities look to revamp their economies to weather the scheduled 2028 closures of two coal plants. (Denver Gazette)