Could coal mine wastewater power clean energy?

COAL: West Virginia University researchers extract rare earth elements and other valuable metals from groundwater flowing from old coal mines, potentially providing materials for clean energy technology while cleaning up poisonous mine drainage. (Associated Press)

ALSO:

• Celebrity motivational speaker Tony Robbins is financially backing a plan to turn coal into clean-burning hydrogen with no greenhouse gas emissions at the site of a former West Virginia coal plant, although critics express skepticism. (Wall Street Journal, subscription; WV Metro News)
• A Virginia economic development group wants to attract more data centers to the state’s coalfields, in hopes the sector would spur the construction of more clean power generation. (Virginia Mercury)
• Residents in southern West Virginia worry about the sulfuric, rotten-egg smell of their water that’s likely linked to a nearby coal mine. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)
• The U.S. House advances legislation that contains a provision to block funding for a new federal rule to protect coal miners from silica dust, which is a contributor to a new wave of black lung cases. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

UTILITIES: A NextEra investor used access to internal records to file a lawsuit claiming the utility lied about political activities aimed at boosting its profits and controlling the shift to clean energy. (Floodlight)

GRID:

• More than 200,000 Houston residents still don’t have power a week after Hurricane Beryl made landfall, leading to mounting criticism against utility CenterPoint Energy. (Texas Tribune, Associated Press)
• Houston officials plead with CenterPoint Energy to restore power to ​“life safety critical infrastructure” after Hurricane Beryl caused massive outages last week. (Houston Chronicle)
• CenterPoint Energy’s request last year for $100 million in federal funding to harden its electric poles and wires was rejected by the U.S. Energy Department, and now the utility says its outages are ​“largely related to” that same infrastructure. (E&E News)

OIL & GAS: Hurricane Beryl wiped out power at multiple refineries and petrochemical plants on the Gulf Coast, resulting in toxic flaring across the region. (TruthOut)

SOLAR: A nearly 75 MW solar farm begins operating in Florida. (WTXL)

STORAGE: Texas has become the hottest grid battery market in the U.S. as data shows installers added nearly 1.3 GW of battery storage across the country in the first quarter of 2024, the sector’s best-ever start to a year. (Canary Media)

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: An organizer at the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice discusses the fight for environmental justice since the U.S. EPA dropped its investigation of whether Louisiana engaged in racial discrimination by approving so many petrochemical plants near Black neighborhoods in ​“Cancer Alley.” (Living on Earth)

CRYPTOCURRENCY: Bitcoin mining operations increasingly frustrate Texans with their noise, their heavy use of power from an already stretched electric grid and even health issues experienced by those living near them. (Houston Chronicle)

COMMENTARY: Florida regulators should closely scrutinize Duke Energy and Tampa Electric’s requests for rate hikes and their use of minimum fees to discourage the adoption of rooftop solar, write two solar advocates. (Tampa Bay Times)