EPA coal ash deal could affect Southeast states

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

FOSSIL FUELS

• The Trump administration awards North Dakota preliminary approval to regulate coal ash at the state instead of the federal level — a decision with potential implications for Alabama and West Virginia’s efforts to establish state primary over coal ash regulation as well. (Canary Media)

• Forecasters project U.S. oil production will fall next year due to more supply from OPEC+ and a corresponding drop by shale producers, but the decrease will be offset somewhat by higher offshore production in the Gulf of Mexico. (Houston Chronicle, Bloomberg)

• The U.S. Supreme Court announces it will hear an appeal from oil and gas companies of a 2024 decision by a federal appeals court to keep a lawsuit seeking compensation for coastal land loss and environmental degradation in Louisiana in state court, in which a jury ordered Chevron to pay more than $740 million. (Associated Press)

OVERSIGHT

• Georgia residents across the state vote on seven candidates running for two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission, with implications for Georgia Power’s expected request to increase rates to pay for Hurricane Helene cleanup and rising fuel costs. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Recorder)

• A U.S. Senate committee advances a version of Trump’s ​“big beautiful bill” that retains a phase-out of solar and wind energy tax credits by 2028, but extends the incentive to 2036 for hydropower, nuclear, and geothermal energy. (Reuters, New York Times)

RENEWABLES

• Georgia Power loses its five-year court battle to prevent Nestlé Purina from sourcing power from a Georgia electric cooperative because it wanted 100% renewable energy to power a pet food manufacturing facility, and determined Georgia Power’s offerings were not ​“viable.” (Energy and Policy Institute)

SOLAR

• A Georgia county board considers a proposed 39-acre solar farm that would sell power to Georgia Power after county planners recommend against it. (Augusta Chronicle)

GRID

• CenterPoint Energy reaches a settlement with cities in the Houston metro area to spend $3.2 billion to install more storm-resilient utility poles, bury more power lines, and fortify the grid. (Houston Chronicle)

• Analysts eye Texas’ standalone grid and its connect-and-manage interconnection process as a model to add new generation more quickly, but some warn other markets need more price and reliability certainty. (Utility Dive)

UTILITIES

• Entergy prepares to transfer 109,000 customers in New Orleans to Delta Utilities once Delta completes the $285 million purchase of Entergy’s local gas infrastructure. (Times-Picayune, Verite News)

NUCLEAR

• Kentucky regulators open a case, as directed by state lawmakers, to discuss concerns and opportunities to develop more nuclear energy in the state. (Northern Kentucky Tribune)

HYDROGEN

• Georgia Power announces it’s successfully completed a test with Mitsubishi Power to blend 50% hydrogen with natural gas to produce a 22% reduction in greenhouse gases at a gas-fired power plant. (news release)

EMISSIONS

• Environmentalists and health advocates push back against a company’s plans to quadruple its ammonia-production capacity in Louisiana, including at a plant that already releases more point-source air pollution than any other industrial plant in the country. (The Lens)

CLIMATE

• Flash flooding in West Virginia killed six people, with three still missing and more than 40 rescued from the water since the weekend. (West Virginia Watch)

• San Antonio, Texas, announces plans to investigate flooding that killed 13 people last week. (KSAT)

COMMENTARY

• Congress’ consideration of cutting clean energy tax credits in a budget bill would raise energy costs, increase pollution, and threaten $603 million in clean energy and transportation investments in Florida, writes a climate activist. (The Invading Sea)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Anti-wind activists say they’re looking to build on the implosion of a Maine floating wind project as they push the Trump administration to revoke a grant for a similar project in northern California , Clare Fieseler reports.