Clean energy journalism for a cooler tomorrow

Southeast Energy News — a daily newsletter

Gulf Coast braces for Venezuelan oil

By Mason Adams

  • Link copied to clipboard

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

OIL & GAS

  • President Trump is leaning on the largely Texas-based oil industry to fix Venezuela’s ​“broken” petroleum industry, but experts remain unconvinced that companies will benefit given the state of Venezuela’s neglected oil fields and the U.S.’s history of regime change in other countries. (Houston Chronicle, Texas Tribune, Politico)

  • Residents of the Gulf Coast worry Venezuelan oil brought to the U.S. would be refined largely in Black communities, worsening existing environmental justice issues in those neighborhoods. (Capital B)

  • Falling oil prices, tariffs, market consolidation, geopolitical tension, and rising production costs hit the Texas oil and gas industry hard, triggering a wave of layoffs in 2025 that a recent analysis suggests will continue. (Houston Chronicle)

  • Texas aims to facilitate the construction or expansion of 41 petrochemical plants that will dramatically expand greenhouse-gas emissions, mostly in majority-minority neighborhoods. (Public Health Watch)

  • Federal pipeline regulators issue a record $9.6 million fine against Houston-based Third Coast for leaking 1.1 million gallons of oil off the Louisiana Gulf Coast in 2023, which the company likely won’t have trouble paying after it secured a nearly $1 billion loan. (Associated Press)

  • Texas-based Vistra Corp. announces the $4 billion acquisition of Cogentrix Energy and its 10 gas generation facilities totaling 5,500 MW in New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and Texas. (Dallas Innovates, Utility Dive)

NUCLEAR

  • Texas startup Fermi America aims to develop the world’s largest private power grid and an AI campus, but success hinges on its still-questionable ability to build nuclear reactors on time and on budget. (Politico)

WIND

  • Republican U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia calls the Trump administration’s ​“pause” on construction of five offshore wind farms ​“terrible” timing because it’s disrupting negotiations on permitting reform. (E&E News)

SOLAR

  • A subsidiary of the Israel-based Nofar Energy moves to acquire the nearly 1 GW portfolio of North Carolina solar company Pine Gate Renewables after it filed for bankruptcy in November. (Asheville Citizen-Times)

  • Florida solar installers worked hard up until the end of 2025 to handle a crush of orders before the 30% federal tax credit ended. (Tampa Bay Times)

  • A Virginia county board narrowly votes to deny Dominion Energy a permit to build a solar farm. (WDBJ)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

DATA CENTERS

  • A new report suggests regional grid operator PJM Interconnection should implement flexible interconnection to allow data centers to supply their own power during times when the grid is maxed out, allowing them to connect to the grid faster while avoiding related price spikes. (Canary Media)

  • PJM plans to release a new estimate this month of future electricity demand from data centers and other large users, which could provide a reality check on soaring projections from developers and utilities. (E&E News)

  • Texas’ grid operator reports a rapid spike in large load interconnection requests from data centers, which make up more than 70% of the state’s 233 GW of such requests. (Utility Dive)

  • The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality adopts new rules allowing data centers to run emergency diesel generators if they receive notice they’ll lose power due to transmission line repairs. (Prince William Times)

COAL

  • A Tennessee woman advocates to boost awareness about coal ash after her father died from emphysema that appears to be connected to his work cleaning up the 2008 Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash spill. (WZDX)

  • Republican Congress member Andy Barr of Kentucky touts legislation to provide regulatory risk insurance and expedited permitting for coal-fired power plants. (Harlan Enterprise)

OVERSIGHT

  • The Georgia Public Service Commission meets for the first time since Democrats flipped two seats in long-delayed elections for the state regulatory board. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

  • Congress fails to approve the nomination of former Tennessee car dealer Lee Beaman to the Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors by the end of the congressional session, meaning Trump will need to renominate him or another individual. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

AFFORDABILITY

  • West Virginia residents delay car repairs, sell their possessions, and take other measures to be able to pay for power bills that increased nearly 34% between 2019 and 2024. (Mountain State Spotlight)

  • Norfolk, Virginia, looks to grow its utility financial assistance program by partnering with a state lawmaker to expand the program’s eligibility to renters with all-inclusive rent payments. (Virginian-Pilot)

COMMENTARY

  • Kentucky Power’s rising power rates and failure to boost the aging grid are hurting Eastern Kentucky’s efforts to attract residents and economic development, write a pair of residents. (Kentucky Lantern)

NEW FROM CANARY

read next