How black lung returned to Appalachia

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MINING

• The ​“old man’s disease” of black lung has been affecting younger miners at rates not seen since the 1970s, and advocates worry Trump’s attempt to revitalize the mining industry could exacerbate the problem. (New York Times)

• Twin Pines Minerals sells a Georgia property near the Okefenokee Swamp to the nonprofit Conservation Fund, ending a years-long debate over Twin Pines’ plan to build a proposed titanium mine on the site. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Associated Press)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Texas regulators vote to suspend the permit of a Houston-area company to inject oil and gas wastewater in a part of the state that’s been repeatedly wracked by earthquakes. (Houston Chronicle)

• Texas lawmakers pass a suite of bills to crack down on oil field thefts in the Permian Basin. (Texas Tribune)

• Senate Republicans add new tax breaks and subsidies for the oil and gas industry in their version of Trump’s ​“one big beautiful bill,” including a provision to boost carbon capture projects like one that Occidental Petroleum is building in Texas. (Washington Post)

SOLAR

• Eight previously approved Virginia solar projects ranging from 3 MW to 150 MW move toward development, while developers for two more withdraw their applications due to Dominion Energy requirements. (Farmville Herald)

• A Virginia city approves new noise and setback requirements for solar farms after complaints from residents. (WHRO)

• Solar company Vesper Energy agrees to a new siting agreement to pay a Virginia county $1 million when it begins operations and $100,000 to $200,000 annually thereafter as it receives an extension on the permit for its 200 MW solar farm. (Danville Register & Bee)

GRID

• CenterPoint Energy announces it will deploy 15 large mobile generators to San Antonio, Texas, to reduce the risk of power shortfalls. (Utility Dive)

• A report finds historically uneventful shoulder seasons could present reliability challenges to grid operators because of aging infrastructure and weather events that could cause a growing number of load-shedding events that result in outages across Texas and the Southeast. (Utility Dive)

• Residents of a rural Virginia county successfully fought a developer’s efforts to build a 3,500 MW gas-fired power plant and 84 warehouse-sized data centers, providing a potential blueprint for other communities. (Daily Yonder)

NUCLEAR

• The U.S. Supreme Court restarts plans to temporarily store nuclear waste at sites in rural Texas and New Mexico, although Texas leaders say they’re still considering laws around such projects. (Texas Tribune)

• The Tennessee Valley Authority will implode two stacks at a coal-fired power plant in Tennessee as it makes way for a nuclear fusion reactor prototype. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

• A Virginia partnership considers bringing together businesses and universities to develop a nuclear energy research facility that would include a micro-scale reactor. (Cardinal News)

STEEL

• An Arkansas steelmaking plant uses a 186,000-panel solar array and 160 MW battery storage system to produce rebar using 100% renewable energy. (Arkansas Business)

COMMENTARY

• The rollback of solar tax incentives in congressional Republicans’ so-called Big Beautiful Bill will devastate Florida’s booming solar industry, writes the co-founder and chief strategy officer of a clean energy finance platform. (South Florida Sun Sentinel)

• Florida should ensure regulators, utilities, and private-sector leaders attract the data center industry and revenue that comes with it, writes the executive director of an economic development department in Virginia’s ​“Data Center Alley.” (Tallahassee Democrat)

NEW FROM CANARY

• The Senate’s version of the ​“Big, Beautiful Bill” is a little gentler on clean energy, containing positives for battery storage, but still will gut hydrogen, EV, and home electrification incentives, Kathryn Krawczyk reports.

• Colorado landscapers are making the transition to electric lawn equipment after new state regulations went into effect this month, Alison F. Takemura reports.

• Minnesota removed its community solar program from a recently passed energy omnibus bill, saving it from a repeal that likely would’ve stymied 500 MW of planned projects, Alison F. Takemura reports.