Interior pauses new renewables on public lands

RENEWABLES: The U.S. Interior Department institutes a 60-day pause on approvals for leases, rights of way, and contracts for clean energy projects on public land and waters. (The Hill)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Congressional Republicans look to impose a national fee on electric vehicles, which advocates fear will be punitively high and discourage EV adoption. (New York Times)
• Michigan clean energy advocates worry President Trump’s executive orders will derail progress on EV manufacturing and cause U.S. automakers to lose ground to China. (MLive, subscription)

GRID:

• Experts say recent safety improvements for grid-scale battery storage systems make another fire like the one at the Moss Landing site in California unlikely. (Canary Media)
• Amazon’s plan to connect a data center directly to a Pennsylvania nuclear plant could pave the way for other such arrangements, which opponents say would raise electricity prices for everyone else. (Associated Press)
• A U.S. Energy Department report says utilities and grid operators must improve the interconnection process to account for a growing number of distributed energy projects in the next five to 10 years. (Utility Dive)
• Tech giants join a national utility regulatory conference as they seek more power for growing data centers and even permissions to build dedicated power generation. (E&E News)

OFFSHORE WIND:

• Maine’s plans to develop a floating offshore wind industry are at a pivotal point, as researchers refine equipment and wait for regulatory approval to sell power generated by a planned test array. (Maine Monitor)
• Clean energy advocates say Trump’s ban on new offshore wind leases won’t directly stop facilities planned along California’s coast, but it could still cripple the industry. (CalMatters)

OVERSIGHT: ​“It’s very bureaucratic and it’s very slow”: During a trip to view damage from Hurricane Helene, President Trump suggests abolishing the Federal Emergency Management Agency and leaving disaster response to states. (Blue Ridge Public Radio, Politico)

SOLAR:

• Federally owned or managed reservoirs could hold enough floating solar panels to power 100 million homes each year, a National Renewable Energy Laboratory study finds. (Canary Media)
• Clean energy advocates’ effort to get a court ruling in favor of third party-owned solar projects in Wisconsin hits a dead end after a case challenging the policy is declared moot. (Energy News Network)

EFFICIENCY: U.S. residents bought 37% more heat pumps than gas furnaces in the first 11 months of last year, marking the electric appliances’ biggest lead over fossil fuel heating yet. (Canary Media)

OIL & GAS: The Navajo Nation files a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s 2023 ban on new federal oil and gas leases around a New Mexico historical site, saying it causes financial hardship. (E&E News, subscription)