Louisiana regulators fast-track gas plant for data centers

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DATA CENTERS

• Louisiana regulators vote to fast-track reviews and permitting for Entergy’s seven proposed gas plants to power Meta’s data center under development in Richland Parish. (Louisiana Radio Network)

• The NAACP files a lawsuit accusing Elon Musk’s data center firm xAI of illegally operating 27 natural gas turbines without an air quality permit at its Southaven, Mississippi, power plant, saying the generators are a major source of nitrogen oxides. (Mississippi Today, Capital B)

• Critics say Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s suggested changes to bills that would shift capacity auction and new infrastructure costs to data centers and other high-load customers weaken the legislation. (Virginia Mercury)

• Nassau County, Florida’s commissioners consider a temporary moratorium on new data centers to allow time to evaluate their potential impacts. (Jacksonville Daily Record)

• Kentucky legislation aimed at ensuring data center-related infrastructure and service costs are borne by developers, not other ratepayers, stalls in the state Senate. (Kentucky Lantern)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Matrix Renewables brings online its 281 MW Stillhouse solar installation in Bell County, Texas. (Renewables Now)

GRID

• Texas grid operator ERCOT says its peak demand could quadruple by 2032 due to increasing loads from data centers, industry, and oil and gas facilities. (Utility Dive)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Environmental groups join a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Trump administration’s rule exempting offshore oil and gas companies drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from Endangered Species Act protections. (Louisiana Illuminator, Inside Climate News)

• Texas watchdogs say state oil and gas regulator Wayne Christian’s involvement in a crypto coin tied to West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices could represent a conflict of interest. (Texas Tribune)

• An oil well owner pleads guilty to illegally dumping produced wastewater into a Lawrence County, Kentucky, stream for about two years, contaminating the waterway and killing aquatic life. (WSAZ)

• The Port of Corpus Christi in Texas reports a 33% year-on-year surge of liquefied natural gas export shipments during the first quarter of 2026. (gasworld)

POLLUTION

• A study finds children living near petrochemical plants in Louisiana have a significantly elevated risk of anemia, learning disabilities, and other health problems. (E&E News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• South Florida transit officials say $96 million worth of electric buses were pulled out of service due to mechanical problems and the manufacturer’s bankruptcy. (Local 10)

OVERSIGHT

• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission fines North Carolina firm American Efficient $1.1 billion for allegedly gaming power markets by claiming credit for fake efficiency resources. (E&E News)

NEW FROM CANARY

• What to know before you get balcony solar — Alison F. Takemura

• China exports a ton of cleantech — and the world is poised to want more — Dan McCarthy

• Federal policy on biofuels goes from bad to worse under Trump — Michael Grunwald

• Big grid batteries are finally on a roll in New England — Julian Spector