Massive, 4 GW nuclear power project proposed for Texas

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.

NUCLEAR

• Fermi America, co-founded by former energy secretary and Texas governor Rick Perry, applies to the federal government to build four 1 GW nuclear reactors and 18 million square feet of data-center buildings in Texas to be known as the ​“Donald J. Trump Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus.” (Washington Post, Reuters)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry touts a new state law defining natural gas as clean energy, which environmentalists say greenwashes a fossil fuel as climate-friendly and is intended to block the transition to renewables. (Associated Press)

• Trump’s U.S. EPA endorses the reuse of chemical-laden wastewater from fracking operations in Texas and New Mexico to relieve drought and water shortages in the region. (E&E News)

• Residents of Apalachicola, Florida, are under a boil-water notice — a symptom of a water crisis that’s growing as a company proposes drilling for oil nearby. (Tampa Bay Times)

SOLAR

• Republicans in Georgia’s state legislature urge the U.S. Senate not to weaken tax credits for solar installations and manufacturing, saying doing so would harm the state’s ​“manufacturing renaissance.” (Axios)

• Solar panel recycling firm Solarcycle postpones the groundbreaking of a second Georgia facility as Congress considers whether to roll back clean energy tax credits and incentives. (WABE)

• German company RWE announces the commissioning of an 86 MW solar farm in Kentucky. (Renewables Now)

• A solar financing company agrees to cancel the contract of a woman who says she was given misleading information by a salesman from another company. (KTRK)

CARBON CAPTURE

• Congress considers whether to roll back tax credits for carbon capture and sequestration, which has been touted as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but so far has been used largely to squeeze out more oil and gas production. (Associated Press)

WIND

• Professors and students from Old Dominion University tour Dominion Energy’s offshore wind farm near Virginia, currently under construction. (news release)

HYDROPOWER

• The Tennessee Valley Authority reworks its plans to repair the 83-year-old Chatuge Dam in Georgia against damage from extreme storms to avoid drawing down water levels during peak tourism months. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

CLIMATE

• After delays and negotiations, North Carolina lawmakers approve a $500 million Tropical Storm Helene recovery package. (Carolina Public Press)

• Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says he may call a special legislative session to address two recent flooding events and a tornado outbreak, but it will likely depend on whether Trump approves federal disaster assistance to state and local governments. (Kentucky Lantern)

• A Texas stormwater expansion project to reduce flooding after Hurricane Harvey now faces a $17.9 million budget shortfall, one of 34 flood bond line items that need more cash to continue. (Houston Chronicle)

COMMENTARY

• Congress is considering rolling back clean energy incentives that could hamper the addition of new generation to the grid even as summer heat waves and new demand from data centers are testing its capacity, writes an editor. (Cardinal News)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Denmark and Djibouti top the list of the 10 countries that rely the most heavily on wind and solar power, Dan McCarthy reports.