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Mobile homes face efficiency rollback

By Mason Adams

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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.

EFFICIENCY

  • The Southeast will be disproportionately affected by congressional legislation to roll back efficiency standards setting criteria for insulation, air sealing, and other energy-saving features in mobile homes. (Canary Media)

  • Memphis, Tennessee, receives a $500,000 grant from the Tennessee Valley Authority to support a program to provide targeted home repairs to low- and moderate-income residents to reduce energy costs and improve housing conditions. (WREG)

DATA CENTERS

  • Developers choose a predominantly Black community in South Carolina for a proposed data center complex after failing to win approval to build in a largely white Georgia community, demonstrating how Black neighborhoods are routinely targeted for such development. (Capital B)

  • Texas residents try to block a proposed, 2,000-acre data center and power plant. (KXAS)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

  • The National Labor Relations Board rules that workers at the BlueOval SK battery manufacturing plant in Kentucky won a hotly contested union election last year, which may give them more ability to negotiate the plant’s planned closure and conversion to making grid batteries under Ford’s sole ownership. (WKU Public Radio, Kentucky Lantern)

  • A Richmond, Virginia-based EV dealer plans to open its first out-of-town dealerships in Northern Virginia and Charlotte, North Carolina. (Richmond BizSense)

WIND

  • A federal judge grants Revolution Wind’s request for an injunction against the Trump administration’s construction freeze, leading analysts to predict a similar outcome for Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. (Canary Media, Utility Dive)

  • The first hearing in Dominion Energy’s suit against the Trump administration in its efforts to restart construction of its offshore wind farm will take place in Norfolk, Virginia, on Friday. (WHRO)

FOSSIL FUELS

  • Unnamed sources report Exxon Mobil is preparing a Louisiana refinery to process Venezuelan crude oil, though President Trump has threatened to block the company from investing in Venezuela. (Reuters, Houston Chronicle)

  • Lawyers for Chevron, Texaco, and Exxon Mobil argue before the U.S. Supreme Court that localities’ lawsuits against oil companies over climate change and rising seas should be heard in federal and not state courts after a jury awarded two Louisiana parish governments $744.6 million in damages from Chevron. (Inside Climate News)

  • Appalachian advocacy groups criticize Congress for passing a bill to claw back $500 million of the $11 billion that was approved in 2021 to reclaim land and waterways damaged by abandoned coal mines. (Inside Climate News)

PIPELINES

  • Virginia regulators award a water permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s proposed Southgate spur into North Carolina. (WDBJ)

SOLAR

  • Rivulet Energy opens a 450 MW solar panel factory in Georgia, not far from Qcells’ much larger 3.3 GW solar plant. (Solar Power World)

  • Records show members of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration helped a Republican state senator who wanted to build a solar farm on his property but encountered regulatory obstacles due to an easement. (Virginia Mercury)

  • Toyota signs a power purchase agreement to buy energy from Lightsource’s 231 MW solar farm in Texas. (Renewables Now)

OVERSIGHT

  • Environmental groups press the Georgia Public Service Commission to reconsider its decision to approve Georgia Power’s plans to build nearly 10 GW of new gas-burning power plants, battery storage systems, and some solar, arguing the approval was made without data to show all of the new power plants are needed. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

  • Four new members join the Tennessee Valley Authority board, restoring its ability to make crucial decisions after Trump fired several directors and left it without a quorum for nine months. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

EMISSIONS

  • A new report finds U.S. greenhouse gas emissions grew by 2.4% in 2025 after two years of decline, largely because utilities burned 13% more coal and because homeowners and businesses used more natural gas and heating oil to deal with colder weather. (Canary Media, WHBQ)

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