NAACP calls for xAI shutdown in Memphis

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GRID

• Tennessee NAACP branches call for the immediate shutdown of Elon Musk’s xAI’s facilities in Memphis because of its negative effects on public health and air quality, while the city’s municipal utility responds that it can’t deny service to anyone. (Commercial Appeal)

• EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin meets with xAI officials as the artificial intelligence company seeks Clean Air Act permits to run a fleet of methane turbines that are already operating in Memphis. (E&E News)

• Texas utilities turn to mergers and acquisitions to expand their fleets of gas-fired power plants in the race to add new generation to accommodate data centers and rising demand. (E&E News)

• Affordable energy advocates call on the New Orleans city council to prioritize transmission infrastructure to avoid forced outages such as those that resulted last month when a regional grid operator ordered utilities to shut down 600 MW of power. (WVUE)

RENEWABLES

• A package of bills to limit renewable energy production in Texas formally dies, after an unlikely coalition of renewables advocates, manufacturers, and oil and gas companies lobbied against the legislation. (Financial Times)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Electric vehicle advocates worry cuts to federal EV tax credits in Trump’s ​“big beautiful bill” could hurt Tennessee’s three EV plants and numerous battery plants under construction, which represent more than 16,300 jobs and $17.6 billion in investments. (WKRN)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Core Natural Resources notifies 200 West Virginia miners they’ll be laid off in August as it plans to idle a mine and prep plant due to ​“weaker than expected market conditions.” (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration concludes the Gulf Coast oil and gas industry likely threatens the survival of the endangered Rice’s whale, prompting pushback from environmentalists and the oil industry. (Houston Chronicle)

• Texas drilling permits fell in April to their lowest level since 2021 in response to a 17% drop in oil prices this year. (Houston Chronicle)

SOLAR

• An Arkansas steelmaking facility begins production of rebar, with plans to complete a 150 MW solar project by fall to power its factory. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

• DEMCO and NextEra Energy launch operations at a 100 MW solar farm in Louisiana. (news release)

• FirstEnergy subsidiaries Mon Power and Potomac Edison begin operation at a 5.75 MW solar farm in West Virginia, their third in the state. (news release)

HYDROGEN

• The Trump administration cuts $3.7 billion in federal funding for clean energy and recycling projects, including hundreds of millions for Exxon Mobil’s clean hydrogen complex, Calpine’s carbon storage project, and Eastman Chemical’s plastic recycling project, all in Texas. (Houston Chronicle)

• Texas officials approve a tax break zone for Chevron’s gas-powered hydrogen production plant, which is part of the Gulf Coast hydrogen hub. (Houston Chronicle)

EMISSIONS

• A new report identifies a western Virginia paper mill as the top-polluting paper mill in the U.S., and finds it emitted more than 2.5 times as much greenhouse gases as it reported due to a U.S. EPA loophole for emissions from the burning of wood and its byproducts. (Virginia Mercury)

CLIMATE

• The federal government enters hurricane season in chaos as Trump’s cuts have eroded its weather forecasting and warning system while his musings about eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency have created uncertainty about disaster response. (E&E News)

• Florida’s insurance market enters hurricane season with the industry showing a profit for the first time in eight years after legislative changes limiting lawsuits against insurers. (Sarasota Herald-Tribune)

• Some North Carolina residents still haven’t been able to find housing since Hurricane Helene damaged or destroyed more than 100,000 homes in an area already experiencing housing shortages and rising costs. (NPR)

COMMENTARY

• Florida must continue to strengthen its grid against extreme storms and cyberattacks while encouraging private-sector investment and protecting taxpayers, writes the CEO of nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog Florida TaxWatch. (Tampa Bay Times)

NEW FROM CANARY

• President Trump celebrates the planned acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel, but the terms of the deal are still opaque, and could extend the life of existing dirty, coal-fired blast furnaces, Alexander C. Kaufman reports.

• A recently passed Ohio law forbids settlements in the closure of ​“base load” power plants, like one that advocates say pushed utility American Electric Power to speed up its closure of six coal plants a decade ago, Kathiann M. Kowalski reports.