National Park Service tries to block a solar farm in Kentucky

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Southeast Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

SOLAR

• The National Park Service writes a letter opposing the siting of a 100 MW solar farm near Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky over concerns about whether it would affect an endangered shrimp, although the opposition may be indicative of a broader Trump administration policy shift against solar. (Heatmap)

• North Carolina churches and faith communities move to install solar facilities, but encounter uncertainty over the Trump administration’s push to slash clean energy tax credits. (WRAL)

• Boviet Solar produces the first PV modules at its new solar panel factory in North Carolina. (news release)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Louisiana lawmakers advance a bill to cut the severance tax rate on crude oil extracted from new wells nearly in half and offset the state’s revenue loss by limiting a severance tax exemption for natural gas from horizontally drilled wells. (Times-Picayune)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• A group of Ford investors send a letter calling on the company to address concerns over reports of union-busting at its Kentucky battery plants and a lack of engagement with Black communities near its Tennessee EV factory. (Tennessee Lookout)

• Georgia’s Republican Governor Brian Kemp considers a bill to delay the implementation of a tax on power from EV charging stations, which lawmakers have twice voted to push back. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

GRID

• The Texas grid is expected to face its first test of the warm season with a heat wave forecast to push temperatures into the 90s this week, though state officials say increased solar and battery capacity should keep it running with no problems. (KHOU)

• Energy company Sempra plans to sell off a three-utility conglomerate that provides natural gas in Mexico to help finance new transmission projects in Texas. (Utility Dive)

• Residents of a rural Alabama county express frustration with the lack of information about a proposed $14.5 billion, 4.5-million-square-foot data center after local officials signed a non-disclosure agreement with the developer. (Inside Climate News)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Coastal Virginia officials including a Republican Congress member call to preserve Biden-era clean energy tax credits to protect numerous economic development projects, including a $700 million factory to make high-voltage underwater cables. (WHRO)

STORAGE

• A Virginia county discusses amending its zoning ordinance to permit and regulate battery storage after receiving a query about developing such a facility in an industrial park. (Amherst New Era-Progress)

CARBON CAPTURE

• Louisiana lawmakers advance legislation to earmark 30% of the revenue from carbon capture facilities for local governments when the facility is located on state-owned land, along with three other bills to adjust the balance between landowners and industry that still face opposition. (Plaquemine Post South, The Advocate)

OVERSIGHT

• The Tennessee Valley Authority sues a small Mississippi town with a troubled municipal utility for allegedly violating its contract with TVA to serve its customers and pay its bills. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

• The remaining workers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in West Virginia are told they’ll lose their jobs by July, prompting concerns about detrimental effects on coal miner safety and the potential for a mine disaster. (WV Metro News)

CLIMATE

• Southeast Texas braces for a busy hurricane season as the Trump administration fires the interim head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and cuts agencies tasked with addressing climate and weather. (Houston Chronicle)