Today’s headlines: The environmental injustice of Venezuelan oil, plus hydropower in crisis

This roundup of U.S. energy news headlines is part of our Canary Media Daily newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

OIL & GAS

• President Donald Trump says Venezuela will be ​“turning over” as much as 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S., which will sell the fuel to ​“benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States.” (Politico)

• Residents of the Gulf Coast worry Venezuelan oil brought to the U.S. would be refined largely in Black communities, worsening existing environmental justice issues in those neighborhoods. (Capital B)

HYDROPOWER

• Satellite surveys show many hydropower dams across the U.S. are slowly sinking, putting surrounding people and properties at risk. (Washington Post)

OFFSHORE WIND

• The attorneys general of Connecticut and Rhode Island join the developer of Revolution Wind in asking courts to lift the Trump administration’s stop-work order on the nearly completed project. (CT Mirror)

• All five offshore wind projects halted by the Trump administration for ​“national security” reasons worked with the Pentagon during their initial approval process to ensure the developments addressed any possible concerns. (E&E News)

NUCLEAR

• Commonwealth Fusion Systems partners with Siemens and Nvidia to create a ​“digital twin” of its fusion demonstration project to bolster testing. (Axios)

• Holtec delays its anticipated restart of a shuttered Michigan nuclear plant by about four months. (E&E News)

TRANSMISSION

• The controversial and long-awaited New England Clean Energy Connect transmission line, which will carry hydropower from Quebec into New England, is on the verge of launching commercial operations. (Boston Herald)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Industry analysts predict a sluggish year ahead for EV sales and production, though customer loyalty and a few exciting new models could produce bright spots. (E&E News)

• Battery maker LG Energy Solution agrees to sell its stake in an Ohio EV battery plant to its joint-venture partner Honda for $2.85 billion. (Utility Dive)

SOLAR

• A subsidiary of the Israel-based Nofar Energy moves to acquire the nearly 1-GW portfolio of North Carolina solar company Pine Gate Renewables after it filed for bankruptcy in November. (Asheville Citizen-Times)

• HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, Inc. announces it’ll invest $500 million in a new joint venture with Sunrun that will finance 300 MW of new solar and storage capacity. (PV Magazine)

NEW FROM CANARY

• ‘Win by time’: How Poland is preparing for the death of coal — Alexander C. Kaufman

• 7 numbers that explain why the future of buildings is all-electric — Alison F. Takemura

• PJM needs flexible data centers. Here’s a blueprint. — Jeff St. John