Revolution Wind developers scramble to finish

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OFFSHORE WIND

• A federal judge rules that construction can continue on the Revolution Wind project off Rhode Island after the Trump administration in December issued an order halting work on the development and four others. (Canary Media)

• Following the ruling, Revolution Wind developer Orsted is scrambling to install the project’s final seven turbines before the Trump administration can cause additional delays: ​“We take nothing for granted.” (New York Times)

• New York Gov. Kathy Hochul joins labor unions to rally in opposition to the stop-work order, which halted progress on two wind developments intended to deliver power to the state. (New York Focus)

FEDERAL ACTION

• The Trump administration acted illegally when it canceled $7.6 billion in funding for clean energy projects in 16 states that voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, a judge rules. (Associated Press)

• President Donald Trump’s policies have cost Massachusetts 16,750 clean-energy jobs and $8.6 billion in investments, in large part because of his attacks on offshore wind, a report by senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren finds. (Boston Globe)

• Residents of coal-mining communities feel left behind by a federal budget bill that would redirect $500 million from a fund supporting cleanup of abandoned mines. (Inside Climate News)

CLIMATE

• In New Jersey, a proposed bill that would require fossil fuel companies to pay for damages caused by climate change will not pass this session, though advocates remain hopeful it has a chance next session. (E&E News)

• Aggressive lobbying by Rhode Island’s main utility and business interests has succeeded in preventing most new climate legislation in the state in recent years, researchers from Brown University find. (ecoRI)

NUCLEAR

• New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announces a new goal of building five gigawatts of new nuclear capacity, up from the previous target of one gigawatt. (Syracuse.com)

• Regulators in New York are set to decide whether consumers will have to pay to subsidize four aging nuclear power plants for another 20 years. (Syracuse.com)

SOLAR

• Solar developments approved or under consideration in Maryland’s Carroll County would use about 0.002% of the county’s total farmland, despite opponents’ stated concerns that solar farms will damage agricultural production. (Baltimore Sun)

• More than a dozen states, including several in the Northeast, are considering bills authorizing small solar panel systems that can plug directly into residential outlets. (E&E News)

DATA CENTERS

• In western Pennsylvania, a 4.5-gigawatt natural gas power plant intended to feed energy hungry data centers is planned for the former site of a major coal-fired plant, but locals are wary of possible environmental impacts. (Capital & Main)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Illinois’ booming solar sector entices young job seekers — Kari Lydersen

• Cuts to mobile-home efficiency standards would hit Southeast hardest — Elizabeth Ouzts

• After a white town rejected a data center, developers eyed a Black area — Adam Mahoney

• US carbon emissions rose in 2025 as coal produced more power — Julian Spector

• What a fracking-waste dispute says about Ohio’s energy double standard — Kathiann M. Kowalski

• Trump’s DOJ turns its attention to local gas bans — Alison F. Takemura