Tax credits throttled

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.

NUCLEAR

• Google and nuclear reactor company Kairos sign a first-of-its-kind power purchase agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority. (Latitude Media)

COURTS

• A group of 19 states and Washington, D.C., sues the U.S. Department of Energy, challenging a rule that puts a cap on the amount of grant money state-run clean energy and energy efficiency programs can use for ​“indirect” administrative and staffing costs. (E&E News)

• In a new lawsuit, environmental groups allege the Trump administration handpicked five climate change skeptics to write the report underpinning the plan to repeal the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. (New York Times)

STORAGE

• Minnesota regulators approve the state’s first standalone battery storage installation, a 150 MW project meant to store wind and solar power to be released during high demand periods. (MPR News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Republican U.S. senators move to strip federal funding for the U.S. Postal Service’s transition to an EV fleet to save taxpayer money, though industry observers say the move would have the opposite effect. (Associated Press)

UTILITIES

• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announces an investigation into several utility companies whose power lines were blamed for 2024 wildfires that burned more than 1 million acres. (KFDA)

POLITICS

• Republican lawmakers who voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which included subsidies for fossil fuel development, have accepted more than $105 million in fossil fuel industry donations. (The Guardian)

• Senate Democrats argue that the EPA’s rollback of Solar for All funding is illegal in a letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. (E&E News)

CARBON CAPTURE

• The Trump administration offers a disjointed approach to carbon capture, boosting tax incentives for the industry under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act while withdrawing federal grants for carbon capture and other decarbonization projects. (E&E News)

OFFSHORE WIND

• New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte signs a law removing the development of ​“speculative and intrusive offshore wind projects” from the mission of the state energy innovation office. (NHPR)

FOSSIL FUELS

• U.S. officials reportedly considered asking to use Russian icebreakers to support Alaskan gas development ahead of this weekend’s summit. (Reuters)

• Several historically Black neighborhoods in Chesapeake, Virginia, turn to state officials to express safety, air pollution, and noise concerns about Virginia Natural Gas’ plans to build a compressor station after the city council approved the project. (WHRO)

EFFICIENCY

• RMI expects heat pumps to continue outselling gas furnaces even as the One Big Beautiful Bill ends federal incentives for energy-efficient upgrades. (Utility Dive)

COMMENTARY

• Two former FERC commissioners call for accelerating transmission construction to boost grid capacity in the long term, while also instituting grid-enhancing technologies to address immediate needs. (Utility Dive)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• Trump admin tightens vise on wind and solar with new tax rules — Jeff St. John

• Deadly blast at US Steel plant highlights need to clean up the industry — Maria Gallucci

• A universal adapter for solar, batteries, EVs, and microgrids is here — Jeff St. John

• As hurricane season returns, Puerto Rico’s grid still struggles — Kathryn Krawczyk