Today’s headlines: Endangerment finding lawsuits begin, AI comments sunk a gas ban, and more

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.

POLITICS

• Energy Secretary Chris Wright threatens to withdraw the U.S. from the International Energy Agency if it continues to measure global emissions progress against Paris Agreement goals. (Reuters)

EMISSIONS

• Health and environmental advocacy groups sue the EPA over its rollback of the endangerment finding. (The Guardian)

• The EPA’s own analysis suggests the endangerment finding reversal could cost the U.S. $1.5 trillion through 2055 due to increased fuel purchases, vehicle maintenance, and other impacts, overshadowing its estimated $1.3 trillion in savings. (The Guardian)

• The Trump administration’s repeal of the endangerment finding and associated emissions rules poses problems for the competitiveness of U.S. automakers, and raises the question of whether states can fill the void by setting their own tailpipe emissions standards. (Politico, New York Times)

ELECTRIFICATION

• An analysis finds more than 20,000 AI-generated comments may have helped defeat a proposal to phase out and levy a surcharge on gas-powered appliances in southern California last year. (Los Angeles Times)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Thermal imaging reveals xAI is continuing to fuel its data centers with unpermitted gas turbines, including at a Mississippi facility, despite the U.S. EPA’s disapproval. (Floodlight/​Guardian)

CLIMATE

• New York climate advocates say a report underpinning an effort to suspend the state’s decarbonization mandate is flawed, and doesn’t take the addition of new clean energy projects into account when warning of potential power shortfalls. (Gothamist)

OVERSIGHT

• South Carolina lawmakers move to restrict state energy regulators because of concerns about ​“unelected bureaucrats” hampering economic growth — part of a nationwide push by conservative state lawmakers to remove controls on business, work places, and the environment. (New York Times)

GRID

• The PJM Interconnection board approves $11.8 billion in transmission projects, with Virginia’s Dominion Energy set to build $4.8 billion of them. (Utility Dive)

DATA CENTERS

• Residents of Virginia’s ​“Data Center Alley” are pushing to restrain data center development, but have been blocked by local officials who’ve received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the industry. (Politico)

• The North American Electric Reliability Corp. will release a report next month that will warn of data centers’ risks to grid reliability and propose regulatory solutions. (E&E News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Uber says it will offer incentives for companies to build EV chargers in the U.S. and Europe, and guarantee those chargers are used for a minimum amount of time. (New York Times)