Trump will keep mine safety offices open

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

OVERSIGHT

• The Trump administration reverses plans to terminate leases for 34 Mine Safety and Health Administration offices that were targeted for closure by the Department of Government Efficiency, including seven in Kentucky alone. (Associated Press)

• Still, the Trump administration’s pause on enforcement of a rule to protect coal miners from an aggressive form of black lung disease remains in place. (KFF Health News)

• A Democrat who was disqualified from running for a seat on Georgia’s utility regulatory board because he hasn’t lived in the district long enough is appealing the decision and will remain on the ballot for now. (Associated Press)

• The Trump administration names the longtime president of Alabama’s top utility regulator as its state director for rural development as she touts her support for fossil fuels and experience fighting ​“misguided liberal mandates and burdensome energy policies.” (Inside Climate News)

RENEWABLES

• A Texas legislative package that looked to limit renewables construction and ramp up new gas plants misses a key deadline for passage, effectively killing the bills. (The Hill, PV Magazine)

SOLAR

• The U.S. Energy Department cancels most of its $3 billion partial loan guarantee with troubled Houston-based rooftop solar company Sunnova Energy, essentially killing the company’s program to make solar adoption more affordable. (Houston Chronicle)

• Solar advocates worry cuts in Trump’s ​“big beautiful bill” could undermine Florida’s rapid solar growth and result in the closure or cancellation of 331 factories across the U.S., including 51 in Texas. (WTVT, San Antonio Express-News)

• A study by the University of Arkansas finds utility-scale solar facilities occupy about 0.2% of farmland in the state. (Magnolia Banner-News)

• An Oklahoma county board considers NextEra Energy’s proposal to build a 241 MW solar farm. (KOTV)

WIND

• Louisiana’s Port Fourchon — which leases waterfront land to companies that supply offshore oil rigs — wants to build a $200 million deepwater port south of its existing site to serve as a hub for the emerging offshore wind industry. (Times-Picayune)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Chevron plans to lay off 200 workers at three Permian Basin facilities in Texas. (Reuters)

• A federal court dismisses a lawsuit after signing off on a $6.5 settlement between West Virginia landowners, natural gas well owner Diversified Energy Co., and gas producer EQT Corp that will require Diversified to accelerate its cleanup of unplugged wells. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

GRID

• Steelmaker Cleveland Cliffs’ cancellation of a planned electrical distribution transformer plant in West Virginia spotlights ongoing challenges in the U.S. commercial electrical equipment supply chain. (Utility Dive)

• West Virginia regulators order Appalachian Power, Wheeling Power, and Monongahela Power to explain how they interact with the PJM grid because of a new law requiring an evaluation of each PJM capacity auction. (WOWK)

• A report finds West Virginia customers will pay more than $440 million for the construction of two transmission lines that will cut through part of the state to support data center development in neighboring Virginia. (Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis)

BIOFUEL

• Virginia Natural Gas will partner with the Hampton Roads Sanitation District to invest $30 million to build a renewable natural gas project at a sewage plant in coastal Virginia. (WHRO)

HYDROPOWER

• The Tennessee Valley Authority seeks public input on its plans to build a pumped-storage hydro facility in Alabama. (WHNT)

CLIMATE

• Charlotte, North Carolina’s city council votes unanimously to adopt new climate goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 72% by 2035 and reach net-zero by 2050. (WFAE)

COMMENTARY

• Louisiana regulators should encourage grid upgrades and expand consumer access to energy producers via interstate transmission to avoid load shed events that have twice resulted in major outages this spring, writes the executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy. (Times-Picayune)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Residents of an affordable housing complex in Sacramento, California, are seeing both financial and climate benefits after the neighborhood made energy efficient upgrades and replaced gas appliances with electric. Alison F. Takemura reports.

• New steelmaking and ironmaking capacity coming to the U.S. is all expected to use cleaner technologies that will reduce the industry’s emissions impact, but many steelmakers still rely on coal-fired blast furnaces. Dan McCarthy reports.