Trump’s attacks on state climate laws likely unconstitutional

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FEDERAL ACTION

• President Trump’s order targeting state climate laws in New York, Vermont, and elsewhere is almost certainly unconstitutional, say legal scholars and environmental experts, but could slow state clean energy action nonetheless. (Grist)

GRID

• The country’s largest grid operator PJM teams up with Google and the tech giant’s grid innovation arm Tapestry on a plan to use AI to speed reviews of projects applying to connect to the grid. (E&E News)

• A utility planning a controversial transmission line through three Maryland counties might take to the courts as it faces unhappy landowners who won’t allow surveyors to access their property. (WBAL)

GENERATION

• Baltimore-based Constellation Energy defends itself against claims by consumer advocates that its planned acquisition of energy giant Calpine would give it too much influence over power markets. (Reuters)

RENEWABLES

• Maryland ends subsidies for waste-to-energy incinerators, which could potentially cause the shutdown of a Baltimore plant that has received $15.5 million in payments between 2020 and 2023. (Waste Dive)

DATA CENTERS

• Liberty Energy, founded by now-Energy Secretary Chris Wright, will provide gas-fired power generation to a planned data center site near Pittsburgh that could eventually scale to 1 GW of capacity. (Utility Dive)

• A data center that was planned for the site of a former paper mill in Maine has been quietly canceled because it would not have been able to access enough power. (Bangor Daily News)

CLIMATE

• Burlington, Vermont, launches an updated climate plan that includes a residential battery storage pilot, bill credits for households with heat pumps, and rebates on purchases of battery-powered lawnmowers, induction stoves, and other electric equipment. (NBC5)

SOLAR

• Some community solar customers in Maine are subscribed for far more power than they can use, leading to excessive monthly bills, a news investigation finds. (WMTW)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• An e-bike sharing network in western Massachusetts receives a $990,000 state grant that will allow it to expand access to the system. (MassLive)

NEW FROM CANARY MEDIA

• President Trump’s coal executive order includes a plan to give the U.S. Energy Department the authority to force any power plant to stay open, Jeff St. John reports.

• Home battery startup Base Power secures another $200 million from investors as it starts building a U.S. factory and looks to sell outside of Texas, Julian Spector reports.

• Kathiann M. Kowalski rounds up the latest from Ohio’s power plant bailout scandal, including how it will impact FirstEnergy’s ongoing rate case.