May 3, 2025 -

FOSSIL FUELS

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s new CEO says the federal utility is rethinking plans to close its four coal-fired power plants by 2035 even though they’re “well beyond their book life.” (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

A Texas company says it’s developed new methods to treat wastewater from the Permian Basin’s fracking operations so that it can be released into bodies of water and used by farmers. (Texas Tribune)

North Carolina officials prepare for a public hearing on Duke Energy’s plans to build a gas-fired power plant at the site of a coal plant scheduled for closure in 2029. (Courier-Times)

Appalachian Power asks West Virginia regulators to recover fuel costs from keeping high inventories at three coal plants and dealing with oversupply by burning coal even when it’s not economical to do so. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers begins accepting public comment on the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s proposed Southgate extension from Virginia into North Carolina. (VPM)

A Florida city receives a $10 million federal grant to replace 12 miles of gas pipes over the next two years. (Pensacola News Journal)

WIND

Dominion Energy reports construction on its 176-turbine offshore wind farm off the Virginia coast is more than half complete and should begin delivering electricity in 2026 despite Trump’s attacks on offshore wind. (E&E News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Tennessee residents rally in support of Volkswagen employees as the United Auto Workers negotiates with the automaker for a new contract after workers at a Chattanooga-area plant that makes some EVs voted to join the union in 2024. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

EMISSIONS

Elon Musk’s xAI is using 35 gas turbines that lack emissions controls to run a huge data center in Memphis, Tennessee, making it one of the largest emitters of smog-producing nitrogen oxides in an area already considered unhealthy. (E&E News)

GRID

Dominion Energy reports it has 40 GW of data center capacity in various stages of contracting, with no signs of the market slowing in Virginia. (NBC News)

Virginia residents complain about Dominion Energy’s clear-cutting of trees around its power lines along the 45-mile Washington and Old Dominion trail. (WJLA)

UTILITIES

The Southern Company’s profits rose 19% in the first quarter of 2025 because of an increase in retail sales and higher demand for power, although its CEO acknowledges economic uncertainty because of Trump’s shifting tariffs. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Reuters)

The Tennessee Valley Authority reports a 4% increase in electricity sales, largely due to increased demand from data centers, AI, and web hosting services. (WATE)

CLIMATE

The Trump administration releases more than 400 scientists volunteering to work on the National Climate Assessment, undercutting the effort to produce a peer-reviewed scientific study to quantify the effects of climate change. (Houston Chronicle)

Experts warn federal budget cuts could create a ?“blind spot” by closing a program that operates 18 weather buoys that provide real-time ocean and weather data off the coasts of North and South Carolina and Florida. (Wilmington StarNews)

The Trump administration’s cuts to a federal program to protect against climate change have upended plans of communities across the country, including a North Carolina town that hoped an improved stormwater drainage system and secured electrical wires would spark revitalization. (Associated Press, E&E News)

COMMENTARY

Texas leaders should ignore the nuclear power industry’s attempt to obtain up to $2 billion in taxpayer money to fund small modular nuclear reactors because of unanswered questions about cost, safety, and waste disposal, writes the former director of Public Citizen’s Texas office. (Austin American-Statesman)