"Microsoft Corp. may shelve one of the industry’s most ambitious clean-energy targets as it tries to remove hurdles that could hold it back in the race to power data centres, according to people with knowledge of the matter."
"The U.S. Geological Survey announced a massive lithium deposit in the Appalachian Mountains, large enough to replace years of imports of the mineral." "While the figure is an official USGS estimate, extracting the mineral poses major technical and environmental challenges."
"The Trump administration is blocking more than 150 onshore wind farms across the United States by delaying military reviews that were once considered routine, according to a leading industry trade group."
"A group of Senate Democrats is demanding that the Trump administration reimpose the sanctions it temporarily lifted on Russian oil to offset rising energy costs amid the Iran war."
"California is investigating one of the Trump administration’s deals to end an offshore wind project."
"Wall Street's top regulator is crafting regulations to undo a dormant Biden-era rule intended to help investors gauge companies' climate-related spending and risks, according to a notice on the U.S. budget office website."
"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has in recent weeks proposed a process for approving microreactors and finalized one for reactors with nontraditional designs."
"The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit on Monday to block Minnesota from moving forward with a long-running lawsuit seeking to hold Exxon Mobil and other oil industry participants responsible for harms caused by climate change."
"North America’s grid watchdog is slated to issue its highest level of warning Monday about threats to the power system from large data centers, underscoring the challenges facing utilities and grid operators grappling with a surge in electricity demand."
Is the United States in the midst of a “nuclear renaissance”? This two-part Issue Backgrounder explores that question, beginning in Part 1 with a look at the government’s part in developing nuclear power, including through subsidies, as well as why the new reactors built earlier in the 2000s didn’t really make the case for the industry’s rebirth.
