Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Wednesday July 1, 2026
Asterisk (*) denotes news stories that may be inaccessible because portions are behind a paywall
Good morning! Here are today’s Texas Energy Report NewsClips
Oil prices ticked higher on Wednesday on concerns a breakdown in talks between Iran and the U.S. for a final agreement to end their war may extend supply disruptions in the key Middle East producing region.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 11 cents, or 0.16%, to $69.61 a barrel.
Brent futures rose 14 cents, or 0.19%, to $73.09 a barrel at 0644 GMT.
“Hormuz continues to reopen but it’s patchy, unpredictable, and not fully transparent,” said Vandana Hari, founder of oil market analysis provider Vanda Insights.
Top Stories
San Antonio Express-News – June 30, 2026
Greg Abbott calls for prohibition on data center construction in rural Texas neighborhoods*
Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday called for a prohibition on data center construction in rural neighborhoods amid growing backlash to the energy and water-intensive facilities, especially in heavily Republican communities. The governor, who previously touted Texas as “the epicenter of AI development,” made the statement at a campaign event in a small town East Texas, which has seen a surge in data center development.
At the campaign speech, Abbott also reiterated restrictions he called for in a June 10 letter to state regulators, including that new centers need to “bring their own power, reuse their own water, and do it in a way that reduces the cost of electricity for residents across our state.” And he again called for lawmakers to strip tax breaks from the facilities.
In June, the San Marcos City Council voted 4-3 to make data centers ineligible in the city’s zoning laws, citing concerns they could drain water and energy resources from the community. There are no data centers currently in the works for San Marcos after the city council blocked the pathway for one in February. But the development already faces the threat of a legal challenge, as Republican state Sen. Paul Bettencourt this week promised to appeal the ban.
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Bloomberg – June 30, 2026
Goldman Flags Up Oil Surplus Even as Nations Rebuild Stockpiles*
The global oil market is set to swing back into oversupply as the impact of the Iran war fades and traffic through the Strait of Hormuz recovers, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. While purchases of crude to replenish strategic reserves are expected to tighten the global market to some extent, they would only partially offset the anticipated glut, Samantha Dart, co-head of global commodities research, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “Once we have a normalization of flows through the strait, the expectation is that we go into an oversupply,” Dart said, adding that the surplus is expected to average just over 3 million barrels a day next year.
“We do expect a little over 1 million barrels a day just of SPR rebuilding globally, but still, that would leave us close to 2 million barrels a day of a surplus,” she added, referring to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Benchmark crude prices collapsed by almost 30% last quarter — wiping out all of the gains from the conflict — as the US and Iran struck an interim peace deal and shipping through the waterway began to pick up. During the initial weeks of the crisis, the International Energy Agency coordinated the release of a record 400 million barrels of oil from rich nations’ emergency reserves in a bid to contain prices and ensure supplies. Those holdings now need to be rebuilt. As part of the drive, the Trump administration tapped the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the nation’s emergency cache of crude. Those stockpiles sank from 415 million barrels at the end of February to 331 million as of June 19, according to official figures. That’s the lowest level since 1983.
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The Guardian – June 29, 3036
Trump officials to slash public input on fossil fuel drilling on federal lands
The Trump administration is attempting to shrink public comment periods for fossil fuel leasing on federal land while shifting the financial risks of cleanup to taxpayers and allowing for more planet-warming emissions. It’s part of a broader effort to dismantle public input processes and save polluting companies money, advocates say.
“By ignoring public comment [requirements] while propping up companies,” said Alexa Dietrich, research director at the science advocacy organization Union of Concerned Scientists, “they’re really attacking democracy in a very clear way.” The interior department said this week it wants to loosen two Biden-era regulations governing oil and gas drilling on national public lands. One would dramatically lower the fees that firms must pay for future cleanup costs before drilling; the second could allow companies to release more methane, a potent planet-warming pollutant.
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Washington Examiner – June 30, 2026
World Bank scraps climate financing after facing pressure from Trump
The Trump administration has secured another win in its campaign to end climate-related policies and regulations on the international stage, forcing the World Bank to retire its ambitious climate financing goals. The World Bank Group announced on Monday that it was retiring its goal of 45% of its funding being dedicated to climate-related projects, with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the largest emitters while propping up developing countries in need of resources to adapt to climate change.
The Trump administration has for months pushed against this climate funding target, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claiming that it “breeds inefficiency, distorts economic decision banking, and moves the Bank away from its core mission.” The United States is the largest shareholder of the World Bank, controlling about 16% of voting power. This allows the U.S. to single-handedly block any decision that requires a supermajority, such as extending or replacing the climate financing targets.
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Reuters – June 30, 2026
US is working on ban targeting Chinese energy inverters, sources say*
The Trump administration is drafting a ban on imports of foreign inverters, which connect solar projects and batteries to the grid, over concerns China could use them to disrupt power supplies, according to five people with knowledge of the matter. The restriction being drafted by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission would apply to new foreign models of inverters and could be published as early as this year, according to the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter was not public.
The Trump administration was spurred to revive the effort in part by a decision by the European Commission to ban Chinese-made inverters from publicly funded energy projects, the five sources said, though they cautioned the U.S. proposal could still be modified or shelved altogether. The FCC and the White House declined to comment on the draft measure. The Chinese Embassy in Washington said it “firmly opposes the overstretching of the concept of national security and its unjustified suppression of Chinese companies,” adding that the U.S. should provide “a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment” for Chinese businesses.
The Latest TERse Tips
Ring Energy, Inc has been added as a member of the broad-market Russell 3000® Index, effective June 29, 2026, as part of the first 2026 Russell indexes reconstitution — see the press release
Corpus Christi declines to seek federal grant for long-debated water desalination plant — city Council members traded insults before the 5-4 vote blocked an effort to apply for up to $120 million in federal grants to help build the treatment plant — Texas Tribune
Consumer confidence ticks up as gas prices fall but Americans remain gloomy about the economy — Americans’ attitudes toward the economy improved slightly this month as gas prices declined, but their outlook is still mostly negative by historical standards — Associated Press/KVUE
Iran’s Oil Money Is Coming Back. Its Main Street Will Have to Wait — inflow of money will barely budge the needle for ordinary Iranians — The Wall Street Journal*
Exxon Mobil Corp.’s head of US gas and power trading is moving to Expand Energy Corp., one of several recent departures from a unit the supermajor has been trying to grow — Jon Jaye is heading to Expand, the largest US gas producer, after nearly 16 years with Exxon, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing career moves. Jaye will join Dan Turco, Expand’s executive vice president for marketing and commercial, who joined from Exxon last year — Bloomberg*
Barbara Kerr Beckmann, ExxonMobil’s first female engineer and the longest-tenured employee in the company’s history, is retiring after a career that spanned 65 years and helped pave the way for generations of women in engineering — KWES
KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced that KKR has agreed to acquire the operations and assets of EDF power solutions in the United States and Canada (EDF power solutions Canada Inc.) from EDF group, one of the world’s largest power producers. This transaction values the equity interest in EDF power solutions Inc. and EDF power solutions Canada Inc. at approximately $4.2 billion, with potential additional payments of up to $0.39 billion — see the press release
Veteran BP executive Carole Howle is set to retire from the supermajor just two months after being appointed as deputy chief executive, the company said on Tuesday — Upstream
U.S. private equity giant KKR will take management control of a new $1.3 billion renewable energy platform in South Korea, deepening its bet on growing demand for clean power from chipmakers and artificial intelligence data centers — KKR and SK Inc. said Wednesday they will launch what they described as South Korea’s largest renewable energy platform, valued at 2 trillion won ($1.3 billion), integrating wind, solar and fuel cell assets previously held across the conglomerate’s businesses — CNBC
Air contamination was at dangerous levels near the site of a massive fire at a recycling plant in the southwestern outskirts of Juárez, the city’s ecological director said — plastic, wood, vehicles and scrap materials are burning in a “megafire” that started Monday morning, June 29, at a recycling plant in the Kilometro 26 area along the highway to Casas Grandes, a Juárez city news release stated — El Paso Times
Oil & Gas Texas
Oil Price – June 30, 2026
US Crude Output Sets New Monthly Production Record
According to monthly data released Tuesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. crude oil production climbed to a record 13.934 million barrels per day (bpd) in April—the highest monthly production rate ever recorded.
The new record surpassed March’s 13.718 million bpd by 216,000 bpd, as producers responded to the oil price spike triggered by the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. While oil prices have since retreated as exports from the Persian Gulf gradually resume, April’s data captures the industry’s response when crude briefly flirted with $120 per barrel.
The Permian Basin once again did the heavy lifting. New Mexico set a new production record at 2.37 million bpd, while Texas boosted output to 5.83 million bpd, its highest level since November. North Dakota also posted its strongest production since November at 1.13 million bpd.
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Texas Tribune – June 30, 2026
Bo French says Texas shouldn’t recognize babies born to undocumented parents as American citizens
Bo French, the Republican nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner in the November midterm election, on Tuesday called the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold birthright citizenship “traitorous,” saying Texas should not recognize babies born to undocumented parents as citizens. “The correct response to the traitorous decision today on anchor babies is nullification,” French wrote on X. “Texas can just do things and we should. Texas is sovereign. If I have anything to say about it, Texas will not recognize them as citizens.”
French’s comments follow a landmark ruling on Tuesday by the Supreme Court justices to reject President Donald Trump’s bid to end the 170-year-old constitutional right that affords American citizenship to newborns whose parents are immigrants. The justices voted 6-3. … He has called LGBTQ+ people slurs, said Texas should more openly embrace Islamophobia, and that the U.S. should deport 100 million people, nearly a third of the country’s population. After winning the primary in a runoff, in which he narrowly ousted incumbent Jim Wright, French said maintaining that was the point. He said such issues resonated with voters, not the Railroad Commission itself.
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Pipeline & Gas Journal – June 30, 2026
Chevron Dismantles Former Carpinteria Oil Processing Facility
Chevron has begun another phase of its multi-year effort to dismantle its former oil and gas processing complex in Carpinteria, California, with work now shifting toward the removal of nearshore pipelines and related infrastructure, according to KEYT. The decommissioning program is expected to take about three years and includes dismantling the closed processing facility, removing pipelines near the Carpinteria Bluffs and restoring the 55-acre property.
Chevron has already demolished one of the site’s most visible structures, the approximately 50-foot-tall Tank 861. The steel from the tank is being recycled as part of the project. Pipeline removal is expected to become one of the most visible stages of the work in the coming months. The project has undergone regulatory review by local agencies and the California Coastal Commission before construction activities began.
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KUHF NPR – June 30, 2026
Companies involved in Channelview sulfuric acid spill face more than $3.5 million in proposed fines
The U.S. Department of Labor is proposing more than $3.5 million in fines against three companies for alleged worker safety violations related to a sulfuric acid spill late last year in Channelview, with the bulk of that fine total levied against a subcontractor. The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found that BWC Terminals employees mixed fresh and contaminated sulfuric acid, which created “tank overpressure” and caused a supply line to rupture, according to an OSHA news release late last week.
The resulting spill released 1 million gallons of sulfuric acid, some of which went into the Houston Ship Channel, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in the aftermath of the December spill. Two people were taken to the hospital and another 44 individuals were treated for injuries at the scene.
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World Oil – June 30, 2026
California offshore operator Sable turns to investors to repay Exxon loan
Sable Offshore Corp., briefly buoyed by a Trump administration push to boost oil production off the California coast, lost roughly half its market value after it turned to equity and bond investors to repay debt owed to ExxonMobil. The stock of the Houston-based oil driller plunged as much as 55% on Tuesday, to an all-time low of $3.15 per share, after the company said it would raise $400 million through stock and convertible note offerings, therefore diluting existing investors.
The announcement came after repeated struggles to strike a deal to push out debt that comes due in a matter of weeks, even after it dangled some of the highest yields seen in the credit markets this year. JPMorgan Chase & Co.—which is running the stock and note offering—saw limited investor demand for a Sable loan paying a hefty 15% interest rate, according to people familiar with the matter. The loan, originally sized at $1 billion, was cut for a second time on Tuesday to $675 million, a separate person said, asking not to be identified because they aren’t allowed to speak publicly. Investors have until 2 p.m. Eastern time to place orders.
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Associated Press/KDH News – June 30, 2026
Cypriot natural gas could start flowing from ExxonMobil’s discoveries by 2033
Natural gas could start flowing by 2033 out of two undersea deposits discovered by ExxonMobil off Cyprus, a senior executive with the company said Tuesday, helping to turn the east Mediterranean island nation into a new European energy hub. The largest U.S. oil company and its consortium partner, QatarEnergy, consider the most likely option for getting the gas to market would be conveying it through a pipeline to existing processing facilities in Egypt where it can be liquefied for export, ExxonMobil’s Vice President of Global Exploration John Ardill said.
Other options including building onshore facilities in Cyprus or a floating one in waters over the deposits are considered too costly at this point. “Everything you’ve seen between the government of Cyprus and the government of Egypt gives us a lot of confidence that there’s good government to government coordination, the agreements in place to leverage that eastern Mediterranean energy hub concept,” Ardill said.
Oil & Gas National & International
Politico – June 30, 2026
Energy experts said gas prices would stay high. Why were they wrong?
Gasoline prices have fallen precipitously since the U.S. and Iran began their fragile truce, defying expert predictions of a long summer slog with sky-high prices. Instead of spiraling upward, the average price at the pump has plummeted 70 cents per gallon in a month from a peak of $4.56. A little over a week since the memorandum of understanding was signed between the countries, a barrel of oil costs just a little more than it did before the U.S. and Israel bombed Iran in late February.
It wasn’t supposed to work this way, according to energy experts whose predictions of $150 barrel of oil, $5 gasoline and summer recessions were widely quoted in the media, including POLITICO. “There’s one thing that being an oil market analyst, much less a price forecaster, will teach you and that is humility,” said Bob McNally, a former energy adviser to the George W. Bush administration, now head of energy consulting firm Rapidan Energy. He predicted that price spikes could still happen in the weeks ahead as the ceasefire remains fragile.
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Oil Price – June 30, 2026
Asian Refiners Redirect Middle East Crude to the U.S. as Hormuz Flows Recover
Some Asian refiners have recently offered Middle Eastern cargoes to the U.S. West Coast as supply from the Persian Gulf rises with the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, while Asian buyers are well-supplied for the next two months. Refiners in Asia have spent the better part of the past four months scrambling to procure crude for the summer from producers outside the Middle East. Buyers now have enough non-Middle Eastern crude lined up to arrive over the next two months, meaning that spot purchases from the Middle East aren’t really an immediate necessity, amid still uncertain developments about how open the Strait of Hormuz really is.
As a result, some of the Asian buyers are looking to offer now-available crude from the Middle East to U.S. states, including California and Hawaii, traders with knowledge of the offers told Bloomberg on Tuesday. Hawaii hasn’t imported any crude from the Middle East since 2018, while California hasn’t received Middle East crude since the end of 2025, according to estimates by Bloomberg. Ironically, Asian refiners picked up a lot of U.S. crude between March and May to offset the lost supply from the Middle East.
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Oil Price – June 30, 2026
Ukraine’s Refinery Strikes Push Russia Into a Fuel Crisis
After weeks of trying to downplay the impact of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian refineries, the Kremlin acknowledged this weekend that Russia faces fuel shortages and a fuel crisis that needs further government intervention to solve. A few weeks ago, regional governors across Russia rushed to downplay the fuel crisis, seeking to assure residents that supply is tight only at limited gas stations and there is no need to panic about shortages.
Apparently, this narrative couldn’t be contained for too long as Ukraine is stepping up attacks on Russian refineries and fuel supply routes, while demand for gasoline and diesel in Russia is rising with peak summer travel and the coming harvest. In just a few weeks, Russia switched from ‘don’t panic, everything’s fine’ to a formal acknowledgment by President Vladimir Putin that the country faces a fuel supply crisis. This weekend, Putin held a meeting with key government officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, and the top executives from the biggest oil companies Rosneft, Lukoil, Gazprom Neft, Surgutneftegaz, and Transneft.
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The Wall Street Journal – June 30, 2026
A Dispute Over Opening Hormuz Drives a Wedge Into U.S.-Saudi Relations*
More than 100 U.S. military aircraft were taking off from bases and warships across the Middle East as part of an effort to crack open the Strait of Hormuz this past spring when they hit a glitch: Saudi Arabia, whose bases and airspace were critical to the mission, was saying no. The pushback forced the U.S. to abort Project Freedom, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter, ending the military operation to guarantee safe passage for ships that President Trump had launched hours earlier. Incensed, the White House threatened to hold back delivery of interceptors that Saudi Arabia needs to shoot down Iranian missiles and drones, if the kingdom didn’t reverse course, U.S. and Arab officials familiar with the discussions said. Saudi Arabia ultimately backed down, but U.S. officials said at the time that the damage wouldn’t easily be undone.
Now, the U.S. is considering reducing its military footprint in the kingdom, according to U.S. officials familiar with the planning process. The U.S. threats, which haven’t been previously reported, marked the biggest rift in years in a relationship that has underpinned security arrangements in the Gulf for decades. Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to the Gulf last week for meetings with senior officials in the region. He visited the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain, three of the countries hardest hit by Iran during the war, but didn’t travel to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi officials were displeased and interpreted Rubio’s decision not to visit Riyadh as a calculated snub, people familiar with the kingdom’s thinking said. Trump administration officials denied that was the intention and said Rubio had positive conversations with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan on the sidelines of a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in Bahrain. The U.S. and all GCC members released a joint statement after the meetings that reaffirmed their “strong commitment” to their partnership.
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CNBC – June 30, 2026
Iran says it is selling oil at 20% premium as end of U.S. blockade sees 40 million barrels exported
Iran has exported more than 40 million barrels of crude oil since the U.S. removed its naval blockade of Iranian ports, and is now selling oil at prices roughly 20% higher than before the war, parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tuesday. The U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on June 17 to end nearly four months of war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and set up 60 days of negotiations to work out a permanent peace deal. The two sides briefly traded strikes over the weekend after Iran attacked two transiting vessels.
The ceasefire prompted a surge in crude shipments through the vital waterway where traffic had largely ground to a halt during the conflict, sending oil prices sharply lower. “Since the day the naval blockade was lifted, we have exported more than 40 million barrels of oil,” Ghalibaf said in a television interview published on his Telegram channel. Iran had been unable to export a single barrel during the roughly two-month blockade that preceded the accord, he added.
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Bloomberg – June 30, 2026
Morgan Stanley Warns of Oil Glut and Cuts Forecasts on Hormuz*
Morgan Stanley cut oil forecasts for the second time in about two weeks as flows through the Strait of Hormuz return faster than expected, while strong US supply and weak Chinese demand raise the risk of a glut. Dated Brent — a benchmark for physical transactions — is expected to average $75 a barrel in the third and fourth quarters, down $15 and $5 respectively, analysts including Martijn Rats said in a note. Outlooks for all four quarters next year were also cut, with Dated seen at $70 at the end of 2027.
“The Strait is reopening faster than expected, yet the ‘twin solvers’ of high US exports and low Chinese imports remain in place,” they said in the note, which followed an earlier round of reductions in a mid-June report. “As attention turns to 2027, the market has come full circle – back to surplus.” Brent futures — the global benchmark — have collapsed about 30% this quarter as the US and Iran reached an interim peace that’s allowed some traffic through Hormuz to resume. The rapid shift has prompted analysts to revisit their forecasts, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also paring its outlook. While traffic in the chokepoint had slowed over the weekend after two ships were hit, it has since picked up, adding to indications tanker companies are willing to navigate Hormuz. That’s a critical step toward returning the market to normal and unlocking millions of barrels of supplies.
Utilities, Electricity & Renewables
San Antonio Express-News – June 30, 2026
CPS Energy seeks proposals for battery projects to strengthen grid; one would be used for microgrid*
CPS Energy is calling for projects to boost critical infrastructure on the East and South sides. The city-owned utility is looking for a total of 20 megawatts of energy to be added to the grid, with the help of battery storage and microgrid technology. By the second quarter of 2028, CPS aims to own and operate two additional battery storage sites to improve the system’s resiliency. The utility will use one of the battery sites to create a microgrid. Microgrids are a flexible energy system that can operate on or off the grid. The option of “island mode”operation — where the system operates independently from the grid — allows for it to provide energy during prolonged power outages, extreme weather and other grid disturbances.
This request comes after the utility announced in May it was building the 120-megawatt Alamo City Battery Energy Storage System in partnership with San Antonio-based OCI Energy. Batteries currently make up less than 5% of CPS’ energy generation portfolio. The city-owned utility does not currently have a microgrid energy system, though a service center in development on the Southwest Side will be its first. It is expected to be completed in fall 2027. The utility is amping up its energy generation sources as it stares down projects from roughly 50 large industrial and commercial users that could quadruple its resource needs. While CPS doesn’t expect every project to come to fruition, the influx in requests reflects the surge of demand the utility is grappling with.
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June 30, 2026
Related: In the Artificial Intelligence Policy Institute (AIPI) poll, 68 percent of respondents said they would be in favor of the government making “a formal review process for the most advanced AI models before they can be widely released” — twenty percent of respondents in the same poll said that they were in favor of the government leaning “mostly on companies to test their own AI models,” intervening “mainly after problems occur.” Twelve percent were unsure about which choice they favored — AOL
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to be central to the national debate, new polling from the American Edge Project (AEP) finds that voters across the country support expanding U.S. energy capacity in order to meet increasing demand. Voters value AI innovation – even considering how much energy it requires – because AI delivers clear benefits to the country and to communities. These benefits include improving health care outcomes, supporting American families, the U.S. economy, and small businesses, assisting the U.S. military, and helping the U.S. compete with China.
“American AI innovation is helping us find cures to diseases, driving economic opportunities in communities, and securing our country’s competitive edge around the globe,” said Doug Kelly, American Edge Project CEO. “This research tells us that a resounding majority wants to ensure that we can support AI’s delivery of these benefits. Instead of undermining innovation and the value it brings to people’s lives, we must accelerate building out our AI infrastructure to ensure the American people are first in line to reap its benefits.”
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Washington Examiner – June 30, 2026
First Texas city to ban data centers faces power test with challenge from state senator
A small town in Central Texas became the first city in the state to ban data centers, testing the limits of local power. San Marcos is positioned between San Antonio and Austin. It lies primarily in Hays County, which President Donald Trump lost by just under six points in the 2024 election. “We must prohibit them from building AI data centers in rural Texas neighborhoods,” Abbott said during the event in Bullard.
It is the latest sign that the GOP sees the growing opposition to data centers as a potential liability heading into November’s high-stakes midterms. Recent polling by the University of Texas at Austin found most Texans do not want data centers built in their communities, with opposition especially high, at 62%, among rural Texans whom Republicans have long counted as ardent supporters.
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KSLA – June 30, 2026
SWEPCO launches first grid improvement project supported by Texas Energy Fund in Marshall
Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) has launched its first grid enhancement project supported by Texas Energy Fund in Marshall. It’s the first step in SWEPCO’s efforts to modernize the system and improve reliability in east Texas without raising costs for customers. It’s all part of a $200 million grant administered by the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which Governor Greg Abbott announced earlier in June. As part of the project, around 700 miles of powerlines will be upgraded, and nearly 200 circuits will be improved. SWEPCO officials say this will enhance reliability for almost 193,000 people living in 24 counties in Texas.
The project in Marshall begins the first phase of replacing copper wire with stronger, more durable aluminum-alloy conductors and installing new utility poles designed to better withstand severe weather. “When we analyzed our system, upgrading copper wire to more modern equipment stood out as an area that would have the biggest impact,” said Adam Keeth, SWEPCO director of distribution engineering & reliability. “By replacing it with modern aluminum‑alloy conductors and installing stronger poles, we’re building a system that can better withstand ice, wind, and long‑duration storms and deliver more reliable service to our customers.”
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Houston Chronicle – June 27, 2026
Texas property owners accuse Tesla of allowing toxins from refinery to pollute their property*
Two Texas property owners have filed a proposed class action suit accusing Tesla Inc. of illegally dumping toxins from its lithium refinery near Corpus Christi onto their property. Jo and Jesus Molina, who own property in Robstown in the Baffin Bay Watershed, filed suit in May in the Southern District of Texas. They allege that Tesla has violated the terms of its state-issued wastewater discharge permit by letting water that contains carcinogens and unauthorized contaminates flow onto their property. They are seeking more than $1 million from Tesla.
The Austin company did not respond to a request for comment. The Molinas are suing on behalf of people who own property downstream from the refinery’s discharge point and have also been affected by the alleged unauthorized discharge. They say the alleged discharge harms the market value of their property, their use and enjoyment of their property and has given them a fear of contamination of the water. The lithium refinery, which Tesla CEO Elon Musk has called “the largest in America,” began operations in 2024. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, a state regulator, issued the company a five-year wastewater discharge permit in January 2025, allowing the company to discharge up to 231,100 gallons a day of treated industrial water, according to state records.
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Mother Jones – June 22, 2026
Why GM Is Betting on a Future With Sodium-Ion Battery Storage
Peak Energy announced last week that it has entered a new partnership with General Motors to manufacture sodium-ion batteries for energy storage systems. The deal marks a pivotal moment for Peak, a startup founded three years ago, and an opportunity for GM to branch out into a battery technology that is largely limited to China. I spoke last week with Cameron Dales, Peak’s co-founder and chief commercial officer, and I started by asking him how he would explain a sodium-ion battery to a 10-year-old.
A good place to start, he said, is to understand that the market-leading technology—lithium-ion batteries—gained a foothold in the 1990s because of high energy density. So it has a long track record of success. “They pack a lot of power into a small package, which is why they’re so great for mobile applications, because you’re carrying this battery around with you in your phone, you’re carrying it around with you in your car, which is a large mobile device,” he said.
Regulatory
E&E News By Politico – June 30, 2026
Supreme Court pipeline case is a clash of conservative principles
The gas pipeline case the Supreme Court accepted Monday pits conservative priorities against each other. On one side, there’s states’ rights and property rights. On the other is the need for gas pipelines and other energy development. In the middle is a $383,000 tab for legal work, racked up as attorneys for a group of North Dakota ranchers fought with a gas company about a pipeline across their land.
The landowners didn’t oppose the pipeline, but they said the company was offering far less money than they’d gotten from other pipeline companies. They settled their case but left to the courts the question of who pays the fees.
And the courts haven’t been able to agree. North Dakota state law says the company should pay, and federal law doesn’t. That’s the legal question. But the conflict presents the conservative-dominated Supreme Court with questions about what rights landowners should have when the federal government authorizes energy projects that affect their property. The Trump administration has sided with the gas company in the case, WBI Energy, and against the landowners, saying the constitutional requirement for “just compensation” in eminent domain cases doesn’t include attorney fees.