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Welcome to our second issue of Currents – our energy industry insights e-newsletter – for 2026.
ABA 2026 Workplace & Occupational Safety & Health Law Committee Midwinter Meeting, February 24-27, Puerto Rico
Spilman is pleased to sponsor this meeting featuring presentations by panelists representing management, union, employees, and government perspectives on hot topics and cutting-edge issues in the field of workplace and occupational safety law. Click here to learn more.
DRI Construction Law Seminar, March 25-27, Nashville, TN
We hope you can join us at this top-tier event, where practical strategies for operating in this challenging and ever-evolving landscape will be discussed. In addition to being a sponsor, Stephanie Eaton is Vice Chair of the committee, and other Spilman attorneys will be in attendance. Click here to learn more.
Again, thank you for reading!
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Barry A. Naum
Chief Content Editor, Currents
Member, Co-Chair of Utility Law Group
| | War with Iran Poses Far-reaching Implications on Commodity Supplies and Pricing | | |
By Bryan S. Neft
At the time of this article, with the United States/Israel war with Iran nearing its fourth week, the price of a barrel of Brent Crude Oil is hovering around $110. The international oil benchmark is near that price, as well. International prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG) have jumped more than 50 percent. The oil trade is globally integrated, which means that higher prices are felt worldwide. The market for LNG is more fragmented, so its effects are felt regionally. These increases are due to several factors, including both Iran and the United States targeting energy infrastructure in the Persian Gulf region, as well as the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. For example, not only are shipments of oil not leaving the Persian Gulf, but Qatar, as the supplier of 20 percent of the world’s LNG, has shut down its production because of the war.
Click here to read the entire article.
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“Under the revised agreement, West Virginia’s Department of Environmental Protection will take the lead on permitting, inspections and enforcement for both privately owned and federally leased coal operations in the state.”
Why this is important: The U.S. Department of the Interior and the State of West Virginia officially finalized an amendment to their longstanding cooperative agreement, significantly expanding the state’s authority over coal mining and reclamation on federal lands within its borders. The agreement builds on the framework established under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, which emphasizes the “cooperative federalism” model in which states serve as primary regulators, subject to federal oversight.
The key change is that West Virginia’s regulatory authority now extends beyond privately owned coal associated with federal lands to include federally owned coal leased through the Bureau of Land Management. Previously, this category fell more directly under federal control. And, recently, disputes have arisen over which agency was responsible for permitting and enforcement.
Under the revised agreement, the WVDEP will take primary responsibility for permitting, inspections, and enforcement for both privately owned and federally leased coal operations. The federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement will retain an oversight role to ensure compliance with federal law and the terms of the agreement.
Interior officials framed the change as a deregulatory and efficiency-driven measure intended to streamline oversight, reduce duplicative review, and provide greater certainty for coal producers. State officials emphasized the economic implications, including potential job growth, increased investment, and alignment with broader state energy initiatives. Above all, the agreement should increase the speed with which issues related to these permits are resolved. --- Jason Wandling
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“From 2017 to 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Cordova incrementally developed a smart microgrid that serves the city’s unique energy demands.”
Why this is important: The article highlights a government-supported initiative in rural Alaska to meet data service and remote local power needs. The project was based on an assessment of a “digital twin” model of Cordova, Alaska’s existing micro-grid, and will result in the effective placement of a data center within the remote power infrastructure; data services will be powered by using surplus power, while ensuring that the existing “micro-grid” is robust enough to serve the remote community. This data center/micro-grid integration is potentially scalable for other rural areas to localize data service and power needs. This is important as a vehicle to ensure that rural communities are not left behind. --- Derrick Price Williamson
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“A handful of lawmakers is joining Vermont independent Bernie Sanders in wanting to pause new projects.”
Why this is important: Data centers continue to be a highly contentious issue in Washington, D.C., and across the United States. Last year, advocacy groups petitioned lawmakers to enact a national data center moratorium, citing concerns about energy, water, and other environmental issues. Led in part by Bernie Sanders, the idea of halting construction on data centers has begun to gain traction from both sides of the political aisle. Those in favor of the moratorium stress that it would allow regulators to catch up with the fast pace of development and provide time for studies to assess the effects of these centers on surrounding communities. Some members of Congress, like Senator John Fetterman, think that a pause in construction would mean the United States is surrendering in the AI race to China.
The White House supports the continued light-speed construction of data centers and is trying to get out in front of public concerns by pushing centers to source their own energy, thereby reducing the negative impact on communities, but communities continue to push back. Republican gubernatorial candidate for Florida, James Fishbank, has criticized his own party for putting major tech companies ahead of communities.
A moratorium on AI data center construction is one of the few issues that has supporters across the political spectrum, with federal and state implications. At the state level, support for business growth must be balanced against the counterintuitive notion that such growth could cause citizens to bear significant increases in utility bills. For the continued construction of data centers, all stakeholders will have to strike a balance that promotes innovation while also protecting communities and their resources. --- Nicholas A. Muto
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“As states across the mid-Atlantic adopt aggressive goals for renewable energy generation, most look to Pennsylvania’s natural gas and nuclear plants to back them up.”
Why this is important: Increasing energy demand is putting significant pressure on the regional grid operated by PJM Interconnection, LLC (PJM). There is a rising need for sufficient generation, capacity, and reliability to meet that demand. At the same time, however, multiple states within PJM have adopted aggressive renewable energy generation goals that can be at odds with the need for reliable generation.
The article discusses how other states' renewable energy generation goals impact Pennsylvania's own policies, as the grid is becoming increasingly reliant on Pennsylvania’s natural gas and nuclear plants to back it up. If Pennsylvania advances its own renewable energy goals, then there could be more complications – and higher cost – with meeting the grid's growing energy demands. --- Steven W. Lee
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“Microsoft co-founder Gates, who is eyeing nuclear generation as a power source for the electricity-hungry data centers behind artificial intelligence, is a founder of TerraPower and its primary investor.”
Why this is important: This is an exciting time in the development of nuclear power. After years of being scorned by regulators and the public, it’s back in a big way, with dozens of companies competing to construct everything from micro-scale projects to small modular reactors to multi-gigawatt traditional nuclear power plants. TerraPower is a leading contender in the commercial nuclear power space, helped along by its association with Bill Gates. It is a larger project, in the hundreds of megawatts, and would utilize molten sodium as its heat transfer fluid. Recent approval of its design by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission allows it to move ahead with plans to start constructing the reactor, with the hope of beginning operations by 2030, although past delays in nuclear projects have resulted in missing start dates by years. --- David L. Yaussy
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“Solar installations in the U.S. decreased by 14 percent last year, a new report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie found.”
“A new poll reveals broad support for big solar farms among right-leaning voters — especially if panels meet certain manufacturing criteria.”
Why this is important: President Trump and his supporters are at odds over solar energy. As the President’s policies actively work to discourage investment in renewables like wind and solar, right-leaning voters are signaling that they want the opposite—many support growth in these industries.
This highlights a disconnect between national policies and attitudes towards solar energy at the local level. Even if the national conversation is moving away from investment in solar energy, there could still be opportunities for industry and investors at the local and state levels.
The Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill accelerated the winding down of subsidies for wind and solar projects, and the President’s tariff policies further slowed growth in those industries. At the same time, the administration encouraged exports of fossil fuels. Not surprisingly, solar installations dropped 14 percent in 2025, according to a recent report from the Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie.
But according to two polls from 2025, roughly 50-60 percent of right-leaning or Republican voters surveyed actually support solar energy. That percentage goes up if there are opportunities to manufacture solar infrastructure equipment locally. Respondents also signaled that they favor diversifying electricity generation sources to help bring down high electricity costs. --- Jamie L. Martines
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“The company’s use of gas turbines in Memphis has been the subject of much controversy, with environmental and civil rights campaigners claiming xAI installed the machines before the correct permits were in place, and stating that they are impacting air quality in what is one of the area’s poorest neighborhoods.”
Why this is important: One of the biggest issues nationally is how to provide electricity to data centers. In many states, disputes have centered on whether the huge power demands will cause electric power rates to increase for all other consumers. Many homes, apartments and residential users, along with small businesses, have complained about what appear to be ever-increasing electric power bills. Some objections to data centers have also come from traditional industrial power users in the locales where data centers are being constructed, so many data centers are now looking at building their own micro-grids to produce their own power. Elon Musk’s XAI, the maker of the Grok Chatbot, is joining a number of AI centers to build their own power plants that are not part of the public power grid. A total of three data centers, known as Colossus 1, 2, and 3, are being built or planned along the Mississippi/Tennessee state line south of Memphis. In its initial round of construction, 41 gas turbines producing 1.2 GW of power will be built. All three sites will eventually have 2 GW of computing power provided by gas turbines. The site’s first Clean Air Act permit was just granted by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) for the 41 natural gas-fueled turbines. This is likely to become a growing trend as owners and builders of data centers try to speed up their approval and construction. --- Mark E. Heath
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“Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have found a way to convert the nation's 500,000 abandoned coal mines into long-term energy storage using pumped hydro technology.”
Why this is important: Using new technology, hundreds of thousands of abandoned coal mines across the United States could possibly be repurposed into large-scale energy storage systems, effectively functioning as “underground batteries” to support a transition to renewable energy.
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee have developed a methodology to convert these legacy mining sites into pumped hydro storage facilities. This approach uses excess electricity to pump water into elevated reservoirs within mine systems. When energy demand rises, the water is released to generate electricity, enabling long-duration storage far beyond the capacity of conventional lithium-ion batteries.
The concept addresses several parallel challenges. First, abandoned mines pose significant environmental and safety risks, including unstable structures, subsidence, and polluted water. Second, the approach could provide economic revitalization for coal-dependent regions facing structural decline. As coal’s share of the U.S. energy mix continues to fall sharply, former mining communities are experiencing job loss and reduced economic activity. Repurposing mines for energy storage could create new employment opportunities and attract investment to these areas.
Third, the technology could play a critical role in grid stability. Renewable energy sources are inherently variable, and the growing strain on the American electricity grid requires scalable, long-duration storage solutions. Pumped hydro systems in mines could store energy for extended periods, helping balance supply and demand in ways current battery technologies cannot.
Technical challenges remain. Mine environments are chemically complex and structurally irregular, creating uncertainties around water flow, material interactions, and long-term stability. Advanced modeling tools are being used to assess these risks and guide design and implementation decisions. --- Jason Wandling
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“Falling prices and robust supply chains mean lithium-ion batteries are becoming more competitive at longer durations than emerging technologies, it said.
Why this is important: In 2025, long-duration energy storage deployments rose by 49 percent as the technology became more efficient and affordable. Despite this increase in deployment, however, the vast majority (93 percent) was installed in China, and overall funding for long-duration storage projects actually fell in 2025.
There are, however, a few large-scale projects moving toward commercialization in the U.S. that are supported by both private companies' renewable goals and state clean energy requirements. While the growth outlook for long-duration storage is uncertain, it may play a role in maximizing how renewable energy is used and incorporated into utility and grid portfolios. --- Steven W. Lee
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“But two big East Coast projects are poised to start producing power, and others are hitting key construction milestones.”
Why this is important: Offshore wind farms have been frequently criticized or targeted by the Trump administration as they have attempted to stop construction of at least five large wind farms off the East Coast. Through a series of court cases, the farms have resumed construction and are beginning to operate. Many turbines are operational even as the rest of the site is being developed, and provide significant energy now.
The five largest farms will hit operational milestones this month and early April:
- Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, a 2.6-gigawatt project near Virginia Beach, Virginia, is 70 percent complete and will begin producing electricity by the end of March, according to its developer, Dominion Energy. As the first turbines operate, construction on the 176-turbine wind farm will continue;
- Off Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, the 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind project is finished. The last two of 62 turbines are being installed, and 85 percent of the turbines are either operating or approved to begin generating power;
- The 704-MW Revolution Wind near Rhode Island is expected to begin generating electricity as the last of its 65 turbines are installed. In early March, the company reported that only 5 turbines were left to install;
- At Ørsted’s Sunrise Wind project, work on the 924-MW installation, off the coast of New York, is nearly halfway complete; and
- Equinor’s Empire Wind just got a ruling to stop federal efforts to delay the construction of the 810-MW wind farm near New York. That project is over 60 percent complete.
All five of these wind farms expect to qualify for federal energy tax breaks by being in operation this summer. Also, northeast utilities had to activate oil-fired generation in the severe winter storm this month and also relied on the new wind farms operating turbines to provide electricity during heavy demands from the blizzard. --- Mark E. Heath
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“The state is mulling a bill that calls for all new generation to be ‘affordable, reliable, and clean’ — but its strained definitions would exclude renewables.”
Why this is important: The proposed legislation muddies the definitions of “affordable, reliable, and clean,” departing from the commonly understood definitions of those words in the renewable energy context. This, in turn, makes it harder for renewables like solar to meet those statutory requirements, while making it easier for other types of energy—such as natural gas and coal—to meet them.
The timing of this legislation is important: Companies looking to take advantage of the tax credits offered for solar projects under the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill must either break ground on or before July 4, or place their project in service on or before December 31, 2027. Any uncertainty about the legality of solar projects in Ohio under this proposed statute could threaten companies’ ability to take advantage of those tax credits. As a result, companies may consider taking their business to states with more predictable regulatory landscapes. --- Jamie L. Martines
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“Hydrogen has been talked about for decades as a clean source of energy, but it is normally produced artificially with the help of electricity or fossil fuels.”
Why this is important: It was long thought that there are no large deposits of pure hydrogen gas, given the small size of the hydrogen gas molecule and its ability to escape geological confinement. Hydrogen was generally extracted from natural gas, which contains many hydrogen atoms attached to carbon atoms. Those larger hydrocarbon atoms could be trapped underground in reservoirs, but separating the carbon from hydrogen cost-effectively generally produced carbon dioxide, and unless the hydrogen was needed for a special purpose, such as hydrocarbon cracking, it made more sense to burn the natural gas for power rather than separating the hydrogen and carbon bonds. Now, though, there is some belief that hydrogen gas may be found in pockets beneath the ground, maybe in quantities that would make them commercially viable. If so, the hydrogen could be run through fuel cells and become a great source of greenhouse gas-free electricity. --- David L. Yaussy
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“Now, 45 years after the first test wells were drilled under the university’s St Paul campus, one of the first large-scale aquifer thermal energy systems in the country is being built less than 10 miles from the original test site.”
Why this is important: A system that was researched 45 years ago to store summer heat in shallow water aquifers so it can be withdrawn in winter to heat homes is being constructed in St. Paul, Minnesota. As Minnesota has many shallow underground water aquifers, the large scale-development will heat 850 homes and some businesses in one of the first U.S. applications of the technology. While new to the U.S., there are some 3,000 systems operating worldwide, mainly in the Netherlands. Heat pumps send excess water to the aquifer in the summer to cool the homes and businesses and then the heated water is withdrawn and used to heat the same homes and businesses in winter. Once this system is operational and proven, it could be used in many states with large shallow water aquifers. --- Mark E. Heath
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Here is a round-up of the latest statistics concerning the energy industry.
ELECTRICITY
PETROLEUM
NATURAL GAS
COAL
RENEWABLES
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