** A group of 10 environmental advocacy organizations files a brief in support of a lawsuit by 17 states and Washington, D.C. challenging Trump’s executive order banning new wind projects, with one attorney calling the prohibition “unexplained, inconsistent, and incoherent.”
** The American Petroleum Institute welcomed the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service’s release of a new biological opinion for the Gulf of America ahead of the court-ordered deadline, thereby avoiding significant and immediate consequences for American energy security.
** Advancing President Donald J. Trump’s strategic focus on domestic critical mineral development, the Department of the Interior announced it is initiating the process to evaluate a potential mineral lease sale in the waters offshore American Samoa. This marks the first such action by Interior in over 30 years and could pave the way for future extraction of critical minerals from the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.
** Cindy Hollenberg, Air Quality Bureau chief at the New Mexico Environment Department will serve as vice president of the Western States Air Resource Council (WESTAR) for the next year. This leadership role puts New Mexico at the forefront of air quality policy discussions in the Western United States.
** Tesla has been hit with a lawsuit after an energy supplier said the automaker failed to pay for fuel deliveries in Texas. Sun Coast Resources is an energy supplier based in Houston. In a complaint filed in April, the company accused Tesla of “refusing to pay” more than $2 million.
** CenterPoint Energy in Texas is promising that its outage tracker is ready this time around for hurricane season, after its Houston-area customers were outraged that the previous tracker was broken through last year’s May derecho and Hurricane Beryl.
** Circle K, the global convenience store chain, is giving U.S. customers an easy way to save heading into the long Memorial Day weekend. The brand is bringing back its popular Circle K Fuel Day nationwide on Thursday, May 22, lowering its fuel prices by 40 cents per gallon*.
World
** The French National Centre for Scientific Research and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission have joined forces on the innovative SupraFusion program. With €50 million ($53.35 million) in funding over seven years, this initiative involves more than 200 scientists from about 20 research organizations and companies.
** China has a major role at each stage of the global battery supply chain and dominates interregional trade of minerals. China imported almost 12 million short tons of raw and processed battery minerals, accounting for 44% of interregional trade, and exported almost 11 million short tons of battery materials, packs, and components, or 58% of interregional trade in 2023, according to regional UN Comtrade data.
** The world’s sources of critical minerals are increasingly concentrated in just a few countries, most notably China, leaving the global economy vulnerable to supply cutoffs that could disrupt industry and hit consumers with higher prices, a report said Wednesday.
The Dutch government has modified the conditions for its upcoming 1 GW offshore wind auction planned for October 2025. Estimating poor market conditions, partly due to lack of large-scale demand for electricity, the Dutch Ministry of Climate and Green Growth has decided to adjust its planned auction to make more attractive the development of the tendered offshore wind project.
** The Emirati company ADNOC has signed several agreements on energy with US companies, notably ExxonMobil and Occidental Petroleum, which could potentially enable US$60bn of US investments in UAE energy projects. The agreements include a field development plan with ExxonMobil and INPEX/JODCO to expand the capacity of Abu Dhabi’s Upper Zakum offshore field through a phased development.
