** Hawaiʻi and Wisconsin joined the Affordable Clean Cars Coalition last week, increasing membership to 13 state governors reported Utility Dive. Launched in May, the coalition aims to promote more affordable electric vehicles, support U.S. automotive manufacturers and preserve states’ authority under the Clean Air Act.
** Spire natural gas customers in Missouri will see a bump in their bill starting in October, but the increase is less than originally requested by the company in 2024. The Missouri Public Service Commission announced that it had approved a rate increase for Spire that will allow it to collect $210 million more in revenue than last year.
** Texas oilfield waste company McBride Operating has paid more than $32,000 in federal fines and separately settled a civil lawsuit after a worker was killed last year when he was struck by a pump valve.
** President Trump’s rollback of clean energy incentives threatens the Nature Conservancy’s ambitious plan to build more than 500 MW of solar arrays and battery storage on former coal mineland in Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
** The developer of Virginia’s controversial Gigaland data center promised $100 Amazon gift cards to residents who emailed county supervisors in support of the project.
** The Department of the Interior has approved a mining plan change for the Black Butte Mine in Sweetwater County, Wyoming. The change allows the Black Butte Coal Company to recover about 9.2 million tons of federal coal in two new areas, known as Pit 15 and Pit 10. The Black Butte Mine has operated since 1977, supplying coal to the Jim Bridger Power Plant and supporting jobs on federal, state and private lands.
World
** The head of Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom says it has a deal to build a pipeline to China, but there are many unanswered questions about the details of the agreement. Known as the Power of Siberia 2 — it would give Russia a way to replace some of the revenue from its decades of selling natural gas to Europe that was lost over its invasion of Ukraine.
** Chinese car makers are making inroads in Europe and executives say they are in the region to stay, underscoring a key reversal as brands from BYD to SAIC take market share on a continent where they once struggled to make sales.
** Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday they had reached a deal on resuming inspections at sites including those bombed by the U.S. and Israel but gave no specifics, and Tehran warned the West the deal was off if sanctions were re-imposed.
** India is working to obtain rare-earth samples from Myanmar with the assistance of a powerful rebel group, according to four people familiar with the matter, as it seeks alternative supplies of a strategic resource tightly controlled by China.