** The Trump administration moves to reverse the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s policy giving tribal nations veto power over proposed hydropower projects on their land.
** In 2024, 42 of the 50 states saw fewer solar installations last year than the year before, and there was an overall 39% decrease in capacity. That trend has continued into 2025, and with the Trump administration’s determination to cut solar incentives, it is only getting harder for individual homeowners to install their own solar panels.
** A Utah company says it has unearthed a massive deposit of minerals crucial for building electric vehicles, semiconductors, satellites, magnets, and more. Ionic Minerals Technology, or Ionic MT, found its Silicon Ridge mine is chock-full of critical minerals and rare earth elements.
** Colorado regulators vote to delay approving a proposed 32-well oil and gas drilling project outside Denver and direct the developer to seek other sites following residents’ opposition.
** A global industrial waste company that sought to open a recycling facility in a historic Kansas City, Kansas, neighborhood withdrew its plans after organized opposition from environmental activists and community advocates. Reworld homed in on the city’s Armourdale neighborhood for its new processing facility.
** Sandia National Laboratories has brought a new supercomputer prototype, named Spectra, online this month, which is designed to test a completely new architecture for high-performance computing. This system could reshape advanced simulations critical for ensuring the reliability and safety of the U.S. nuclear stockpile.
** The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced that a new labor framework will be implemented starting Jan. 11, 2026, rescinding the 2024 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and other determinations.
** Northern Arizona residents file a referendum aimed at reversing the Page City Council’s decision to sell 500 acres for a proposed 1,000 MW data center and associated power generation.
World
** A Russian Shahed kamikaze drone strike on a ship in the port of Chornomorsk was in retaliation for a recent spate of Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil tankers in the Black Sea, the Ambrey maritime security firm tells us. The attack on the Turkish-owned CENK-T roll-on, roll-off cargo ship comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned he would “cut Ukraine off from the sea” in response to Ukraine’s stepped-up campaign against Russian commercial shipping.
** BP has brought online the Atlantis Drill Center 1 expansion in the U.S. Gulf of America, marking the company’s seventh major upstream project startup of 2025 and reinforcing its push to grow oil and gas production from core offshore assets.