** Michigan launches a first-of-a-kind lawsuit that accuses four oil-and-gas giants and a major U.S. oil lobbying firm of behaving like a “cartel” to impede both the energy transition and public knowledge of the perils of climate change.
** As data centers look to bypass long wait times to connect to the grid by building their own energy, a whopping 75% of projects aim to get that on-site power from natural gas.
** Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, one of two House Republicans to vote against the repeal of clean-energy tax credits last year, prepares to introduce legislation to restore those incentives amid soaring energy costs.
** Environmentalists contend that as companies plan a massive expansion of fossil fuel pipelines across the U.S., the Trump Administration is making it easier for operators to avoid following pipeline safety regulations.
** A nuclear power company is partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy to harness a more sustainable energy source. Terrestrial Energy announced the “groundbreaking initiative” in early January. The company said DOE authorization will help it achieve its goal of building and licensing the first Integral Molten Salt Reactor plants by the early 2030s.
World
** Chevron has signed an initial agreement to start working in Syria, weeks after the Syrian government seized control of key oil and gas fields in the north of the country. The deal is part of a push by President Ahmed al-Sharaa of Syria to reinvigorate the country’s energy sector, which was devastated during a nearly 14-year-long civil war.
** Coal-fired electricity saw a rare decline in China last year thanks to the country’s staggering clean-energy buildout, but proposals to build new coal power plants still surged to a record high.
** German Chancellor Friedrich Merz staged a three-day trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates in search of new energy deals that can reduce the country’s reliance on liquefied natural gas from the increasingly erratic United States.