Good morning, and welcome to June. The month opens with a rate case, a union fight, a water workaround and another round of data-center rulemaking. Let's dig in.
Top Stories
UNIONS FLEX ON DATA-CENTER RULES
E&E News / Politico Pro
Labor is becoming a bigger force in state data-center fights, pushing lawmakers to tie AI infrastructure growth to jobs, cost protections and community terms.
ENTERGY FILLS MISO FAST TRACK WITH GAS
Utility Dive
Entergy has nearly 9 gigawatts of gas-fired projects in MISO's expedited queue, with much of the demand tied to planned data centers in Louisiana and Mississippi.
ILLINOIS DATA-CENTER GUARDRAILS STALL
Shaw Local / Capitol News Illinois
The POWER Act missed the spring deadline, leaving Illinois without new rules on data-center generation, renewable sourcing, water reporting or community benefit agreements.
DTE SAYS GOOGLE DEAL SHIELDS RATEPAYERS
The Detroit News
DTE's Trevor Lauer says the utility's Google data-center contract is structured to protect other customers if the Wayne County project does not materialize.
PERMIAN WATER PITCHES THE AI BOOM
Houston Chronicle
Texas oil producers see treated produced water as a potential supply source for thirsty data centers, turning one energy-sector waste problem into another sector's input.
Power & Grid
DEREGULATION FUELS NUCLEAR COMEBACK ARGUMENT
National Review
The piece argues that federal deregulation and AI-driven power demand are pulling nuclear back into the center of the U.S. energy debate.
MISSOURI REVISITS WHO FUNDS POWER PLANTS
St. Louis Public Radio
A 50-year-old ballot fight is back in the conversation as Missouri weighs whether voters should again decide how new power plants get financed.
BURIED LINES GET A CLIMATE-RESILIENCE TEST
Grist
Undergrounding power lines can reduce outage and wildfire risk, but the price tag keeps utilities and regulators arguing over where it actually makes sense.
FIRSTENERGY SEEKS THREE-YEAR RATE HIKE
Fox 8 Cleveland
FirstEnergy is proposing a multi-year Ohio rate plan built around grid upgrades and tree trimming, putting reliability spending back in the bill-pressure file.
VIRTUAL POWER PLANTS MOVE FROM JARGON TO STRATEGY
NBC4 Washington
Virtual power plants are moving from clean-energy jargon to utility strategy as companies look for flexible supply from rooftop solar, batteries and customer-owned devices.
Data Centers
PENNSYLVANIA BILL TARGETS DATA-CENTER UTILITY STATUS
Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Sen. Katie Muth wants to block data centers from being treated as public utilities, a direct shot at efforts to let large AI loads claim utility-like powers.
BIG LOADS COULD BANKROLL CLEAN-TECH RISK
Utility Dive
CEBA says large-load customers can help commercialize new clean-energy technologies if utility contracts are built to share early deployment risk.
AI TURNS ENERGY INTO THE HOTTEST BUSINESS
Axios
AI demand is turning power supply, storage and grid equipment into a bigger business opportunity as tech companies race to secure energy.
FLEXIBLE DEMAND, NOT DOOM, WILL DECIDE THE AI GRID
Forbes
The argument is less that AI inevitably breaks the grid and more that flexible demand, efficiency and smarter siting will decide how painful the buildout gets.
UTAH AUDITOR OPENS THE BOOKS ON DATA-CENTER DISTRICT
Utah News Dispatch
The state auditor launched a public dashboard detailing the finances and authority of MIDA, the special district behind the Stratos data center, as its tax-and-debt powers draw fresh scrutiny.
Stat of the Day
9 GW
Entergy gas projects in MISO's expedited interconnection queue
The queue shows how quickly data-center load is translating into conventional power-plant demand.
Utility Dive report ↗