The Daily Mine — Wednesday, February 25, 2026

TRUMP at SOTU: Tech giants must 'build their own plant'...
Politico / Guardian / LA Times / The Hill
Trump formalized agreements with major AI companies to pay their own electricity costs at Tuesday night's State of the Union — capping a week in which nine states and a sitting president all delivered the same message to Big Tech.

REVOLT WORKED: Local opposition forced Trump's hand on data centers...
Southern Environmental Law Center
SELC says community pushback at county meetings and utility hearings across the country directly prompted the White House's ratepayer protection announcement — from local to federal in 18 months.

IT'S A CAMPAIGN ISSUE NOW: Data center electricity costs go midterm across party lines...
Politico
Candidates in competitive midterm races are seizing on ratepayer anger over data center electricity costs — and the fight is crossing party lines.

'NONSENSE': Critics slam ratepayer pledge — 'Big Tech won't do anything for anyone but itself'...
Food & Water Watch
Advocates fired back within hours, calling the ratepayer protection pledge toothless and warning that voluntary commitments from tech companies will not protect electricity customers.

FIRST SOLAR tanks after Trump permitting delays cloud outlook...
Reuters
First Solar shares slid after the company's net sales forecast fell short of expectations, with Trump administration permitting delays cited as a key headwind.

SOLAR TOPS FORCED LABOR SEIZURE LIST — panels account for biggest share of blocked Chinese imports...
Reuters
Solar panels are the single largest category of goods seized under the US forced labor import ban — a supply chain squeeze hitting just as domestic solar demand surges.

New York Republicans unveil plan to slash utility bills...
Times Union
New York Assembly Republicans unveiled an energy package they say will lower utility bills — entering the ratepayer cost debate as the state faces some of the highest electricity prices in the country.

DOE keeps coal plant alive through May — PJM still squeezed...
RTO Insider
The Department of Energy extended its emergency order keeping the Eddystone coal plant online through May — a signal that PJM's capacity crunch is not easing.

Constellation earns $2.32 billion in 2025 — nuclear moment arrives...
RTO Insider
Constellation Energy, the company behind the Three Mile Island restart, reported $2.32B in 2025 profit as hyperscaler demand for nuclear power drives a historic financial windfall.

MICROSOFT confirms 1,350-acre megasite in North Carolina...
Charlotte Observer
Microsoft confirmed plans for a 1,350-acre data center megasite north of the Raleigh-Durham area — the same state where lawmakers this week are asking who should foot the power bill.

MOODY'S: Hyperscalers hiding AI lease risks from investors...
Data Center Dynamics
Moody's says hyperscalers are leaving investors in the dark by understating the risks embedded in short-term AI data center lease agreements that may not renew if AI spending pulls back.

GOOGLE GOES IRON-AIR: Minnesota data center backed by multi-day Form Energy storage...
Canary Media
Google's new Pine Island, Minnesota data center will be backed by a Form Energy iron-air battery capable of storing days worth of clean energy — a bet that long-duration storage can power AI infrastructure around the clock.

KENTUCKY becomes 10th state to target data center power costs...
Data Center Dynamics
Kentucky's House proposed a dedicated rate class for large-load data centers, making it the 10th state to take formal action on how AI infrastructure costs are allocated to ratepayers.

VIRGINIA SENATE MOVES TO KILL $1 BILLION DATA CENTER TAX BREAK — two decades of subsidies on the chopping block...
Bloomberg Law
Virginia's Senate budget proposes eliminating the state's $1B annual data center sales tax exemption — a seismic shift for the world's largest data center market after two decades of aggressive tax incentives.