Germany is set to finish a decades-long conversion of former lignite mines in Lusatia into Europe's largest artificial lake landscape, spanning 14,000 hectares. Lake Sedlitz, the final lake in the network, will open for swimming and boating later this month, following the flooding of pits that began with Lake Senftenberg in 1967. The region, located between Berlin and Dresden, previously had few natural lakes due to its permeable sand and gravel soil.
euronews.com
· 2026-10-09
The US Energy Information Administration reported that solar power generated 47,147 gigawatt-hours in May, surpassing coal's 45,119 gigawatt-hours and outproducing wind as well. It marks the first month solar has exceeded both coal and wind in national electricity generation.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-29
An Entrepreneur opinion piece argues that business costs, already elevated due to years of supply chain disruption, are being further strained by a resurgence in union membership. The author notes union membership reached a 16-year high in 2025, fueled largely by younger and minority workers joining organized labor.
entrepreneur.com
· 2026-09-23
The Trump administration's EPA, led by Lee Zeldin, has finalized plans to eliminate federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal and natural gas power plants, rolling back rules established under the Biden and Obama administrations. A companion rule would also try to block future administrations from reinstating such restrictions on power plant emissions.
futurism.com
· 2026-09-15
The Trump administration's Environmental Protection Agency has proposed eliminating federal restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from coal- and oil-fired power plants. The agency's filing goes further than a simple rollback, seemingly inviting judges to rule that the EPA lacks authority to regulate such emissions from the power sector at all in the future.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-09-15
A federal appeals court struck down the Department of Energy's emergency order requiring the J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant in Michigan to remain operating, finding the government had no factual basis for declaring an emergency. The ruling undercuts the Trump administration's use of emergency authority to override utility retirement plans for aging fossil fuel infrastructure.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-09-12
A DC Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously ruled that the Department of Energy's use of emergency wartime powers to keep the J.H. Campbell coal plant in Michigan running past its scheduled closure was unlawful. The DOE had issued five consecutive 90-day emergency declarations under the Federal Power Act to prevent the plant from shutting down, despite no actual power shortage.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-11