The bill: Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) have unveiled the “FREEDOM act,” Politico reported. This bill would restrict a president’s power to axe or delay energy project approvals. Specifically, the legislation would bar federal agencies from 1) snatching permits 2) rolling out stop-work orders and 3) freezing construction on most permitted projects.

Sound familiar? President Trump has harnessed these very tactics to hamstring US solar and wind development. 

The stakes: Senate Democrats have said they’ll delay federal permitting reform talks until Trump’s “mischief” comes to an end. Now, the new legislation might finally get things back on track (and make it easier to bring urgently needed new generation online).

Unprecedented temperatures could equal unprecedented energy costs. Households are predicted to pay nearly $800 on average between June and September. That’s an over 10% increase from last year, according to a recent report from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association. This trend is driven by “nominal price inflation and real increases in electricity expenditures.” 

Uneven impacts: The biggest price spikes could hit the Mountain region, where residents are poised to pay nearly 14% more. That’s followed by the South Atlantic, where households could see a nearly 13% increase.

The Canadys project, slated to hit the grid by mid-2033, is planned for a retired coal plant site. The SC PUC said it “will serve the interests of system economy and reliability.” But critics worry the project will raise customer bills—especially because it lacks a cost cap commitment from the utilities. 

And in Michigan, DTE is getting a $1.6B loan from the DOE to upgrade 800 miles of gas mains and service lines. Feds said the upgrades will save Michigan customers $700M…but didn’t specify how long these returns will take.

Yee-haw: That’s the verdict from a new Texas Reliability Entity report, which noted that battery storage and solar helped meet 2025 summer demand (renewables contributed nearly 40% of total load during the 84-GW summer peak). Texas RE also pointed out that winterization efforts have eased risks from icy storms.

Yes, but: As the grid’s solar and battery penetration ramps up, the report acknowledged that “ride-through and oscillation events from inverter-based resources continue to be observed.” And with hundreds of potential gigawatts in the state’s large-load pipeline, Texas has plenty of work ahead to keep things stable in the coming years. 

While we’re here: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has announced a $200M grant for Entergy to boost electric reliability in the state’s Southeast, including improved defenses against severe weather.

The context: In February, the grid operator greenlit roughly $12B in transmission projects in its eastern, southern, and western footprints (including facility upgrades and new extra-high-voltage lines). 

The discounts: Now, PJM said, these projects have yielded some serious savings, reducing costs to link up new generation by $8.7B. (It’s also worth noting that 180 projects backed out of the interconnection process, which PJM said drove “some of the difference in cost.”)

New standards: Nine Northeast states (plus D.C.) published reports laying the groundwork to transport this energy from turbines to homes and businesses across the Atlantic region. The goal? Standardized HVDC transmission (with reliability standards to match).

Why it matters: As the Trump administration shows some signs of defeat in the battle against wind, the reports signal that some states are sticking to their offshore ambitions.