Dan McCarthy

A new Ohio bill could be a de facto statewide ban on solar and wind The state is mulling a bill that calls for all new generation to be “affordable, reliable, and clean” — but its strained definitions would exclude…

I'm pretty sure the ALEC / TPPF folks tried this same "capacity factor" backdoor attack in Texas. But Texas lawmakers were too smart — and too aware of the vitality of solar and batteries for the state's energy reliability and affordability — to bite.
www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...
#energysky

What Energy Secretary Wright gets wrong about the grid Chris Wright trashed solar and wind for not providing much power during Winter Storm Fern — and ignored basic facts about how much renewables contribute…

Nicely done, @jeffstjohn.bsky.social, with a useful fact check on Chris Wright: www.canarymedia.com/articles/tra...

What Energy Secretary Wright gets wrong about the grid Chris Wright trashed solar and wind for not providing much power during Winter Storm Fern — and ignored basic facts about how much renewables contribute…

Energy Secretary Chris Wright says wind and solar were "a cost center" and "not actually helpful" for the East Coast grid during Winter Storm Fern. He ignored renewables' year-round value, the Texas solar-battery boom, and winter risks to fossil fuels:
www.canarymedia.com/articles/tra...
#energysky

Chart: Surprise — batteries got cheaper again last year The steady downward march of lithium-ion battery prices is one of the key stories of the energy transition. The trend continued last year.

Lithium-ion batteries once again got cheaper in 2025. It's crazy how they keep doing that! www.canarymedia.com/articles/bat... via @danmccarthy.bsky.social

Are faked public comments about to tank an Ohio solar farm? Dozens of public comments opposing the $98 million Crossroads Solar project appear to be fabricated. Ohio’s siting board may block the project anyway.

Are solar farms in Ohio being denied due to faked local opposition? @canarymedia.com's Kathianne Kowalski does the work of checking the names and addresses — and it sure looks like there are a lot of fabricated "local" opponents to it:
www.canarymedia.com/articles/sol...
#energysky

Are faked public comments about to tank an Ohio solar farm? Dozens of public comments opposing the $98 million Crossroads Solar project appear to be fabricated. Ohio’s siting board may block the project anyway.

Ohio is poised to block a 94-MW solar farm because of local pushback — even though a substantial number of public comments opposing the installation appear to be fabricated.

@kmkowalski.bsky.social investigates:

www.canarymedia.com/articles/sol...

Are faked public comments about to tank an Ohio solar farm? Dozens of public comments opposing the $98 million Crossroads Solar project appear to be fabricated. Ohio’s siting board may block the project anyway.

Regulatory staff flip-flop, faked comments & other evidence in Ohio's Crossroads Solar case raise big questions about whether local government opposition to renewable energy should trump statewide needs and benefits.
@canarymedia.com @ejtodaynews.bsky.social www.canarymedia.com/articles/sol...

Sunrise Wind can proceed, ending Trump’s offshore wind ban — for now A judge cleared New York’s Sunrise Wind to resume construction, completing a string of court victories for wind developers after Trump’s December…

Judge says Sunrise Wind can resume construction, ”ending Trump’s offshore wind ban — for now.” via @canarymedia.com: www.canarymedia.com/articles/off...

The Trump Administration Is Now Delaying Renewable Projects It Thinks Are Ugly The Army Corps of Engineers is out to protect “the beauty of the Nation’s natural landscape.”

BIG SCOOP @heatmap.news: The Trump administration is now going after renewable energy projects on both public and private lands by indefinitely delaying water permits … on grounds that the projects might have bad “aesthetics”

Yes, they’re hurting renewable energy projects by calling them ugly

Careers The leading newsroom covering the transition to clean energy, electrification and climate solutions. We report on how the world is decarbonizing with a…

We're hiring a development director! Come help us take our nonprofit, clean energy-covering newsroom to the next level by building on our strong base of foundation and donor support.
www.canarymedia.com/careers

22GW of renewables thwarted or in limbo under Trump ‘blockade’ An Interior Department memo is hampering wind and solar on public lands. It’s one of many federal actions slowing the build-out of cheap, clean energy.

Great story by @mariagallucci.bsky.social on how Trump forcing all Department of Interior reviews of clean energy projects to get personal approval from DOI Secretary Doug Burgum has stifled 22GW of development in the midst of an energy crisis:
www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...
#energysky

Trump’s DOJ turns its attention to local gas bans The federal government is suing two San Francisco Bay Area cities over their right to bar gas in new buildings. Critics say the case’s legal argument is…

The Trump administration has sued two small CA cities over their local ordinances prohibiting gas in new construction. But with the state's new building code, it might not matter.

“California’s really moved on.” — Matt Vespa, @earthjustice.org

www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...

Trump admin’s must-run orders put broken-down coal plants in a bind Utilities are already paying to keep aging coal plants open under DOE emergency orders. New demands to revive nonfunctioning units add costs and legal…

Insane story from @jeffstjohn.bsky.social:

Trump admin has ordered coal plants with inoperable units to stay online, forcing their owners to make costly repairs to facilities that are totally uneconomical to run.

Utility customers will likely bear the costs.

www.canarymedia.com/articles/fos...

Is the US headed toward an electricity crisis of its own making? Trump administration policies and AI needs are fueling a growing mismatch between energy supply and demand. That’s a huge problem, but there may be a way…

Is the US headed toward an electricity crisis of its own making?

I and several other folks in this article say: yes
www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...

Screenshot of an article with the below text: Things are getting messy. President Donald Trump has gutted the only significant decarbonization law the U.S. ever managed to pass. Blue-state governors are backsliding on clean energy goals and easing up on fossil fuels under the cover of affordability. Oil and gas companies have dropped the pretense of caring about climate. ESG is dead. The ​“climate hawk” is dead. The words ​“pragmatism” and ​“realism” have become as inescapable in climate policy discourse as reminders of planetary warming are in the weather reports. Yes, the climate conversation has changed dramatically over the last year, at least in the Western world. But the techno-economic trends that are driving decarbonization forward have not. Clean energy — mostly solar — is still being built at a blistering pace. EVs are beginning to run gas cars off the road. China’s emissions could be starting to decline. The world is on track for far less warming than it was when the Paris Agreement was signed a decade ago, and we’re still in the early innings of clean energy deployment. In 2026, I’ll be watching this dissonance between decarbonization vibes and reality. Will politicians, companies, and others grow increasingly quiet on climate, all while the clean energy revolution speaks louder and louder?

Happy New Year! One big theme I'm watching in 2026 is the increasing gap between energy-transition vibes (bad) and the growth of clean energy (good).

Check out the rest of the Canary team's thoughts for 2026 at the link:

www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...

It brings me no pleasure to report that my beat — offshore wind power — skyrocketed to the top of new sites today.

I just published a scoop about Trump's halt on 5 in-progress wind farms capable of powering 2.7 million homes.

Here's a mega🧵

🔗 2nd post is a link to my scoop
🎁 last post is a gift

‘Bonkers': DOI letter halts all five in-progress offshore wind farms Construction will be paused for 90 days as Trump's Department of War and Interior Department coordinate to evaluate supposed "national security" risks.

EXCLUSIVE: I received a copy of the letter sent to developers today halting construction on all 5 offshore wind farms being built in America.

What’s new here is the close “coordination” with the “Department of War” in determining the “risk” poised by these wind farms. And the threat to “cancel.”

Chart: Clean energy remains dominant in the US — despite Trump Trump spent much of 2025 boosting fossil fuels and blocking renewables, but 92% of new power additions through November were solar, wind, or batteries.

Caveats apply, as this data is only through November, but so far, this year, 92% of the new power plants built in the U.S. have been solar/batteries/wind.

92%! In the year Trump tried to destroy clean energy!

More in this week's chart for @canarymedia.com:

www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...

The man behind the fall of offshore wind David Stevenson has solar on his roof and drives a hybrid. How did he become the leader of the movement that helped Trump crush offshore wind farms?

We often think, “I’m just one person—what difference could I make?”

This story shows that, when we use our voice, the answer is: a lot.

So if one person can catalyze so much harm, imagine the good each of us can choose to support and advocate for.

Read more by @fieseler.bsky.social here:

Indiana says it’s retiring two coal plants, but is it making other… The Trump administration has already ordered a Michigan coal plant to run past its retirement date. Two polluting, inefficient plants in Indiana may be…

Indiana may get cleaner by closing two coal plants this month, but the operators expect the Trump administration may stop them from shutting down, as has been done to a plant in Michigan.

www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...

The man behind the fall of offshore wind David Stevenson has solar on his roof and drives a hybrid. How did he become the leader of the movement that helped Trump crush offshore wind farms?

From @fieseler.bsky.social, a wild account of the guy who's spent the best of his years spreading garbage about offshore wind

www.canarymedia.com/articles/off...

The man behind the fall of offshore wind David Stevenson has solar on his roof and drives a hybrid. How did he become the leader of the movement that helped Trump crush offshore wind farms?

Man this @fieseler.bsky.social long-read for @canarymedia.com is fantastic, and long both due to its length and the fact you will need to walk away from your device, scream into the sky for 5 minutes and return to continue reading

So much to break down here.....

ICYMI Here’s your Friday long read:

My in-depth profile story of David Stevenson, the man who crushed America’s offshore wind industry.

Thanks to @motherjones.com for republishing. 🙏

Very cool to see my news org @canarymedia.com teaming up with some of my other favorite non-profit newsrooms to help you get the best climate journalism in your inbox. Please sign up!

@thexylom.com @floodlightnews.org @sentientmedia.org @planetdetroit.org @agwaterdesk.bsky.social

#greensky

The man behind the fall of offshore wind David Stevenson has solar on his roof and drives a hybrid. How did he become the leader of the movement that helped Trump crush offshore wind farms?

In Feb 2023, I attended a climate skeptics conference in Orlando. I was the only reporter.

David Stevenson told me there that the offshore wind industry would ​“crumble” before it reached South Carolina. And that he was leading the opposition.

I followed him for 3 years and wrote this story.

In case you missed it, check out @danmccarthy.bsky.social’s awesome longform dispatch from Greece about their energy transition. 👇

As solar booms and coal fades, Greece’s mining region struggles to… Next year, Greece will complete its coal phaseout, a success for the energy transition. But Western Macedonia residents feel left behind.

Greece is about to complete one of the most ambitious coal phaseouts in the world.

But Western Macedonia, its longtime energy region, is struggling to adapt.

“It’s like the Titanic,” one source said, “Everybody dancing on board, but the disaster is coming.”

www.canarymedia.com/articles/jus...

NEW: A federal judge denied the Trump admin attempt to revoke approvals for US Wind, a project slated to be Maryland's 1st offshore wind farm.

This shows cracks in Trump's anti-wind legal strategy.

Last month, a judge sided w/ Trump admin that it *can* reconsider approvals for a Mass wind farm.

As solar booms and coal fades, Greece’s mining region struggles to… Next year, Greece will complete its coal phaseout, a success for the energy transition. But Western Macedonia residents feel left behind.

Killer dispatch by @danmccarthy.bsky.social on Greece's shift away from coal:

“Everybody knew that the coal would have to end. But nobody did anything to prevent the disaster. It’s like the Titanic — everybody dancing on board, but the disaster is coming.” www.canarymedia.com/articles/jus...

As solar booms and coal fades, Greece’s mining region struggles to… Next year, Greece will complete its coal phaseout, a success for the energy transition. But Western Macedonia residents feel left behind.

In September, I went to Greece to report on its rapid move away from coal.

Despite getting ~50% of power from coal a decade ago, it'll be coal free next year. Solar is booming.

It's a stunning shift — but not without challenges for Greece's coal region.

www.canarymedia.com/articles/jus...