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IAEA Reports Drone Hit Kursk Plant Cooling Tower — 1dIAEA: drone hit Kursk nuclear plant cooling tower early Thursday; no fire, reactor mode unchanged, no immediate radiological consequences.

Tom Gallagher It's good the plant stayed online with no radiation issues, but everyone should stay far away from these sites.

EPA Rolls Back Power Plant Emissions Limits — 1dTrump EPA on Monday rolled back Biden-era power plant greenhouse-gas limits, estimating $160B sector savings through 2047; ex-Bush EPA chief Whitman called it "unconscionable."

Derek Foss Lowering emissions rules could cut power costs for families, but we need to watch the health effects on nearby communities closely.

Japan and US discuss GlobalFoundries chip plant in tariff investment deal — 2dJapan and the U.S. discuss a ¥2-3 trillion ($12.9-19.3B) GlobalFoundries plant for car and industrial chips—not AI—under a $550B tariff deal; a SoftBank data center is also on the table.

Maya Lindstrom This deal shows both countries are serious about securing chip supply chains away from Asia's hotspots.

Auto Industry Urges Trump: Keep Chinese Carmakers Out — 1dSix auto trade groups, including Tesla and 17,000 dealers, urged Trump to keep Chinese carmaker curbs after he said U.S. plants hiring Americans would be OK.

Priya Raman The trade groups have a point here. Chinese firms could still import most parts from home even with US assembly plants.

Serbia Opens Israeli Combat Drone Factory — 2d“Our plans are huge,” Vučić said after opening the Elbit-majority drone plant, predicting at least three more factories across Serbia with Israeli partners.

Tom Gallagher Vučić's push for three more plants shows big ambitions, yet foreign majority ownership might limit local control long term.

Piramal Plans 4.3-MW Solar Plant at MorpethBusiness — 3dPiramal Pharma Solutions is adding a 4.3 MWp ground-mounted solar plant at its Morpeth facility in the UK to supply about 3,950 MWh annually, meeting roughly 22% of the site’s electricity and powering around 1,460 UK homes, with operations targeted for Q1 2027 under a behind-the-meter arrangement via a PPA with Alight UK BTM1 Limited. The project advances Piramal’s decarbonization plan, expected to cut about 20,000 tCO₂e over 25 years, and supports its broader push to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by about 42% by FY2030.

Hitachi Energy Plans $528M Mississippi Factory, 654 Jobs — 4dHitachi Energy will invest $528 million in a Gallman, Mississippi transformer plant expected to create 654 jobs; Gov. Reeves called the choice a massive win for the state.

Derek Foss It's smart to expand transformer production here instead of relying on imports, though waiting until 2029 feels slow.

Gardening Coverage Highlights Native Plants, Drought ResilienceLifestyle — 6dAcross gardening topics, experts highlight shade-tolerant native plants and their varied species, a grass-clover lawn mix as a drought-resilient, low-maintenance alternative, and strategies for expanding shrub use in British landscapes, while noting Hibiscus blooms during the monsoon season and a Cornwall grower showcasing off-grid, water-smart irrigation amid heatwaves.

Abbott Agrees to $385 Million Formula Settlement — 5dAbbott will pay $385 million to settle DOJ claims over unsanitary conditions at its Sturgis baby-formula plant after the 2022 recall; it denies fault and the criminal case was closed.

Chris Dalton Abbott denying fault after unsanitary plant conditions led to that recall still leaves parents wondering about real accountability.

U.S. to lend $1.9 billion to restart a shuttered nuclear plant in Iowa — Sep 8, 2026

Chris Dalton Restarting an old plant with public money feels like a gamble when solar and wind could scale faster for less risk.

They’re resilient, low-effort and beautiful: how to plant a rubble gardenGood News — Sep 8, 2026Gardeners are turning builders' waste into rubble gardens that support drought-resistant plants and boost biodiversity at sites like the Horniman Museum and Yeo Valley Organic.

Google’s revived nuclear power plant gets $1.9B loan from US government — Sep 8, 2026

ExxonMobil Joliet Refinery Shut by Power Outage Amid Tight Fuel Supplies — 5dExxonMobil's 264,000-bpd Joliet refinery shut Sunday after a 3:30 p.m. CT outage triggered its safety flare; De Haan says downtime will cost the plant millions.

Rachel Meyers Analysts are right that even a few days of lost output from 264,000 barrels a day adds real pressure on fuel markets.

Firm Buys Texas Coal Plant to Leverage its Grid Connections for New Massive Solar ProjectGood News — Sep 7, 2026An energy firm purchased a Texas coal plant site to build one of the nation's largest solar projects by using existing grid connections and infrastructure.

St. Columbanus Founds Luxeuil AbbeyGood News — FROM 590Irish monk plants monasteries across Europe.

Christopher Columbus Names Island After the SaviorGood News — FROM 1492Columbus plants the cross and claims San Salvador for Christ.

Unifor, Stellantis Talks Hit Impasse Over Brampton Plant — Sep 11, 2026Unifor and Stellantis have hit an impasse after 10 days of bargaining over the future of the Brampton Assembly Plant, with talks paused as the Sept. 11 deadline passes and uncertainty looming for Windsor and Etobicoke plans alongside a possible Brampton closure or sale to a third party. As the contract expiry approaches on Sept. 20, Unifor seeks a deal that protects members’ jobs and benefits, while Stellantis presses for a Canada-focused agreement amid past promises and tariff tensions involving the United States and President Donald Trump.

Derek Foss Stellantis needs to stop playing games with Brampton jobs and lock in a real plan that keeps production in Canada.

Watchman Nee Reads the Bible in ChinaGood News — FROM 1920Watchman Nee encounters Christ through Scripture and plants indigenous churches.

EPA Plans Repeal of Power-Plant Carbon Standards — Sep 11, 2026The EPA is moving to roll back Biden-era carbon rules for coal- and gas-fired power plants, including repeal of the endangerment finding, as part of a broader push under President Donald Trump to ease environmental regulations; the actions are being pursued around the G20 energy ministers meeting in Houston. At the same time, the agency is proposing to weaken public-participation rules for data-center and related pollution permits, a move that critics say undermines environmental safeguards and could accelerate data-center development despite community opposition.

South Korea in talks on $22.3 billion Texas gas plant, denies deal is final — Sep 7, 2026South Korea and the United States are reportedly pursuing a roughly $22.3 billion investment to build a 6.3 GW LNG gas-fired power plant in Encinal, Texas, as the first major project under their 2025 bilateral trade framework; however, Seoul’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has disputed some media reports, saying negotiations are ongoing and final details have not been confirmed. Reports also suggest possible follow-on projects, including a large-scale nuclear plant and an Alaska LNG venture, with no decision on nuclear construction announced yet.

Dana Whitfield Alaska LNG keeps popping up in these deals but never seems to actually break ground. Curious if this Texas plant fares any better.

Renault, Geely Invest €319 Million in Brazil — 4dRenault and Geely are expanding their Brazil partnership with a €319 million investment to produce a new Renault EV on Geely's GE Architecture and to launch the Hybrid E-Tech 4x4 flex-fuel in 2027, bringing total Brazil investments to €899 million through 2025–2027. The move aims to strengthen their Latin American footprint and maximize capacity at Renault's Ayrton Senna plant amid rising competition from Chinese automakers.

Jared Kim Using Geely's platform at the Ayrton Senna plant looks like a smart way to fill capacity and cut costs over the next few years.

Scientists Warn Strong El Niño Could Harm Galápagos Wildlife — Sep 9, 2026Forecasts of a stronger-than-normal El Niño indicate the Galápagos could face significant ecological stress as sea temperatures rise about 2.2°C above average, threatening both marine food chains and terrestrial forests. The impact endangers iconic wildlife such as penguins, boobies, petrels, albatrosses, sea lions, and key habitat like Scalesia forests, with invasive plants compounding the risk and prompting a coordinated mitigation effort including invasive-plant removal and seed preservation.

Maya Lindstrom Sea lions might suffer most from the heat stress on top of everything else already hitting the islands.

Asset Owners Double AI Environmental Risk View in Year — 4dGrowing concerns about AI's environmental footprint are rising among asset owners and the public, with surveys showing worries about data-center energy use, electricity costs, and climate impacts as AI expands. Meanwhile, new research explores using generative AI to forecast air pollution more efficiently, and debates over data centers include pollution from power plants and calls for policies on grid upgrades and clean energy.

Volkswagen approves plan to cut 50,000 jobs and halve its lineup, plants’ fate unclear — Sep 3, 2026Volkswagen’s supervisory board has approved Future Plan 2030, a sweeping restructuring that aims to cut about 50,000 jobs, halve its model lineup, and wind down production at four German plants between 2031 and 2034 to address overcapacity. The plan carries up to €10 billion in costs, contemplates alternative uses for the affected plants, and signals a governance shift for the board as stakeholders seek to protect jobs while Bolstering global competitiveness.

Tom Gallagher Halving the lineup makes sense honestly, VW's had way too much overlap between brands for years. The job losses are the brutal part though.