Why Alaska Matters, Energy Independence, Critical Minerals, and National Security

Bernadette Wilson, Alaska Republican for Governor, stops by the Energy News Beat Podcast. Alaska is not a remote afterthought. It is one of the United States’ most strategically important resource bases for energy security, defense-critical minerals, and food supply. For two decades, its oil output declined as legacy North Slope fields matured and new projects […]

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South Korea’s Hyosung Heavy Industries has locked in ₩386.5 billion (about $277–$287 million) in ultra-high-voltage transformer contracts with two unnamed U.S. Big Tech companies for new AI data centers—one in the South and one in the North.

The award is smaller than some of Hyosung’s earlier 2026 utility mega-deals, but it is strategically important: hyperscalers are now buying grid hardware directly, and Hyosung is one of the few firms that can deliver 765 kV equipment from a U.S. factory. The split is ₩220 billion of 765 kV transformers for the southern site […]

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EPA poised to scrap power plant carbon standards: a reliability and energy-security reset as demand surges

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under Administrator Lee Zeldin is expected to formally rescind the Biden-era carbon pollution standards for fossil fuel-fired power plants, completing a multi-year rollback of greenhouse-gas rules that the administration argues threatened grid reliability and raised costs. Reports indicate the announcement is timed for a G20 energy ministers meeting in Houston […]

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U.S. Weekly Rig Report: WellDatabase, Baker Hughes, and Enverus Compared — Record Production Meets Middle East Supply Shock

The latest WellDatabase U.S. Rig Report dated September 11, 2026, shows 598 active rigs, down 32 week-over-week but up 22 year-over-year. Baker Hughes, which released the same day, reported 591 rigs, up 3 from 588 the prior week and up about 52–54 from 537 a year earlier. Enverus’ daily GPS-tracked count stood near 661 as […]

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