WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Tuesday, readers! Dozens of coal miners and their families protested in front of the Department of Labor today, accusing President Donald Trump of failing to protect them from black lung disease. Maydeen was there – keep reading to see what some of the protesters had to say.
In today’s edition of Daily on Energy, we take a look at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is poised to undergo another shakeup as the president is now expected to name newly confirmed commissioner Laura Swett as its chair.
Recommended Stories
- Daily on Energy: Rare earth stocks up, coal miners versus Trump, and EU waters down ESG
- Daily on Energy: BLM cancels massive solar project, Keystone XL revival, and an East Coast storm
- Daily on Energy: China’s grip on rare earths, Orsted job losses, and sanctions
Plus, keep reading to find out more about how the Army is getting in on the nuclear energy renaissance.
Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner energy and environment writers Callie Patteson (@CalliePatteson) and Maydeen Merino (@MaydeenMerino). Email cpatteson@washingtonexaminer dot com or mmerino@washingtonexaminer dot com for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.
COAL MINERS PROTEST TRUMP ON SILICA DUST RULE: Dozens of coal miners gathered in front of the Department of Labor this morning to protest against the Trump administration for failing to impose a rule that would protect miners from black lung disease.
Coal miners accused President Donald Trump of not doing enough to protect them from black lung disease, a condition caused by inhaling coal and silica dust. The miners urged the administration to implement a rule that limits silica dust.
The Biden administration’s Labor Department finalized a rule last year to limit silica dust exposure, requiring mine operators to take immediate action if the limit is exceeded. However, that rule was met with legal challenges.
The rule continued to face setbacks with the change in political party in the White House. The Trump administration did not defend the rule, delayed enforcement, and asked for another court delay in October, citing the government shutdown.
What are they saying: The protest comes as the Trump administration has taken steps to bolster the coal industry. Still, Roosevelt Neal, a former West Virginia miner with 28 years of experience and black lung disease, dismissed the administration’s efforts, saying “talk is cheap.”
“Prove it to me, Mr. President, show me what you made out of. Show me what you made out of. We need this rule,” Neal told Maydeen.
Read more by Maydeen here.
WHITE HOUSE TO NAME LAURA SWETT AS FERC CHAIR: David Rosner’s stint as the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is set to end just weeks after it began, as Trump reportedly plans to tap newly confirmed commissioner Laura Swett as chair.
The details: A White House official and former Trump administration official close to the White House confirmed to Politico this afternoon that Swett would be appointed to the seat. Swett was confirmed as a FERC commissioner just last week by the Senate, alongside White House adviser David LaCerte.
Analysts have said that tapping Swett to lead the commission indicates the administration’s desire to focus on pipeline permitting, Politico reported. She is expected to serve on the commission through June 2030.
Swett, who specializes in energy litigation, previously served at FERC for five years under the second Obama administration and the first Trump administration. She was primarily an attorney adviser for the commission, and later worked as a senior legal and policy adviser for former commissioners Kevin McIntyre and Bernard McNamee.
Rosner, a Democrat, was appointed by Trump to serve as FERC chairman in August. Rosner has served on the commission since June 2024. His appointment was widely expected to be temporary, even though he is broadly considered to be a natural gas supporter and more moderate than past Democrats on the commission.
BHP WEIGHS REOPENING DEFUNCT COPPER MINES: The world’s largest mining company is considering reopening defunct copper mines in the U.S. in order to advance the Trump administration’s agenda of shoring up the critical minerals industry.
The details: BHP CEO Mike Henry told the Financial Times in an interview released today that the mining industry is undergoing a “breathtaking level of ambition and urgency” to bolster the critical minerals supply chain in the U.S.
“The more supportive attitude towards mining, and the urgency behind getting mining up and going, is a very welcome shift,” Henry told the outlet. “The sector has never been more in the spotlight.”
As a result, BHP is now weighing reopening four defunct mines in Arizona’s Globe-Miami region. These mines were closed decades ago, primarily due to low copper prices making the operations unsustainable. The cost of copper is now back on the rise and the Trump administration has aimed to incentivize domestic mining through tariffs and accelerating the federal permitting process.
BHP has not made any final decisions on reopening the mines, but Henry told the outlet that the firm has been conducting new exploratory drilling in the region.
CHRIS WRIGHT RELEASES ROADMAP TO UNLEASH FUSION ENERGY: The Department of Energy has released the Trump administration’s roadmap for building out fusion energy – what’s commonly referred to as the power of the stars.
Quick reminder: Fusion energy is a type of power generation that replicates the processes that fuel the sun and other stars, when two nuclei combine to form a new nucleus. Fusion has for decades been an attractive alternative source of energy, as it does not produce any greenhouse gases, produces less radioactive waste than nuclear fission, and is estimated to produce 10,000,000 times more energy per unit of fuel than is released in burning fossil fuels like coal.
However, we have yet to develop the technology to harness this energy. As of this year, the longest a nuclear fusion machine has maintained the necessary reaction to produce power is just over 22 minutes.
The details: It comes as no surprise that the Trump administration would continue the U.S. government’s decades-long efforts to research and develop the clean energy technology, particularly as energy demand is only expected to soar. Now, we have a better idea of just how the administration plans to do that.
Broadly, the administration is seeking to support the build-out and scale-up of fusion energy in the private sector within the 2030s. The roadmap, which was briefly public earlier today but no longer accessible as of 4 p.m. EST, breaks down this goal with several milestones, including completing reactor design and early stage demonstration within the next two to three years. After five years, the administration hopes to start construction of early stage fusion pilot plants within the private sector and have non-nuclear and nuclear operation of these power plants in five to 10 years.
While the Department of Energy currently backs multiple programs for fusion development, awarding around $30.3 million to dozens of private companies, the roadmap did not outline how much more money the government is considering investing in fusion research. Like traditional nuclear energy, fusion will require substantial backing from the government and the private sector before wary investors offer their support for the new energy tech.
ARMY LOOKS TO NUCLEAR FOR BOOSTING ENERGY SUPPLY: Even the U.S. Army is getting in on the Trump administration’s efforts to boost nuclear power.
The details: Earlier today, the Army announced the launch of the Janus Program, a next-generation nuclear power program focused on developing and installing nuclear microreactors on U.S. military bases worldwide by 2028.
The program, led by Dr. Jeff Waksman, is meant to address growing concerns that the Army has become too reliant on fossil fuels for energy and remains vulnerable to outages as demand grows. The exact scale of the program was not immediately clear, though Waksman revealed the military will be requesting “hundreds of millions of dollars” in order to develop the reactors.
The reactors are expected to be developed by the Department of Energy’s national laboratories in collaboration with the Defense Innovation Unit. These are expected to be microreactors, far smaller than many of the small modular reactors proposed recently. Microreactors typically can produce up to 50 megawatts of power. Construction of the reactors under the Janus Program is not expected to begin before 2027.
Read more from the Examiner’s Emily Hallas here.
CONOCOPHILLIPS WARNS OF US CRUDE SUPPLY PLATEAUING: Crude oil supply in the United States will likely plateau and even slightly decline if the price of oil remains in the low $60s or drops further, ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance warned this morning.
The details: If “prices stay at $60 or go into the $50s, you probably are plateauing or slightly declining,” Lance warned during the Energy Intelligence Forum in London. He stopped short, however, of saying U.S. supply will dramatically fall below 13.5 million barrels a day.
Instead, Lance said he believed the industry would maintain a plateau for “quite some time,” as producers and drillers figure out how to make increased drilling profitable even at the $60 price line.
The ConocoPhillips CEO also pushed back against growing fears of a global supply glut, which have been driven by continued production hikes from OPEC+, increased drilling in the U.S., and falling demand typical for the winter season.
Lance insisted that while many carry those concerns, the market itself isn’t showing any evidence of a glut. He specifically pointed to the fact that there have not been any major supply hikes in floating inventories in the U.S. Gulf Coast, which would typically be seen during times of spare supply.
Read more from Callie here.
JPMORGAN SAYS ‘ALL OF THE ABOVE’ APPROACH IS NEEDED FOR THE U.S. TO MEET ENERGY DEMANDS: JPMorgan’s global head of sustainable solutions, Chuka Umunna, told Bloomberg Television that for the U.S. to meet energy demand from technology like artificial intelligence, there needs to be an “all of the above” approach.
The Trump administration has aimed at slowing down the growth of renewable energy sources like wind and solar. Umunna noted that the U.S. has been looking at a mix of energy sources, including geothermal and nuclear, but it is not enough.
“You need all of the above,” Umunna said. “I think it’s difficult to conceive of a situation where they won’t need to tap into those sources of energy.”
He added, “I think this debate is changing, and it’s no longer a binary debate. It’s one that involves complex issues of geopolitics and competitiveness as well.”
ICYMI – HARRIS COUNTY SUES TRUMP OVER SOLAR FOR ALL: Harris County, Texas, sued the Trump administration over its efforts to repeal funding from the Solar for All program.
County officials announced yesterday that they filed a lawsuit in the District Court in Washington, D.C. against the Environmental Protection Agency for its attempt to claw $7 billion from the Solar for All initiative. The program, established by the Biden administration’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, aimed to help low-income communities install solar panels.
Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee said at a press conference yesterday that the Trump administration and EPA “unlawfully pulled the plug on Solar for All.”
“What the EPA did here is just wrong,” he said. “But it wasn’t just that, it was unlawful and it was pretextual. They never supported the program, so they made up an excuse for killing it.”
Harris County received one of the most significant grants from Solar for All, totaling nearly $249.7 million.
The lawsuit marks the second one against the EPA for repealing funding for Solar for All. The Rhode Island AFL-CIO filed a lawsuit last week, claiming the EPA’s clawback of funding would harm the workforce, as the program also provided funding to build it.
RUNDOWN
The Guardian Pentagon retreats from climate fight even as heat and storms slam US troops
Associated Press In Iceland, a town still shaken by volcanic eruptions tries to recover
E&E News EPA’s climate rollback squeezes states