WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Friday, readers! It is day 10 of the government shutdown, and senators have left Washington, D.C., for a four-day weekend. The shutdown continues to be drawn out with no resolution in sight.
Here at Daily on Energy, with our editor Joe Lawler’s help, we are continuing to monitor new developments in the energy and environment sector. The Bureau of Land Management has pulled the plug on a massive solar project in Nevada, escalating the administration’s efforts to hinder renewable energy development.
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Continue reading to learn about President Donald Trump’s response to China’s tightening grip over rare earths.
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.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: A Rhode Island labor union earlier this week filed a lawsuit to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency’s effort to cancel $7 billion in funding for the Solar for All program. The initiative established by the Biden Inflation Reduction Act helped low-income communities install solar energy, while creating jobs in the field.
Amy Romero, chief legal counsel of Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island said, “Congress designed Solar for All grants to give local front-line communities the tools to lower household energy costs and ensure high-quality careers for a new generation with clean, renewable energy.”
“EPA’s unlawful termination halts the creation of hundreds of union jobs in Rhode Island, and then compounds the risk of utility shutoff and perpetuates energy insecurity in the very low-income households that Congress sought to protect with this program,” Romero said.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PULLS THE PLUG ON NEVADA SOLAR PROJECT: The Bureau of Land Management canceled Nevada’s massive solar project yesterday evening.
The department updated its planning website for the Esmeralda 7 solar project, stating that the environmental review has been “canceled.” The agency did not provide a reason for the cancellation. The project cancellation was first reported by Heatmap.
The Esmeralda 7 Solar Project would have built seven solar power plants with battery energy storage on nearly 118,000 acres of federal land near Tonopah, Nevada. The project would have produced nearly 6.2 gigawatts of power.
The cancellation of the project is part of a series of moves by the Trump administration to stymie clean energy projects. BLM’s move furthers the administration’s efforts to hinder renewable energy sources like offshore wind projects.
Read more by Maydeen here.
TRUMP RESPONDS TO CHINA ON RARE EARTHS: President Donald Trump responded this morning to China’s move to curb rare earth element exports by threatening a “massive” increase in tariffs.
“There is no way that China should be allowed to hold the World ‘captive,’ but that seems to have been their plan for quite some time, starting with the ‘Magnets’ and, other Elements that they have quietly amassed into somewhat of a Monopoly position, a rather sinister and hostile move, to say the least,” the president wrote in a post to Truth Social.
He also threatened unspecified other “countermeasures,” and suggested that he would be canceling the planned meeting with Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Korea later this month.
KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE REVIVAL: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said today that a proposal to revive the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Alberta to the U.S. could help economies of both countries.
“We are looking for areas where the integration of our economies will be better for us both. We have opportunities in the energy sector – there are many possible projects, including Keystone XL, but there are others,” Carney said at a press conference, Reuters reports.
Carney floated the idea during a meeting with Trump earlier this week to discuss easing tariffs. The approvals for the pipeline permits have fluctuated depending on the administration in power.
Former President Barack Obama denied the pipeline’s permit. It was later revived during Trump’s first term, and then it was revoked by former President Joe Biden.
CURTIS TO LEAD COP30 DELEGATION: Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah will lead a bipartisan delegation to the COP30 global climate conference next month in Brazil, alongside Sen. Chris Coons.
Curtis told E&E News that at least three other Republicans expressed interest in the trip.
There won’t be an executive branch delegation, as the relevant State Department offices have been limited by the shutdown.
“We have an agenda that is really coming together nicely. We’re super happy with it,” Curtis told the outlet.
For years now, Curtis has been one of the Republicans most engaged on the issue of climate change. As a member of the House, he formed a GOP group dedicated to climate change.
OIL DROPS BELOW $60 AS RISKS DECLINE: Oil prices hit the lowest levels in months as traders digested the implementation of the peace deal between Israel and Hamas.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell below the $60 a barrel mark this morning, a drop of nearly 4%. Brent crude dipped below $63.
“Finally having some kind of peace process in the Middle East is lowering the shoulders a little bit,” Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB, told Reuters. He said that the deal could ease fears about oil tankers passing through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea.
‘DRILL, BABY, DRILL’ UPDATE: The U.S. oil and gas rig count fell this week by two to 547, Baker Hughes said today.
The rig count is now down 7% on the year.
The lower prices this week will likely not help with the pessimism in the industry.
STORM TO HIT THE EAST COAST THIS WEEKEND: A nor’easter storm is set to hit the East Coast this weekend, bringing flooding, heavy winds, and beach erosion.
The storm is forecast to develop off the Florida coast and then move northward this weekend into next week. There is potential for major flooding in places like North Carolina, New Jersey, and Cape Cod.
What is a nor’easter? It is a storm that occurs along the East Coast, bringing coastal winds inland. The wind direction is what defines a nor’easter. The storm carries winds from the northeast at around 58 mph or more. It could cause beach erosion and coastal flooding.
“This will be a damaging storm for some along the Atlantic coast,” AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said.
TEN LARGE NUCLEAR REACTORS UNDERWAY IN NEXT FIVE YEARS? BECHTEL SAYS YES: Bechtel CEO Craig Albert said that it is possible to have 10 new large nuclear plants under construction in the next five years, if the risks of projects are shared properly among stakeholders. That aligns with the goal laid out in Trump’s nuclear power executive order.
“Everyone at the table realizes they’re going to have to take on more risk than they have in the past,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg.
Bechtel has built 80% of the U.S. nuclear fleet, including the most recently built one, the Vogtle plant in Georgia. That project was subject to huge cost overruns.
Albert said that the company would be willing to take on more risks for future projects. In the past, it has been paid based on its time and effort.
U.S. WEIGHS FUNDING FOR GREENLAND’S POLAR BEARS: State Department officials are working on proposals to spend $50 million protecting polar bears in Greenland and $25 million for snow leopards in Nepal, the Washington Post reports.
That would equate to around $100,000 per polar bear.
The funding is especially noteworthy because the Trump administration has tried to slash funding not aligned with its America First agenda.
The publication notes that some observers have flagged that the two countries in question are particularly sensitive with respect to the Trump administration’s aims. Trump, of course, has repeatedly discussed taking control of Greenland. And Nepal is of geopolitical importance because of its location between China and India.
RUNDOWN
The Associated Press Arctic seals and more than half of bird species are in trouble on latest list of threatened species
Canary Media This mysterious DOE ‘hit list’ has the clean-energy world on edge
Bloomberg Companies Are Paying Record Sums to Develop Geothermal Energy