WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Monday, readers! We are back with another busy week in the energy space, with trade talks, congressional hearings, and legislative debates.
We are kicking off today’s Daily on Energy with Callie’s interview with Emily Domenech, who has been tapped to lead the Federal Permitting Council. Meanwhile, we also take a look at Republicans voicing concerns over President Donald Trump’s efforts to cut National Park Service operations and staffing.
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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.
WHAT TRUMP’S PERMITTING CHIEF HAS TO SAY: Late last month, President Donald Trump picked Hill alum Emily Domenech to lead the Federal Permitting Council – a job she now says she wants to help eliminate.
The details: In an interview with Callie, Domenech explained that the Permitting Council acts as a “Sherpa” to help large projects through the process in a timely manner, by anticipating various problems and ensuring agencies are able to stick to agreed-upon timelines for reviews.
Securing federal permits and environmental reviews for infrastructure projects like pipelines, transmission lines, data centers, and more can take developers years, as they are required to secure approvals from numerous agencies before beginning construction. The average time it takes to receive these permits is around 4.5 years, but it can extend even longer due to legal challenges or other bureaucratic delays.
The permitting council is able to slash that timeline by prioritizing certain large projects. Domenech said the council has been able to move 25% faster than the traditional federal permitting process since 2021, when the agency was made permanent. But in a perfect world, Domenech said, the council should not have to exist.
“I joke a lot that I took this job knowing that I would love to put the Permitting Council out of business, because we fix federal permitting for everyone and we don’t need it,” Domenech said.
She said the council works well because of its transparency and its ability to connect directly with agency leads on reviews required for each project. “We really serve as that Sherpa through the whole federal process to ensure that a project developer can get to groundbreaking,” Domenech said.
Top priorities: Until Congress can pass meaningful and permanent permitting reform, Domenech plans to utilize the council’s authority to help as many projects as possible start construction during Trump’s second term. She said manufacturing, within and outside the energy sector, will be a top priority for the council under her leadership, including helping expedite artificial intelligence data centers, quantum computing facilities, and much more.
Read more from Callie’s interview with Domenech here.
HOUSE TO BEGIN RESCISSION PACKAGE TALKS: The House this week will begin talks over Trump’s request to claw back $9.4 billion in appropriated funding from a range of programs related to climate and international aid.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise on Friday introduced legislation to codify the Trump administration’s cuts.
The funding would come from the State Department, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and other International Assistance Programs.
The request asked lawmakers to rescind millions to billions of dollars in funding from the Economic Support Fund, Clean Technology Fund, and the International Disaster Assistance account. The package would codify cuts proposed by the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE.
REPUBLICANS VOICE CONCERNS OVER TRUMP CUTS TO PARK SERVICE: Within the president’s proposed rescission package, the administration is looking to pull back on roughly 30% of the National Park Service’s operations and staffing budgets – a cut that even several Republicans find troubling.
The proposed rescissions specifically include a roughly 19% budget reduction for NPS visitor services and a 39% cut for facility operation and maintenance costs. The budget also calls for a 51% reduction in the budget dedicated to resource stewardship and a massive 86% cut to funds allocated for National Recreation and Preservation, including for cultural and heritage partnership programs.
The impact: A former NPS employee told The Hill that these levels of budget reductions could very well affect the agency’s ability to keep air and water clean in National Parks, thereby limiting recreational activities like swimming and fishing. The cuts could also likely lead to reductions in personnel, the employee said.
Congressional concerns: Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate have expressed doubts about the administration’s proposal.
“We want to have some discussions on it and exactly how it’s going to affect the park service and exactly what units the states are going to take over management,” Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson told the outlet, calling the cuts “concerning.”
Similarly, Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines told the outlet that he wants to ensure that national parks are “adequately funded.”
ENERGY CABINET MAKES CASE THAT TAX BILL WILL HELP ALASKA: On the heels of their joint visit to Alaska last week, Trump’s energy and environment cabinet members released an op-ed putting their support behind the House-passed tax and spending megabill, saying it would facilitate the 49th state’s “energy renaissance.”
The details: Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin wrote the op-ed in the Anchorage Daily News and accused the Biden administration of waging an “unprecedented assault” on Alaska and its ability to develop its energy resources.
The three cabinet members claimed the budget reconciliation package, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, offers a clear path for Alaska to unleash its resources like oil and natural gas.
“With the passage of OBBB, Alaska will be liberated from the radical environmentalism that has kept its extraordinary resources locked away for far too long,” they wrote. “It reverses the damage of the Biden administration by opening federal lands and waters to oil, gas, coal, geothermal and mineral leasing while rescinding every so-called ‘green’ corporate welfare subsidy from Democrats’ ‘Inflation Reduction Act.’”
They insisted that if Congress fails to pass the legislation, it would cost Alaska, jobs, wages and economic development. “Alaska’s energy renaissance awaits, and the One Big Beautiful Bill is our key to unlocking it,” the op-ed reads.
U.S.-CHINA TALKS ON CRITICAL MINERALS: The U.S. will be meeting Chinese trade officials later today in London to discuss Beijing’s grip on rare earths and critical minerals.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick arrived in London today to meet with China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng. The meeting follows Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s call last week, in which the two leaders talked about China’s export restrictions on rare earths and critical minerals.
China has imposed export restrictions on rare earths in response to Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Chinese goods. China controls about 90% of global rare earths, which are key materials for the defense and energy sector.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said the goal of today’s meeting is to come to an agreement.
“The purpose of the meeting today is to make sure that they’re serious, but to literally get handshakes,” Hassett said in a CNBC interview. “I expect it to be a short meeting with a big, strong handshake.”
U.S. PRODUCED RECORD ENERGY IN 2024: The U.S. produced more energy last year than ever before, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.
EIA said that the U.S. produced more than 103 quadrillion British thermal units in 2024, which is a 1% increase from the previous year. It added that natural gas, crude oil, natural gas plant liquids, biofuels, solar, and wind each set record production last year.
The largest source was natural gas, which accounted for nearly 38% of U.S. total energy production. It has been the top source of energy since 2011. The other largest energy sources that followed were crude oil, coal, and natural gas plant liquids.
CLIMATE ACTIVIST GRETA THUNBERG CAPTURED BY ISRAEL: Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was detained by Israeli naval forces last night as she was aboard a vessel set to enter and deliver aid to Palestine.
“If you see this video, we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by Israeli occupational forces or forces that support Israel,” Thunberg said in a social media post.
The vessel, called the Madleen, included the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which planned to deliver aid to Palestine on Monday.
Read more by Washington Examiner’s Timothy Nerozzi here.
UNITED NATIONS CALLS ON COUNTRIES TO PROTECT THE OCEAN: The United Nations is urging countries to create a treaty to protect international waters from pollution by human activities.
“The ocean is the ultimate shared resource. But we are failing it,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice.
Guterres told delegates at the conference that the ocean’s fish stock is collapsing, plastic pollution is ruining the ecosystem, and carbon emissions are heating our oceans. He called on all countries to take pledges in protecting international waters.
“If we do not change course, this rise will submerge deltas, destroy crops, and swallow coastlines – threatening many islands’ survival,” Guterres warned.
A total of 150 countries are attending the five-day UN Ocean Conference or UNOC3 this week. One of the goals of the conference is for countries to ratify the High Seas treaty, also known as the BBNJ accord, which is meant to protect marine ecosystems. Sixty ratifications are required for the treaty to go into effect.
Australia takes the plunge: Following the UN call to protect international waters, Australia announced it would declare 30% of its ocean as “highly protected” by 2030.
ICYMI – WESTINGHOUSE PLANNING MASSIVE NUCLEAR EXPANSION: U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Company has revealed plans to expand nuclear operations by starting work on 10 massive nuclear reactors by the end of the decade.
The details: In a recent interview with the Financial Times, interim CEO Dan Sumner said that the company is looking to build 10 new AP1000 reactors. These large reactors typically have the capacity to generate around 1,000 megawatts of electricity, enough energy to power over 500,000 homes. The expansion would deliver on Trump’s executive order signed late last month that called on the industry to quadruple nuclear energy capacity in the U.S. by 2050.
Sumner told the Financial Times that Westinghouse is actively engaging with the Trump administration on how to finance the deployment of these reactors, particularly through the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office. It could cost the U.S. roughly $75 billion to build these large reactors.
“There are 10 large nuclear reactors in the executive order and we believe that we can do them all with AP1000 reactors,” Sumner said, adding, “ Our customers, the hyperscalers, the tech firms, the suppliers are all coming together to try to figure out exactly how to deploy.”
Some challenges: Nuclear experts have warned that the U.S. nuclear industry does not have enough diversification to deliver 10 large reactors due to the limited number of approved designs. Additionally, the two most recently built AP1000 reactors built in the U.S. (at the Vogtle power plant in Georgia) saw years of delays that more than doubled construction costs.
A LOOK AHEAD:
June 9 – 13 the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference is being held in Nice, France, co-hosted by France and Costa Rica.
June 9 – 10 The Energy Imperatives Summit is being held in Washington D.C., featuring remarks from Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Republican Reps. Bruce Westerman and Bob Latta, and many more.
June 10 Politico is holding its Energy Summit to discuss the next era of U.S. energy policy in Washington D.C., featuring discussions with Republican Sen. John Curtis and Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich, and several others.
June 10 The House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s subcommittee on Energy is holding a hearing to review the Department of Energy’s FY2026 budget.
June 10 The House Committee on Natural Resources’ subcommittee on Federal Lands is scheduled for a legislative hearing on four wildfire and forestry bills.
June 11 The House Committee on Agriculture is set to hear testimony from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
June 11 The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is holding a hearing to examine the president’s FY 2026 proposed budget request for the Department of Interior.
June 11 Semafor is holding a discussion on Powering Our AI Future, featuring FERC Chairman Mark Christie and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie.
June 12 Hydrogen Europe Research is holding a panel discussion in Brussels titled, “From Labs to Gigafactories: Unlocking Europe’s Hydrogen Potential and keep Global competitiveness.”
June 12 The House Natural Resources Committee is holding a full oversight hearing titled “Examining the President’s FY 2026 Budget Request for the Department of the Interior.”
June 12 the Senate committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s subcommittee on Oceans, Fisheries, Climate Change, and Manufacturing is holding a hearing to examine conflicts over ocean resources.
June 14 is National Get Outdoors Day.
June 15 is Father’s Day.
RUNDOWN
The New York Times See How Marine Heat Waves Are Spreading Across the Globe
Inside Climate News Engineering Coral Reefs of the Future
Reuters Why Brazil’s ‘King of Cattle’ is embracing a plan to save the Amazon