WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Monday, readers! Congress is out of session for the remainder of the month, but before leaving for break, key Senate Republicans announced they are blocking some of President Donald Trump’s nominees as a way to prevent the administration from going too far to constrain wind and solar projects. 

In today’s newsletter, we also take a look at several wildfires across the country and in Canada that are worsening air quality for many Americans. 

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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.

REPUBLICANS BLOCK TRUMP NOMINEES AMID FEARS OF ESCALATED ATTACKS ON WIND ENERGY: Key Senate Republicans are leveraging several of President Donald Trump’s nominees to prevent the administration from going too far in its effort to suffocate wind and solar energy projects through the Treasury Department. 

The details: Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley announced in the Congressional Record Friday that he has placed a hold on three of Trump’s nominees to the Treasury, over the agency’s plans to implement the phase-out of wind and solar tax credits. Specifically, he is blocking votes on Brian Morrisey, who was nominated to serve as General Counsel; Francis Brooke, for Assistant Secretary; and Jonathan McKernan, to serve as an Under Secretary. 

“Until I can be certain that such rules and regulations adhere to the law and congressional intent, I intend to continue to object to the consideration of these Treasury nominees,” Grassley said. 

Grassley doesn’t seem to be the only Republican upset with the administration’s crackdown on wind and solar. Daily on Energy alum and Politico‘s Josh Siegel reported today that Utah Sen. John Curtis has holds on the same three nominees. 

A reminder: The One Big Beautiful Bill Act ends tax credits for wind and solar projects placed in service, meaning operational and plugged into the grid, after 2027. Centrist Republicans were able to secure a carve-out for projects that begin construction less than one year after the bill is enacted to claim the credit. 

Soon after, Trump issued an executive order aimed at further limiting which projects can qualify. He called on the Treasury Department to issue guidance to ensure projects cannot skirt the deadline for phasing out the credits. That guidance is expected Aug. 18. 

As the industry awaits the new guidance, many wind advocates have said they don’t believe any new offshore projects will be able to start construction under the 12-month deadline. Read more on what they have to say in Callie’s latest here. 

SENATE LEAVES FOR RECESS WITH SEVERAL ENERGY NOMINEES IN LIMBO: With both the House and Senate now in recess, there are still roughly 144 civilian nominations that have yet to receive a floor vote – many of which are for crucial energy roles in the administration. 

The details: Typically, energy-related nominees are able to move through the confirmation process fairly quickly, often receiving bipartisan support regardless of the administration. However, as the Trump administration has moved to extend control over independent agencies like the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, more nominees are facing pushback.

While delays in the confirmation process will not hurt these agencies’ ability to function, they are widely considered to be more effective when fully staffed. 

Here are some of the most notable energy nominees yet to receive a vote: 

• Jessica Kramer to serve as Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. 
• Tristan Abbey to serve as Administrator of the Energy Information Administration. 
• Leslie Beyer to serve as an Assistant Secretary of the Interior. 
• Theodore Garrish to serve as Assistant Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Energy. 
• Andrea Travnicek to serve as an Assistant Secretary of the Interior. 
• Tina Pierce to serve as Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Energy.
• Jonathan Brightbill to serve as General Counsel for the Department of Energy. 
• Audrey Robertson to serve as Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
• Usha-Maria Turner to serve as an Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

OPEC+ MOVES FORWARD WITH SEPTEMBER OUTPUT HIKE, PUTTING DOWNWARD PRESSURE ON PRICES: Energy markets are experiencing a sense of deja vu as prices dropped this morning in the wake of OPEC+’s decision to once again increase levels of production in September. 

The details: OPEC+ agreed yesterday to hike crude production by 547,000 barrels per day, fully recovering its previous cuts of 2.2 million bpd. This is roughly equivalent to four monthly increments, though could be adjusted or reversed depending on market conditions. 

In a brief statement released after the Sunday meeting, the oil-producing bloc said the hike was driven “in view of a steady global economic outlook” and “healthy market fundamentals.”

Where prices stand: As with OPEC+’s last output hike announcements, international and domestic benchmarks saw prices drop on Monday. While the increase in production is dramatically higher than the first hikes seen in the spring, prices did not crash as much as they did when the bloc first began pumping more in April. 

As of after 2 p.m. EST, Brent Crude had fallen by 1.29% and was priced at $68.77 per barrel. Similarly, West Texas Intermediate dropped 1.56% and was priced at $66.28 per barrel. 

TRUMP TO IMPOSE HIGHER TARIFFS ON INDIA OVER RUSSIAN OIL PURCHASES: In the latest tariff feud between the U.S. and India, Trump said today he plans to impose higher tariffs on India over its purchase of Russian oil. 

The move by Trump is an attempt to stop the war in Ukraine by exerting pressure on other countries like India to stop purchases of oil that help Russia fund its military operations. 

As part of a new round of higher tariffs, Trump imposed 25% tariffs on India starting last Friday as well as an additional import tax for purchasing Russian oil. But, over the weekend, Indian officials noted that they do not plan to change their policies despite the tariff threat. 

In a Truth Social post today, Trump said India does not “care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine. Because of this, I will be substantially raising the Tariff paid by India to the USA.”

India is the second largest importer of Russian oil, following China. The U.S. has yet to formally announce tariffs on China. The U.S. pressure on third parties to stop the purchase of Russian oil could raise oil prices internationally. 

BP MAKES LARGEST OIL AND GAS DISCOVERY IN DECADES: British oil and gas giant BP announced today that it made its largest oil and gas discovery in 25 years, off the coast of Brazil. 

BP had been drilling an exploration well in the Bumerangue field around 218 nautical miles from Rio de Janeiro, with the well stretching around 5,855 meters deep. It is the company’s 10th discovery in 2025 so far, with other oil wells having been drilled in Trinidad, Egypt, and Namibia, as well as the Gulf coast. 

“This is another success in what has been an exceptional year so far for our exploration team, underscoring our commitment to growing our upstream,” BP’s executive vice president for production and operations, Gordon Birrell, said in a statement. “Brazil is an important country for bp, and our ambition is to explore the potential of establishing a material and advantaged production hub in the country.”

The size and quality of the reserves in the field have yet to be released, but BP said it is believed to contain a mix of oil and gas. The company said the reservoir has an areal extent of around 300 square kilometers. BP holds 100% of licensing rights for the area. 

GRAND CANYON WILDFIRE GROWS: The wildfire near the North Rim of Grand Canyon has burned over 123,000 acres, making it the largest wildfire in the U.S. this year. 

As of today, the Dragon Bravo fire, which started a month ago, is now 13% contained but expected to increase in size due to dry and warm weather. Lightning was the cause of the wildfire, which has grown to become one of Arizona’s largest wildfires in history. The North Rim of the Grand Canyon will remain closed for the rest of the year. 

Wildfires impacting air quality: The Dragon Bravo wildfire is the largest fire burning in the West. The next largest wildfire would be the Gifford fire in California, which as of today grew to more than 65,000 acres. The fire is located near San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara.

The fire has worsened air quality across Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego. The South Coast Air Quality Management District forecasted that areas throughout Southern California today could experience moderate to unhealthy air quality. 

New York City’s air quality is also declining due to the smoke coming from wildfires in Canada. There are 749 wildfires burning across Canada. New York’s Department of Health issued air quality alerts. 

LATEST ON PUERTO RICO’S WATER OUTAGE: Nearly 180,000 households in Puerto Rico lost access to water last week, resulting in the governor declaring a state of emergency.

Governor Jenniffer González Colón called on the national guard last week to help distribute water to households. Puerto Rico has faced ongoing power outages due to a collapsing power grid. The Associated Press reported last week that state and water authority declined to name the company responsible for damaging a water line during a road repair. 

González named a special coordinator to investigate how the incident occurred, AP reported. The governor held a meeting with local lawmakers today to inspect the Sergio Cuevas Filtration Plant in Trujillo Alto to ensure another water outage does not occur again. 

GOOGLE TO SLOW ENERGY USE FOR AI DATA CENTER TO SUPPORT US GRID: As Big Tech is poised to dominate energy demand growth due to their artificial intelligence advancements, Google is planning to curb its own energy consumption when necessary to not overwhelm the grid. 

The details: Early this morning, Google announced that it would be bringing “flexible demand capabilities” into its data center fleet in order to shift or reduce power use during times of peak demand at various times of the year. 

These capabilities, better known as demand-response, will allow Google to connect its data centers to the grid more swiftly and reduce the need to build more transmission lines or power plants. They specifically aim to reduce the amount of power demand associated with machine-learning workloads. Google plans to implement this by working with two utility companies: Indiana Michigan Power and the Tennessee Valley Authority. 

This is the first partnership between Big Tech and utility companies to support reliability of the U.S. grid, as many companies rush to connect and get ahead in the AI race. As energy supply becomes further strained, similar agreements could follow.  

Key quote: “As AI adoption accelerates, we see a significant opportunity to expand our demand response toolkit, develop capabilities specifically for ML workloads, and leverage them to manage large new energy loads,” Google said in a blog post. “By including load flexibility in our overall energy plan, we can manage AI-driven growth even where power generation and transmission are constrained.”

ICYMI – NUCLEAR PLANT WORKERS SCARED TO REPORT SAFETY CONCERNS: Employees at the St. Lucie nuclear power plant in southern Florida have been hesitant to report safety concerns due to fears of retaliation, according to a bombshell report from the Tampa Bay Times. 

The details: After interviewing more than 75 employees at the plant, federal inspectors determined that employees have become scared to file anonymous reports or complaints. This reportedly stems from several widely known incidents at the plant in which “senior management’s reactions to individuals raising nuclear safety concerns could be perceived as retaliation,” according to the outlet. 

Many of those who opted not to issue safety reports told federal regulators that these incidents directly influenced their decisions, saying they believed their managers and other high level officials at the plant were solely focused on “furthering production goals.” 

Although many have hesitated to make reports, the number of anonymous complaints of wrongdoing and other problems skyrocketed to the highest level seen at any nuclear power plant in the U.S. since 2020. 

Some background: The St. Lucie nuclear plant, as well as utility Florida Power & Light, which owns and operates the facility, have faced employee safety concerns for years, according to the Tampa Bay Times. In at least one incident in 2017, a worker filed a report about how many radiation-detecting devices needed to be worn during refueling, resulting in that employee’s contract being canceled. The utility has also been repeatedly accused of falsifying information regarding maintenance checks. 

A LOOK AHEAD:

Aug. 4 The Department of the Interior celebrates the fifth anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act by waiving all entrance fees to national parks and other public lands.

Aug. 4 – 6 The National Conference of State Legislatures is being held in Boston, Massachusetts.

Aug. 6 Advanced Energy United is holding a webinar on regulatory innovation for the electricity distribution systems seen in Great Britain which can be applied to the U.S. grid.

Aug. 6 Columbia Climate School and The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce is holding its third annual climate change conference focusing on climate change and environmental justice, as a part of Harlem Week. 

Aug. 7 PCI Energy Solutions and studioID are holding a webinar on offshore wind developer Ørsted and the company’s energy trading and risk management solutions. 

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