WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good morning and Happy Tuesday, readers! If you had yesterday off, we hope you had a restful holiday and break from work.
In today’s edition of Daily on Energy, Callie and Maydeen kick things off looking at an investigation launched today by the House Oversight Committee, which will be taking a closer look at energy policies issued by the Biden administration.
Over the holiday weekend, the Trump administration made a major move on permitting reform, stepping closer to undoing sweeping regulations under the National Environmental Policy Act. Also, a top prosecutor with the Department of Justice resigned today after having been asked to investigate funds issued by the Environmental Protection Agency under Biden.
Plus, if you or someone you know has been impacted by the recent federal layoffs at the Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Interior, Department of Agriculture or elsewhere and would like to speak about your work and why it was important, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with Callie or Maydeen below.
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.
SCOOP – HOUSE OVERSIGHT LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ENERGY POLICIES: The House Oversight Committee has launched an investigation into a number of energy and environmental policies enacted by the Biden administration that Republicans claim “increased prices and limited choices” for consumers.
The details: Around midday today, Chairman James Comer and Economic Growth, Energy Policy and Regulatory Affairs subcommittee Chairman Eric Burlison sent a letter to the heads of the Departments of Interior and Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, as well as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, informing them of the investigation. The letter, first shared with Daily on Energy, lays out the claim the Biden administration purposefully created “more hurdles for American coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear industries” in what the Republican lawmakers dubbed a “war on American energy.”
Comer pointed to several controversial green policies implemented and executive actions taken by the Biden administration that the committee plans to target, including the protection of around 670 million acres of federal lands and waters from future drilling, the pause on approvals for new liquified natural gas export projects, the accelerated approvals of grants through the EPA’s loans program office, and the imposition of a methane fee on oil and gas companies. He claimed these policies coerced American consumers “to adopt expensive energy derived from supposedly green sources and drive substantial changes to the electric grid while punishing traditional energy industries.”
The chairman accused the administration of catering to special interests of leftist environmental groups as well as foreign adversaries through DOI, DOE, EPA and FERC. “The status quo favoring expensive alternative energy developers and their investors needs to be reworked to guarantee an all-of-the-above energy market that serves Americans,” the letter reads.
The heads of the agencies — Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and FERC chairman Mark Christie — have all been asked to appear before the committee in a briefing as part of the investigation.
WHITE HOUSE MOVES ON NEPA REFORM: The Trump administration is swiftly moving to reform environmental reviews required by federal law in an effort to expedite permitting and approvals for energy projects, infrastructure upgrades, and more.
The details: Since 1970, the National Environmental Policy Act has required agencies to study environmental impacts of projects which require federal permits. Over the weekend, the Council on Environmental Quality – which oversees NEPA – submitted an interim final rule titled “Removal of National Environmental Policy Act,” which seemingly would undo all current regulations under the bedrock law. In this form, the rule bypasses traditional notice and comment period, allowing for it to take immediate effect.
As of Tuesday, the exact text of the rule had yet to be published. However, it comes less than a month after President Donald Trump, through executive order, required the agency to provide new non-binding guidance on implementing the NEPA and urged CEQ to rescind all existing regulations.
CEQ’s authority in question: In 1977, President Jimmy Carter gave CEQ the authority to issue regulations related to federally required environmental reviews, leading many of its regulations to be viewed as binding. But in November of last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that CEQ lacked the authority to issue binding regulations under NEPA. The U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota came to a similar ruling earlier this month.
Under the interim final rule issued on Sunday, federal agencies will be expected to write new NEPA regulations as they relate to their department. Foundation for American Innovation Infrastructure Director Thomas Hochman told the Washington Examiner this will not completely cast aside CEQ, as the agency will continue to issue non-binding guidance to define the framework agencies can use to be in compliance with NEPA.
Read more from Callie here.
RETURN TO OFFICE: EPA employees are now being asked to return to office full-time, fulfilling the president’s request made in an executive order signed on his first day in office.
The details: In a video released this morning, administrator Zeldin started off thanking employees who have already been returning to the D.C. headquarters every day since the start of the administration. For everyone else, Zeldin said, it’s time to get on board.
“It’s time to return to the office, to partner, to collaborate and to deliver,” Zeldin said, claiming the average number of people present at headquarters on Mondays and Friday since January 2024 was in the single digits.
“Our spacious, beautiful EPA headquarters spans two city blocks in DC across five buildings. But our hallways have been too vacant, desks empty, and cubicles filled with unoccupied chairs,” the EPA administrator said. “The American people rely on every single one of us to protect their access to clean air, land, and water. Our mission of protecting human health and the environment is far too important for any of us to ever come up short.”
Some background: After being inaugurated last month, Trump issued an executive memo ordering all branches and departments in the executive branch to end all remote working agreements. The memo called on the various departments to require all employees return to work in the office on a full-time basis. The order does allow for exemptions, as department and agency heads deem necessary.
TOP DOJ PROSECUTOR QUITS AFTER BEING ASKED TO INVESTIGATE EPA CLIMATE SPENDING: The head of the criminal division in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., Denise Cheung, resigned today after Trump appointees requested an investigation into an Environmental Protection Agency funding decision during the Biden administration.
Multiple people familiar with the matter said Cheung had refused to open a grand jury investigation into the EPA’s climate spending during the last administration, CNN reported. The source said that Cheung declined the order because it lacked sufficient evidence and to protect lower-level prosecutors from the work.
The order originated from Emil Bove, the department’s acting deputy attorney general to interim
U.S. Attorney Ed Martin, CNN reported. The order comes after President Donald Trump nominated Martin to become the permanent U.S. attorney for D.C.
The Trump administration has criticized former President Joe Biden’s spending on climate programs. The administration is also reviewing various climate-related grants and programs to see whether they align with the Trump agenda.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin last week announced the agency would look to cut around $20 billion in grant funding for climate projects under the IRA. Zeldin claimed the funding is going to left-wing groups and referred to the funds as “gold bars,” referencing a sting video last year in which an EPA employee described the funding as gold bars being thrown off the Titanic.
JAPAN FALLS SHORT ON NEW EMISSIONS TARGETS: Japan announced new climate targets to reduce 60% of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 from 2013 levels, but the plan falls short from Paris Agreement goals, Bloomberg reports.
“Achieving our next emissions reduction goals will require not only existing efforts, but innovative solutions that lead to deeper cuts in emissions,” Keiichiro Asao, the environment minister, said in a press conference. “We believe that these targets are very ambitious.”
Under the Paris Agreement, each country is required to provide more ambitious targets to meet the goal of reducing emissions by 2035. The initial deadline to submit plans was last week but many countries did not submit plans on time.
However, Japan’s emissions targets are viewed as falling short of meeting Paris Agreement goals. In November, BloombergNEF said Japan would need to implement a 73% cut by 2035 to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Japan will seek to finalize the emissions target by the end of the year, Reuters said.
PAPER INDUSTRY TURNS TO TRUMP TO EASE EUROPE’S DEFORESTATION BAN: Leading executives in the U.S. paper industry are looking to the Trump administration to help blunt the European Union’s deforestation law, which exporters will be required to comply with by the end of 2025.
A reminder: In December, the European Parliament formally approved a one-year delay of the controversial deforestation law, which had been set to go into effect at the end of year. The law was first approved in June of 2023, with the intention to reduce the number of products consumed in Europe that contribute to deforestation as well as help lower carbon emissions and address deforestation on a global scale.
Under the rules, products made from commodities like coffee, soy, palm oil, cocoa, cattle, wood, and even rubber must not have come from recently cleared forests and must not have contributed to forest degradation. The bloc had for months been facing calls to delay required compliance with the ban, in order to give foreign nations and companies more time to comply.
The details: As the law is anticipated to affect industries handling commodities like paper and pulp, some are calling on the Trump administration to press the EU to declare the U.S. exempt from the ban.
“A delay does not solve our concerns with the regulation’s complex requirements and significant technical barriers,” Heidi Brock, American Forest and Paper Association CEO, told Reuters. “We are urging President Trump and his trade advisors to include this on the list of items to negotiate with the European Union to ensure the U.S. is recognized as a country that wisely manages its forest resources and must be recognized as not contributing to deforestation.”
Currently, the EU does not have any plans to list countries as completely exempt from the deforestation ban. However, the bloc will reportedly categorize nations by deforestation risks — high, standard, or low. If a nation is put in the low risk category, they are expected to face fewer requirements when complying with the law. Howard Lutnick, Trump’s pick to head the Department of Commerce, has already called on the EU to classify the U.S. as a low-risk country.
ICYMI – WRIGHT SAYS NET ZERO GOALS ARE “SINISTER”: Energy Secretary Chris Wright called net zero carbon emission goals “sinister” in a video at a London conference yesterday, Reuters reported.
In 2021, Biden set a target for the U.S. to reach net-zero emission by 2050. The United Kingdom is also seeking to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
“Net Zero 2050 is a sinister goal. It’s a terrible goal,” Wright said. “The aggressive pursuit of it – and you’re sitting in a country that has aggressively pursued this goal – has not delivered any benefits, but it’s delivered tremendous costs.”
Wright added that Britain’s goal of reaching net zero has also impoverished its own citizens and displaced emissions to elsewhere.
“No one’s going to make an energy-intensive product in the United Kingdom any more. It’s just been displaced somewhere else,” Wright said. “This is not energy transition. This is lunacy. This is impoverishing your own citizens in a delusion that this is somehow going to make the world a better place.”
He noted that one of his priorities in the Trump administration was for the government to “get out of the way” of the production of oil, gas, and coal.
A LOOK AHEAD
Feb. 19 – 22 The annual Conservative Political Action Conference is being held in Washington D.C.
Feb. 19 Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works is holding a hearing on “Improving the Federal Environmental Review and Permitting Processes.”
Feb. 19 The Environmental and Energy Study Institute is holding a webinar on the Colorado River, focusing on water conservation.
Feb. 20 Senate Energy and Natural Resources is holding a “hearing to examine research security risks posed by foreign nationals from countries of risk working at the Department of Energy’s National Laboratories and necessary mitigation steps.”
Feb. 20 The Atlantic Council will host a discussion on “Geothermal: Unlocking America’s untapped energy potential.”
Feb. 21 George Washington University’s Environmental and Energy Management Institute is holding a Security and Sustainability Forum looking at the Trump administration’s deregulation agenda.
RUNDOWN
Canary Media How PJM can get the power that it needs — and fast
Inside Climate News Could the Northeast Burn Again?
The New York Times Climate Aid Projects Fighting Extremism and Unrest Are Closing Down