WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Monday, readers! We hope you all had a restful weekend. The Congressional Budget Office released a report today finding that President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill will add nearly $3.4 trillion to deficits over the next 10 years.
With the help of our editor, Joe Lawler, we also take a look at China’s plans to build a mega-dam that will cost nearly $167 billion.
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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.
CBO SAYS THE ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ WILL ADD TRILLIONS TO THE DEBT: The Congressional Budget Office has released a new report estimating that President Donald Trump and the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act will add $3.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade.
The bill, signed by Trump on July 4th, repeals much of former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. It also made cuts to health care and nutrition programs, while adding spending for the military, deportations, and other administration priorities.
Specifically, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee provisions of the legislation, which include measures to bolster fossil fuel development, are estimated to decrease deficits by $21 billion over the next 10 years. The Environment and Public Works section, which includes rescissions of unobligated funds for clean energy programs set by the Inflation Reduction Act, scores as $3.5 billion in deficit savings.
SAFE CALLS FOR BOLD ACTION ON ENERGY POLICY: Securing America’s Future Energy, or SAFE, released a report emphasizing the need for robust policies to safeguard the U.S. energy, mineral, technology, and supply chains to protect national security.
The report, “The Pillars of Power: A Strategy for Security and Industrial Resiliency,” said that decades of offshoring, foreign competition, and short-term policies have led to declines in the U.S. industrial and technology sectors. As a result, it said, the U.S. is now more reliant on countries like China for critical resources like minerals and technology.
SAFE’s report recommends four pillars:
- Expand and Secure Supply of Minerals and Materials through expanded domestic production as well as multilateral agreements and strategic, coordinated deployment of trade barriers.
- Satisfy Energy Security Needs and embrace energy abundance by supporting all forms of American energy, accelerating permitting reform, and aggressive expansion and modernization of energy infrastructure.
- Promote New Technologies that Maximize Efficiency and Diversification by supporting domestic innovation, leveraging technology to use energy more efficiently, and protecting key technologies from foreign interference.
- Increase Manufacturing Capacity through an emphasis on dual-use technologies, updated DOD procurement capabilities, stockpiling, supply chain mapping, and more.
The U.S. has been significantly reliant on China for materials and minerals that help to build products in the energy and defense sectors. Many have raised concerns that this reliance poses a threat to national security.
SAFE hosted a webinar today featuring several experts from the defense and energy sectors, including Michael Dunne, the CEO of Dunne Insights, a global EV advisory firm. Dunne said the challenges to the automotive sector are “here and now.” He said that just a few weeks ago, auto manufacturers were unable to obtain advanced magnets due to China’s imposing export restrictions.
“It isn’t something far off on the horizon that we have to worry about. It’s immediate,” Dunne said. He noted that batteries are not only essential for EVs but also for humanoid robots, drones, navigation systems, and other defense applications.
“We don’t all need to buy EVs. If 20% of the market is EVs, that’s enough to justify investments in batteries. We’re talking about 3 million cars a year, one in five,” Dunne said. “We need those EVs to justify the investments in batteries. Without those batteries, we’re back to square one, totally vulnerable and subject to the whims of supply out of China. That’s reality today.”
U.S. WILL LOSE AI RACE WITHOUT INFRASTRUCTURE REFORM, EQT CEO SAYS: Toby Rice, the CEO of natural gas producer EQT, warned in a new interview that the U.S. will lose out to China in the race to develop artificial intelligence if Congress does not reform the infrastructure permitting process to allow faster construction of plants.
“The threat of not getting infrastructure built has only gotten larger — not only from bad actors getting rich by selling energy that could be replaced with American energy — it’s also the threat of China winning the AI race,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times.
Rice specifically asked for reform of judicial review, which many in the industry have blamed for bogging down projects.
CHINA LAUNCHES CONSTRUCTION OF $167 BILLION MEGA-DAM: Chinese Premier Li Qiang over the weekend launched the construction of a mega-dam that is expected to provide a massive amount of clean energy – 70 gigawatts, more than the total energy production of Poland – Bloomberg reports.
The dam will be located in Tibet on the Yarlung Tsangpo river. It will be three times the size of the Three Gorges Dam. The project, which will cost a projected $167 billion, will be managed by the China Yajiang Group, a new company.
The project brings potential risk of damaging biodiversity in the area. It could also impact China’s relationship with India, as the Yarlung Tsangpo river flows through Arunachal Pradesh in India.
Last December, India raised its concerns with China about the construction of the dam. Now, some in India are calling on the government to build its own project in the river.
“China has already started their dam construction, and we cannot sit idle,” Ojing Tasing, a minister in the state government, told local media on Sunday. “We must act. And we are acting.”
BESSENT SAYS CHINA TALKS COULD INCLUDE RUSSIAN AND IRANIAN OIL: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said today on CNBC that talks with China over trade could expand to also cover China’s purchases of Iranian and Russian oil.
“The Chinese, unfortunately, are very large purchasers of sanctioned Iranian oil, sanctioned Russian oil. So we could start discussing that,” he said, according to the AFP.
China’s purchases of Iranian oil have helped the regime weather western sanctions. Similarly, its purchases of Russian oil helped Russia withstand the implementation by the G-7 nations of a price cap on its exports.
Bessent pledged a further crackdown on imports of Russian oil Monday, saying that purchasers will be subject to secondary sanctions.
“I would urge our European allies, who have talked a big game, to follow us if we implement these secondary tariffs,” Bessent said.
Related – UK puts new sanctions on Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’: The United Kingdom announced sanctions on 135 oil tankers and two Russian firms in an attempt to crack down on the “shadow fleet” of tankers that Russia has used to ship oil outside of the price cap.
Foreign minister David Lammy said the sanctions would dismantle the “shadow fleet and drain Russia’s war chest of its critical oil revenues,” according to Reuters.
BP’S ONGOING RECALIBRATION – A NEW CHAIRMAN: BP has named Albert Manifold, the former CEO of building materials supplier CRH, as its new chairman as it further shifts away from its focus on renewable energy.
Manifold will replace current chairman Helge Lund in October, the Wall Street Journal reports. Lund oversaw BP’s push into wind and solar in recent years, during which time it has lagged behind competitors Shell, Exxon Mobil, and Chevron.
Even as BP tries to carry out the transition, it has become viewed as a takeover target – most notably, with reports last month that Shell was weighing a takeover.
ICYMI – NEWSOM CIRCULATES DRAFT BILL FOR EASING OIL DRILLING PERMITTING: California Gov. Gavin Newsom is circulating text of a bill that would streamline permitting for new wells in oil fields, Bloomberg reported Friday.
The draft bill would establish “plug to play” permitting that would require two wells to be plugged before a new one is drilled, as well as ease approvals if certain conditions are met.
The proposal has been criticized by environmentalists, but it’s part of Newsom’s efforts to address the cost of living in the state.
A LOOK AHEAD:
July 21 Securing America’s Future Energy or SAFE is hosting a webinar called “The Pillars of Power: A Strategy for Security and Industrial Resiliency.”
July 22 House Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on “Permitting Purgatory: Restoring Common Sense to NEPA Reviews.”
July 22 House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing titled “Strengthening American Energy: A Review of Pipeline Safety Policy.”
July 22 House Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing titled “The New Atomic Age: Advancing America’s Energy Future.”
July 22 House Appropriations will mark up Fiscal Year 2026 Interior, Environment, and related agencies bill
July 23 House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold a hearing titled “Fixing Emergency Management: Examining Improvements to FEMA’s Disaster Response.”
July 23 Senate Environment and Public Works will hold a hearing on the nominations of Katherine Scarlett to be a Member of the Council on Environmental Quality and Jeffrey Hall to be an Assistant Administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency
July 23 Senate Energy and Natural Resources will hold a hearing to examine challenges to meeting increased electricity demand
July 23 Amentum hosts nuclear energy panel with senior government officials and industry leaders at the National Press Club
July 24 The Environmental and Energy Study Institution along with House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses will hold the 28th annual Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO and Policy Forum
July 24 The Resources for the Future will hold a webinar on the obstacles to energy infrastructure
RUNDOWN
The Associated Press Bees have some ways to cope with a warming Earth, but researchers fear for their future
CNN Extreme weather caused by climate change is raising food prices worldwide, study says
CNBC U.S. firms scramble to secure rare-earth magnets — imports from China surge 660%