WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon readers, and Happy Monday! From Australia to Switzerland and Capitol Hill, in today’s edition of Daily on Energy, Callie and Maydeen go around the globe to look at everything happening in the energy and environmental space. We start off looking at OPEC+’s forecasts for global oil demand and an EV push from European car bosses. 

We then dip into the Biden administration’s newly designated marine sanctuary and the threats mussels are causing for Swiss fishermen. As Australia has thrown its hat in the ring to host COP31, we also look at the EPA challenge before the Supreme Court and the agency’s recent defense of its power plant rule. 

Wrapping things up, we look at key E&E endorsements for former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Be sure to read until the end to get a closer look at major events happening this week. 

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.

GLOBAL OIL DEMAND FORECAST: OPEC+ has once again lowered this year’s forecast for oil demand growth worldwide for the third consecutive month.

The details: The oil-producing bloc released its monthly oil market report Monday. OPEC+ forecasts global oil demand to grow by 1.93 million barrels per day in 2024, down from the 2.03 million barrels expected in September’s report. OPEC+ also cut its demand forecast for 2025. The report revealed that the group now expects demand to grow by around 1.6 million barrels per day next year, down from the previous forecast of 1.7 million barrels.

Some background: OPEC+ is set to restore oil output in December, after pausing a hike of 180,000 barrels a day for two months. Eight member nations — Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman — agreed to cut back production by 2.2 million barrels per day through the end of November. 

Monday’s report indicates that three of those members — Iraq, Kazakhstan, and Russia — have failed to lower their outputs. In September, Russia and Iraq remained above their respective output ceilings of 9 million and 4 million barrels per day, despite cutting production, according to the report. Kazakhstan increased output by 75,000 barrels per day reaching 1.545 million.

THE NEED FOR (EV) SPEED: Executives with two of the largest car manufacturers in Europe are calling for faster adoption of electric vehicles, claiming drawing out the process will lead to higher costs for consumers. 

The details: Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis (which owns Peugeot, Vauxhall, Fiat, and Jeep, among other brands), called for an accelerated transition to EVs while at the Paris Motor Show on Monday. He told the Financial Times that further delays will hurt the industry by forcing companies to invest in both EVs and gas-powered vehicles. 

“Making a transition for [EVs] longer is a big trap,” Tavares said. “When you make a longer transition, in fact, you don’t replace the old world by the new one. You add up the new world to the old.”

Tavares also said key industry players within Europe like Stellantis need to prioritize making EVs more affordable to encourage demand and rival Chinese manufacturing.

Martin Sander, who heads up sales, marketing and after sales for Volkswagen’s passenger cars, also called for a faster transition to EVs as customer demand has dropped in some regions. “I hope that we’re going to see clear commitments and signals from politicians that the future is electric. And then I’m convinced we also see customer demand picking up,” Sander told the outlet. 

Some background: While the European Union has seen a significant increase in EV sales in recent years, the current sale rate is not enough for the bloc to reach zero car emissions by 2035. Some European car makers have called on the 2035 targets to be eased for manufacturers to avoid steep fines. In 2023, the International Energy Agency estimated that around one in five new car registrations in Europe were electric – compared to one in 10 in the United States. 

HISTORICAL CONSERVATION: The White House was set to commemorate on Monday the designation of a new marine sanctuary off the coast of California, the first to be led by indigenous people. 

The details: Last week, the Biden administration announced that it would be designating 4,543 square miles of coastal and offshore waters for the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary. It will be the 17th national sanctuary and the third-largest in the U.S. While formally managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, preservation for the sanctuary will be led by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, according to the Los Angeles Times. The indigenous groups will directly advise NOAA.

Just over a month remains until the designation of the area takes effect. Gov. Gavin Newsom has the power to veto the move, but is reportedly not expected to do so. Through this conservation, oil and gas drilling will be barred in the area, as well as undersea mining. Fishing will still be allowed. 

MUSSEL INVASION: Swiss fishermen and wildlife native to many of Switzerland’s lakes are facing an unexpected threat from nature itself…in the form of a mollusc. 

The details: In 2014, the small brown mussels were discovered in the Rhine near Basel (along the border of France and Germany) and swiftly spread to at least six large lakes in the country, including Lake Geneva, according to Reuters. 

Local fishermen and researchers told Reuters that many of these mussels are filling and tearing apart nets, clogging underwater pipelines, encrusting other wildlife like crayfish, and eating large amounts of microscopic plants that other wildlife have relied on for decades. Some data suggests the mussels will continue to threaten ecosystems in the Swiss lakes by multiplying up to 20 times in 20 years.

Key quote: “Potentially all biological categories and major links in the food chain can be impacted,” Stéphan Jacquet, a researcher with the INRAE CARRTEL laboratory told the outlet. “When we look underwater, we can see that it has an exponential colonization, very significant, as these ecosystems are now completely covered, from the surface to the depths.” 

RACE TO HOST COP31: The city of Adelaide in South Australia is officially vying to host the United Nations climate change conference in two years. 

The details: Peter Malinauskas, the premier of SA, announced on Monday that the state would be able to attract more than 30,000 people for the annual summit, according to The Guardian. Malinauskas said the climate conference, better known as COP31, would generate around $511.6 million – supporting tourism and trade for the Australian state. 

Compared to other major Australian cities like Sydney and Melbourne, Adelaide has led the way on renewables, Malinauskas said. The premier said Monday that, currently, around 75% of the city’s electricity is generated by wind and solar. It is looking to boost that to 100% by 2027. 

“Well, because of what we’ve been doing here in South Australia we now have an opportunity to say no to Sydney and Melbourne, and instead allow the federal government to choose Adelaide to host what will be one of the largest international conferences this nation has ever seen,” Malinauskas said.

Australia will be going up against Turkey to host the conference in 2026. This year’s conference starts Nov. 11 and is being held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

IN THE COURTS: The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on Wednesday in City and County of San Francisco v. EPA, a case involving a challenge to the agency’s wastewater permit program. 

The details: San Francisco alleges its National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit, issued by the EPA,  does not identify specific limits to discharge wastewater in navigable waters, claiming that the agency is acting arbitrarily and capriciously, and contrary to the Clean Water Act (CWA).

In July, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the EPA’s authority under the CWA to issue “general narrative prohibitions,” or broad limits on wastewater discharge. However, San Francisco in February appealed the decision, asking the high court to overturn the Ninth Circuit’s ruling.

San Francisco, along with industry and water groups, said in order to ensure water quality standards, the permits must provide specific “numeric discharge limits or at least be specific enough for operators to know what operational actions or management practices they must employ to ensure compliance.” 

Due to the permits’ broad limitations on wastewater discharge, the parties claim that there is no predictability for permittees to know exactly what amount of pollutant discharge could lead to enforcement actions by the agency. 

Oral arguments begin at 10 a.m.

EPA DEFENDS ITS POWER PLANT RULE IN COURT: The EPA on Friday defended its rule aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions for power plants through carbon capture and sequestration/storage technology (CCS) – a tool that grid operators claim has yet to exist and may lead to power plant closures. 

The details: The regulation faces legal challenges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from several parties, including Republican states, business associations and grid operators. 

In September, four regional grid operators filed a brief alleging that the EPA’s rule may lead to some power plants to close early because of their inability to install CCS technology, ultimately causing grid reliability problems. 

However, the agency stated that the “EPA thoroughly considered grid-reliability impacts and designed the Rule to avoid disrupting power-sector operation.” The agency added it identified 90% CCS as the best tool to reduce emissions from power plants through a comprehensive review of an extensive record. 

Read more from Maydeen here. 

ELECTION COUNTDOWN: As we are weeks away from the presidential election, we are taking a look at which energy and environmental groups have signaled their endorsement for either Trump or Harris. 

American Energy Alliance (AEA) President Thomas Pyle announced in September that it would endorse Trump for a second term. AEA is a nonprofit organization advocating for energy and environmental policies through grassroots action. The Oil & Gas Workers Association also announced its endorsement for Trump. 

Meanwhile, environmental groups such as 350 Action, Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, Clean Water Action, Climate Hawks Vote, Food & Water Action, and Friends of the Earth Action announced their endorsement for Harris in July. She also received an endorsement from the California Environmental Voters (EnviroVoters). 

There are 21 days until Election Day. 

A LOOK AHEAD: 

• Oct. 15 Columbia University will be hosting a fireside chat titled ‘Stranded Assets and the Energy Transition’ featuring Dr. Catie Hausman, a research associate with the National Bureau of Economics Research and faculty member at the Center on Global Energy Policy for Columbia’s School of International & Public Affairs. 
• Oct. 15 International Energy Agency set to release monthly oil market report
• Oct. 15 is the release of the 2024 Global Status of Carbon Capture & Storage report
• Oct. 16 is the Louisiana Energy Security Summit hosted by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) 
• Oct. 16 is World Food Day
• Oct.16 Supreme Court hears oral arguments for the City and County of San Francisco v. EPA
• Oct. 17 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is holding a commission meeting open to the public
• Oct. 19 is the 100th Anniversary Celebration & Centennial Awards of the US Energy Association

RUNDOWN 

The Guardian Oysters are back on British menu – but will red tape stifle the shellfish boom?

Inside Climate News ‘Legacy’ Forests. ‘Restoration’ Logging. The New Jargon of Conservation Is Awash in Ambiguity. And Politics

The New Republic You Can’t Measure Human Life in Dollars

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