WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Thursday, readers! In today’s Daily on Energy, we continue to follow Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin’s testimony on the agency’s budget.
We also take a look at the price of oil, which dropped today as President Donald Trump hinted that the U.S. is closer to reaching a nuclear deal with Iran. Read on to see what nuclear power advocates are saying about House Republicans’ efforts to cut clean energy incentives.
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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.
ZELDIN TESTIFIES BEFORE HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin spoke to lawmakers again today on the agency’s fiscal year 2026 budget, testifying before the House Appropriations Committee.
Several House lawmakers questioned the administrator’s approach to addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as “forever chemicals.” The EPA yesterday announced it would rescind four types of PFAS from the agency’s drinking water regulation.
“The science is sound and there’s no question that PFAS is harmful to human health,” said Maine Democrat Rep. Chellie Marie Pingree. “So why is the EPA not fully committed to defending all PFAS rules. Why would the agency consider an exemption to harmful pollutants in our drinking water?”
Zeldin said the previous EPA issued the proposed drinking water standard while it proposed the formal decision to regulate PFAS instead of separately. He added that as a result of this process, the drinking water standard might be lower. Zeldin then called out the media for what he said was misreporting the agency’s announcement.
“The public reporting for some in the media that would see our announcement from yesterday and say ‘they are rolling back the standards, they are weakening the limit,’ hopefully those people are also willing to write a follow up to their story just to put out accurate information,” Zeldin said.
Zeldin also addressed how the agency would redefine “Waters of the United States,” clarifying which bodies of water are subjected to federal oversight, to comply with the 2023 Supreme Court ruling in Sackett v. EPA.
“All we’re looking to do is to be in line with the Supreme Court decision. Our goal is that the map of the United States has all 50 states following one definition, right now they don’t follow one definition,” Zeldin said.
He added that the agency wants to ensure the definition of WOTUS is “durable” and does not have to change every time there is a new administration.
AGENCY CONFIRMATIONS: The Senate today confirmed Sean Donahue to serve as EPA’s Assistant Administrator in a 51 to 46 vote. Donahue is currently serving as the agency’s counsel as he awaited confirmation. Democrats have said that Donahue is not qualified for the post.
Earlier this week, James Danly was confirmed as Deputy Energy Secretary. Danly previously served as chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Katharine MacGregor was also confirmed this week to serve as Deputy Interior Secretary. MacGregor served the same role in the last year of the first Trump administration.
OIL FALLS ON OPTIMISM FOR U.S.-IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL: Oil prices fell dramatically today as President Donald Trump hinted the U.S. is getting closer to securing a nuclear deal with Iran.
The details: International and domestic benchmarks both slid by more than 2%, with Brent Crude trading at around $64.49 just before 2 p.m. ET after dropping 2.42%. West Texas Intermediate similarly dropped 2.44% and was priced at $61.61.
The losses came just hours after Trump revealed the status of the Iran-U.S. nuclear deal while traveling through Doha, Qatar, during his trip to the Middle East.
“You probably read today that Iran has sort of agreed to the terms,” Trump said, referring to reports from yesterday that Tehran was ready to move forward. “They’re not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran. And we’ve been strong. I want them to succeed. I want them to end up being a great country, frankly, but they can’t have a nuclear weapon. … And people are getting close to maybe doing a deal.”
As Iran is a member of the oil producing bloc OPEC+, analysts have predicted that a deal could result in a surge of crude supply in the market. Tamas Varga, an analyst with PVM, told CNBC Iran may increase its exports to as much as one million barrels per day. While this could result in major price falls, the increase in supply could be curbed by OPEC+ slowing its own increase in output.
CHRIS WRIGHT’S FRACKING COMPANY BRACING TO ‘SLOW, BABY, SLOW’: Not even the oil services company founded by Energy Secretary Chris Wright is ramping up to “Drill, Baby, Drill,” as trade tensions and increased global supply continue to place pressure on the market.
The details: Liberty Energy CEO Ron Gusek, who took over the position from Wright after he was confirmed to the cabinet, revealed today that the company is preparing to reduce its fracking operations later this year.
“I’m certainly not in the camp of a 100-rig-count reduction,” Gusek said while at the Super DUG Conference and Expo, according to Bloomberg. “Maybe it’s in the 30 to 40 range. That ultimately translates into for us to a reduction of 10 to 15 frack crews overall.”
EPA PROPOSES BIOFUEL RULE TO THE WHITE HOUSE: The EPA sent the White House a proposed rule that would determine how much biofuel oil refineries are required to mix into transportation fuel, Reuters reports.
The Renewable Fuel Standards require fuel producers to mix a certain amount of biofuels into transportation fuel to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Reuters reported that the regulation would cover both 2025 and 2026.
The regulation has created tension between oil and agriculture industries. Oil companies want to limit the amount of biofuel blended into fuel, while agriculture groups would like an increase, to help boost demand for crops.
NUCLEAR ENERGY ‘DEAD IN ITS TRACKS’ WITH HOUSE GOP TAX BILL: Nuclear power advocates warn that the industry’s recent growth could be halted by the cuts to clean energy incentives advanced by House Republicans.
Quick reminder: The cuts were included in the tax portion of the reconciliation legislative package approved Wednesday morning by the House Ways and Means Committee. The GOP bill cuts a number of subsidies for clean energy, including tax credits like 45U, 45Y, and 48E, which benefit nuclear power.
The changes: The GOP bill would phase out all three tax credits by the end of 2031 — a full year earlier than the earliest date any of them would phase out under the current tax code. This phase-out period would start in 2029, with qualified recipients receiving only 80% of the credit. That percentage drops to 60% in 2030, 40% in 2031, and 0% for any year after.
The bill would also require qualified facilities to have been “placed in service,” meaning permitting and construction have been completed and the facility is operational, to receive these credits at any point during this phase-out period.
The impact: Nuclear industry advocates and Republican lawmakers had asked the committee for weeks to protect these credits to maintain and expand the existing nuclear power fleet, as several new smaller nuclear projects (think small modular reactors) are anticipated to come into service at the start of the next decade. With the new deadlines, the most recently announced nuclear energy projects risk not receiving any part of the credit.
“[The] fact that it’s placed in service as well, rather than commence construction effectively means there’s not an SMR that would qualify for this credit,” Brad Townsend, vice president for policy and outreach at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, told Callie.
Read more from Callie here.
MAJOR CARBON REMOVAL COMPANY ACCUSED OF ‘SCAM’: One year after opening what has been described as the world’s largest direct air capture facility, Climeworks is now being accused of running a “scam” for only capturing a fraction of the carbon promised.
The details: In a scathing report from Icelandic newspaper Heimildin, the Swiss carbon capture company has been accused of failing to hit its CO2 removal goals since it launched in 2021. The company operates two massive carbon removal facilities in Iceland, and its technology is set to be used in a Department of Energy-backed direct air capture hub in Louisiana.
It has drawn in tens of thousands of investors, from individuals to major firms like Morgan Stanley, that have put in funds in exchange for carbon credits. Now some of those investors are blowing the whistle on the credit scheme.
Retired scientist Michael de Podesta told Heimildin that, since 2021, he had been paying £40 (around $53) every month for fifty kilograms worth of CO2. This was expected to add up to around 600 kilograms a year. However, by October 2024 not a single gram of CO2 was captured and disposed of in his name.
The company tells investors the carbon credits will be delivered within six years, and reportedly estimates that its removal plants can capture 4,000 tons of CO2 each year. But, between 2022 and 2024, the company has failed to even reach 1,000 tons of removals, failing to offset its own carbon footprint of 1,700 tons of CO2, according to Heimildin.
Notable quote: “Direct capture is a scam, carbon capture is a scam, blue hydrogen is a scam, and electrofuel is a scam. These are all scam technologies that do nothing for the climate or air pollution,” Stanford professor of civil and environmental engineering Mark Jacobson, told the outlet, calling it the “Theranos of the energy industry.”
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RACES TO FILL JOBS FOLLOWING TRUMP CUTS: The National Weather Service has been left unprepared and understaffed heading into hurricane season after hundreds were fired from the office or took the Trump administration’s buyout program earlier this year.
The details: Internal documents reviewed by Politico reveal that the agency is rushing to fill a range of critical positions, including lead meteorologist in Fairbanks, Alaska, and meteorologists-in-charge in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has posted 155 job openings at NWS. Many of these positions are involved in engagements with local officials and emergency managers amid severe weather, while others are focused on upgrading radar systems.
“We’re not prepared. We’re heading into hurricane season as unprepared as anytime as I can imagine,” former NOAA official Tom Diliberto said during an event at the Capitol yesterday.
Trump cuts: The vacancies follow concerns that the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize the federal government and reduce spending would hurt agencies like the National Weather Service.
In early May, five former NWS directors said that roughly 550 NWS employees had either left voluntarily or been fired from the office since the start of the administration. They warned the dramatic staffing cuts would leave weather forecast offices so understaffed that it could lead to “needless loss of life.”
ICYMI – NEWSOM PROPOSES EXTENDING CALIFORNIA’S CAP-AND-TRADE PROGRAM: California Gov. Gavin Newsom yesterday proposed extending the state’s cap-and-trade program for an additional 15 years, to 2045, Politico reported. He’s also seeking to rebrand it as “cap-and-invest.”
The program aims to hold polluters accountable by putting a limit on emissions and charging entities for emitting more pollution than permitted.
The governor’s proposal shifts some of the program’s revenue, including moving $1.5 billion of its revenue to the general fund to support CAL FIRE’s operations. The proposal would also route at least $1 billion annually toward the state’s high-speed rail project.
The governor’s proposals follow as Trump recently issued an executive order calling on the Justice Department to identify state climate laws that harm domestic energy resources, including California’s cap-and-trade program.
RUNDOWN
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