WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Friday, readers! If you are living in or around the Bay Area, be sure to check out the new nine miles of public-access trails opening tomorrow in the Cotoni-Coast Dairies Unit of the California Coastal National Monument.
President Donald Trump is in Alaska today meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, back in Washington, Trump’s administration is tightening its squeeze on wind and solar development, as the Treasury Department released its highly anticipated guidance regarding the tax credit phase-out.
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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.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: The Environmental Protection Agency has moved to terminate $7 billion in federal grants from the Solar for All program, which is meant to install solar energy in low-income communities. Former EPA senior adviser Zealan Hoover told Maydeen that the action would limit access to affordable energy for many Americans.
The termination “takes four gigawatts of energy off the table at a moment when we have serious concerns about our ability to meet rising demand from [artificial intelligence] and other industries. It is one of the last remaining pressure relief valves for families that are grappling with rapidly increasing electricity prices,” said Hoover.
He added that the administration has taken action to make energy less affordable for Americans by repealing the IRA’s clean energy tax credits in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“Almost every decision this administration has made thus far is making that problem worse. They’re not canceling this program in isolation. They are canceling this program. They rolled back the tax credits,” Hoover said.
TREASURY TIGHTENS RESTRICTIONS ON SOLAR & WIND CREDIT PHASE-OUT: The Treasury Department’s guidance on enforcing the renewable tax credit phase-out is finally here and, as many expected, doesn’t leave much room for projects to advance within the next year.
Quick reminder: Trump ordered the Treasury to issue this guidance last month to prevent wind and solar developers from getting around the already tight phase-out detailed in the One Big Beautiful Bill. If you forgot, the bill ends credits for projects placed in service after the end of 2027, but does include a carve-out for those that begin construction less than one year after the bill was enacted. Under the new guidance, that milestone is increasingly out of reach.
The changes: Treasury now considers a wind and solar facility to be under construction when “physical work of a significant nature begins” either on or offsite. Off-site work that falls under this definition includes the manufacturing of components, mounting equipment, transformers, support structures, inverters, and other power conditioning equipment.
On-site work is much more specific. For a wind facility, this includes excavating the foundation of a turbine, setting anchor bolts into the ground, or pouring concrete for the foundation. For a solar facility, this is limited to the installation of support racks or other structures that panels, solar cells, or collectors will be affixed to.
Read more from Callie here.
UN PLASTIC TREATY FAILS: For the past 10 days, world leaders have gathered in Geneva in hopes of reaching an agreement to address plastic pollution, but they have fallen short once again.
The majority of countries supported an ambitious treaty to address plastic pollution. Still, a small number of oil-producing nations opposed any limit on the production of plastics. They argued that addressing the problem requires recycling and waste management. Those countries included Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Kuwait. The U.S. was also aligned with the group.
Christina Dixon, ocean campaign leader at the Environmental Investigation Agency, who was observing the talks, told Maydeen that the initial focus among delegates was “how could we write a treaty that China could join?”
China is the world’s largest plastic producer. Dixon said that if China had joined the treaty, it would have isolated the U.S. regarding access to the global plastic market and established a de facto norm in the industry to trade with treaty members.
The meeting in Geneva was the second part of the fifth session of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on plastic pollution, which is meant to develop an international treaty. Nations signaled there would be a meeting at a later date.
Dixon said that they were happy that countries did not accept a “weak deal.” But, if this process is to happen again, she added, there needs to be better coordination among ambitious countries.
“We’ve known for a long time that the only way that we can deal with plastic pollution is through a comprehensive global approach,” she said. “Plastics are a transboundary pollutant, but also a transboundary product in terms of trade. And so you can’t really regulate plastics in one country and not in another.”
Global production and use of plastics is expected to reach 736 million tonnes by 2040, up 70% from 2020.
“This has been a hard-fought 10 days against the backdrop of geopolitical complexities, economic challenges and multilateral strains,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme. “However, one thing remains clear: despite these complexities, all countries clearly want to remain at the table.”
MARKET BRACES FOR TRUMP-PUTIN MEETING: President Donald Trump is meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin today, as Trump looks to advance negotiations on ending Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Some have speculated that negotiations could lead to the easing of sanctions imposed on Russian energy products or involve a minerals deal.
Prices eased slightly this afternoon, with international and domestic benchmarks falling by less than 2% when compared with the small gains seen yesterday. Just before 3 p.m. EST, Brent Crude had dropped by 1.53% and was priced at $65.82 per barrel. Similarly, West Texas Intermediate was down by 1.81% and was selling at $62.80 per barrel.
What to watch: If sanctions on Russian energy products like crude oil are lifted or softened, the market could be flooded with more supply. Analysts have warned this could send prices down by roughly $5 per barrel, making it even more difficult for domestic producers to increase drilling.
However, if negotiations between Trump and Putin go south, some are expecting western nations to escalate sanctions on Russia, which could lead to a sharp rally in oil prices.
Traders and investors will also be keeping their eyes on any minerals deal presented during Friday’s meeting. The Telegraph reported earlier in the week that Trump was prepared to offer Putin access to rare earth minerals in Alaska, as well as in Ukraine.
CHINA COAL PRODUCTION DROPS: China’s coal production dropped 3.8% on the year last month to 380.99 million metric tons, the first decline in production this year, Reuters reports.
That is the lowest coal output since April 2024. However, in the first seven months of the year, coal production in China rose by 3.8%, with the total at 2.78 billion tons.
China is the largest producer and consumer of coal. The government has made an effort to control the supply of coal. Bloomberg reported that in July, bad weather affected coal production in China. Steel production also dropped 4% year-on-year to less than 80 million tons, its lowest this year.
SOLAR COMPANY SEALS DEAL TO MAKE 100% AMERICAN-MADE SOLAR PANELS: Texas-based T1 Energy announced a landmark supply agreement today with specialty glass maker Corning to ensure that its solar panel supply chain is fully located in the United States.
The details: Under the deal, T1 Energy will be sourcing all of its polysilicon and solar wafers used in its panels from Corning and its Michigan facility. The solar company is expected to start receiving those wafers as soon as the second half of 2026. They will primarily be used at T1’s solar cell facility in Austin, which is currently under development. Once these cells are produced, they will be transferred to the company’s Dallas site.
“This is American companies building in America and protecting American energy security. The U.S. needs to establish critical energy supply chains built on domestic capacity and industrial knowhow,” T1 CEO Daniel Barcelo said in a statement. “Together with Corning, we intend to accelerate America’s ability to manufacture leading-edge solar solutions, support a total of nearly 6,000 American jobs, and promote American energy independence.”
The agreement marks a major milestone for the solar industry, which has long relied on foreign imports – primarily from China – of critical components like polysilicon and solar wafers, even for domestically produced solar panels. It is also in line with the Trump administration’s goals of shoring up domestic energy production and reducing foreign imports of energy products.
Something related: As production and installation costs have fallen in recent years, Americans have grown increasingly interested in installing solar panels on their homes. Part of this was driven by incentives established under the Biden administration, including extending a 30% residential tax credit for homeowners. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill passed this summer, that credit is expected to expire at the end of this year.
Changes to the subsidies haven’t curbed consumer interest. In fact, the industry has seen a surge in demand. Representatives for EnergySage, a website that allows consumers to compare prices on solar panel installation, told UtilityDive that it saw a 59% month-over-month increase in registrations from potential customers from June to July. While demand might be spiking now, the company is expecting interest to drop once the tax credit is officially axed.
TRUMP ADMIN BLACKS OUT EMPIRE WIND STUDY: When Interior Secretary Doug Burgum paused the construction of the offshore Empire Wind project in New York, he claimed a study conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed evidence that the permitting process was rushed. Months later, Burgum has yet to show any proof of this.
E&E News recently filed a formal request under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the study and read the findings of the NOAA study. This study was first mentioned by Burgum in April, though he has yet to release any additional information about it.
As of Friday, E&E News was sent a copy of the 36-page report with nearly every single page blacked out with redactions. The report is titled: Screen Analysis: A Summary of the Record for the Empire Wind Project-NMFS Fisheries Resources.
The only information not redacted is the purpose of the study, its sources, a list of acronyms, a description of the Empire Wind project, a list of documents reviewed in the analysis, and the literature cited throughout. At least 27 full pages are fully blacked out.
Of the text that is available to read, there is no mention of the words “permit” or “permitting.” It also hedges that the analysis was “not exhaustive.”
ICYMI – TRUMP ADMINISTRATION REMOVES ENDANGERED SPECIES PROTECTIONS FOR PRAIRIE CHICKEN: The Trump administration was handed a win earlier in the week, as a federal judge allowed the government to remove federal protections for the lesser prairie chicken, for a second time.
The details: The bird had been listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act since November 2022. The Biden administration estimated that the bird had a five-year average population of only 31,210 across five states. Republicans decried the decision as government overreach, claiming the listing would hurt agricultural and infrastructural development. Many critics also deemed the endangered listing as “unnecessary,” as private conservation organizations have made substantial progress at protecting the animal.
In May, the Trump administration claimed the Fish and Wildlife Service erred in naming the grouse species as endangered and asked for approval to walk back the listing. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David Counts vacated the 2022 listing and said the previous administration had a “serious defect” in its past rule, according to E&E News.
This is the second time Trump officials have weakened protections for the animals, as the first Trump administration also removed the lesser prairie chicken from the list of endangered species in 2016.
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