WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Friday, readers! With a little help from our editor Joe Lawler, today’s edition of Daily on Energy kicks off looking at the Trump administration’s reported plans to target tax-exempt environmental groups on Earth Day next week.
Plus, we dive into the Department of Interior’s plans to create a new schedule for its offshore oil and gas leasing program, which could include lease sales off the coast of Alaska.
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For those celebrating this weekend, we wish you all a Happy Easter and Happy Passover!
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: As the European Union weighs purchasing more liquefied natural gas from the United States, analysts are skeptical the bloc will sign onto long-term contracts with the current administration.
“European countries do not want to sign long-term LNG contracts,” Ira Joseph, an energy analyst with Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told NOTUS this week, adding that there is a concern that if Russian gas comes back into the market, it could cause prices on closer sources of fuel to fall.
“There is now political risk associated with signing long-term deals with the U.S. that maybe we didn’t have before,” Joseph added. “It’s tricky because if someone signed a 1 billion ton contract on Friday, that’d be great. But then next Friday, they could go, ‘Oh no, that’s not good enough. We’re gonna put tariffs on you. You need to sign another billion.’”
WHITE HOUSE WEIGHING EARTH DAY STRIKE ON GREEN GROUPS: The Trump administration is reportedly considering issuing executive orders targeting environmental and climate activists on Earth Day next week, in a seeming move to punish those opposed to the president’s fossil fuel-focused agenda.
The details: People familiar with the matter confirmed to Bloomberg this week that the administration is preparing executive orders that would revoke tax-exempt status for notable green organizations.
The Internal Revenue Service currently offers tax exemptions to a wide variety of organizations, including those that are “charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition, and preventing cruelty to children or animals.”
The move can be expected to draw legal challenges and would follow President Donald Trump’s calls for Harvard University to lose its tax-exempt status after the institution rejected the Republican’s demand for policy changes. Trump suggested yesterday that the administration might expand its review of tax-exempt statuses for other organizations, saying they would be “making some statements” about groups “so rich, so strong, and then they go so bad.”
People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the president may single out environmental organizations on April 22 – Earth Day. Details of the orders are subject to change, though they could include calls for investigations into the activities of nonprofit green groups and changes to withhold funding for certain organizations.
Some background: This would align with the president’s targeting of climate and environmental policies in recent weeks, including removing climate change references on federal websites, withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement, canceling climate programs for farmers, and more. While this aligns with the administration’s efforts to shrink federal spending, the climate critical moves come in tandem with Trump’s promises to support the coal, oil and gas industries.
WEATHER ANALYSIS FOR 27 STATES GOES DARK AMID FUNDING LAPSES: The websites of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration regional centers were down today because of lapses in funding from the Department of Commerce, according to notices posted by the centers.
The sites in question serve 27 states across the central and southern U.S., including Texas, Florida, Ohio, the Dakotas, and the Carolinas, Bloomberg reported. The centers are housed at research universities and provide data that are used by scientists to provide tools like drought monitors and hurricane trackers.
Two other hubs face funding lapses in June.
“It’s the sort of thing that makes sense to be funded federally, because it’s improving climate data access to everybody,” John Neilsen-Gammon, director of the Southern Regional Climate Center, told Bloomberg.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OPENS PATHWAY FOR NEW OFFSHORE DRILLING: The Department of Interior announced today that it has directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to begin the process of developing a new schedule for offshore oil and gas lease sales, advancing Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda.
The details: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has ordered BOEM to open a 45-day public comment period, kicking off the process for developing a new five-year leasing program, which could include lease sales off the coast of Alaska.
The 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Program is poised to replace the 10th Program that stretches from 2024 to 2029 and only includes three scheduled sales over the five year period. The department said it will continue to complete those sales already on the calendar while it works to increase the number of sales offered for the oil and gas industry. It did not reveal any specific timeline for future lease sales or specify what areas might be included in the program.
However, the announcement from the Interior Department today did note that BOEM’s jurisdictions on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf have expanded to include an area off the coast of Alaska, known as the High Arctic.
Some reaction: This first step for creating a new lease sale schedule was swiftly celebrated by large oil and gas players. American Petroleum Institute Vice President of Upstream Policy Holly Hopkins called the move a “big step forward” for domestic energy dominance.
“We applaud Secretary Burgum and the administration for taking decisive action to launch the 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil & Gas Leasing Program—a critical step toward restoring long-term certainty and stability for the Gulf of America’s offshore energy sector,” National Ocean Industries Association President Erik Milito said in a statement.
CHINA HALTS IMPORTS OF U.S. GAS: China has reportedly completely halted its imports of liquefied natural gas from the United States for a period of over 10 weeks.
The details: Shipping data reviewed by the Financial Times show that the last tanker carrying LNG from the U.S. – specifically from Corpus Christi, Texas – arrived in Fujian on Feb. 6. Since then, there have been no other shipments. At least one other tanker that left the U.S. was also redirected to Bangladesh. This was seemingly prompted by China’s 15% tariff imposed on U.S. LNG on Feb. 10. As those tariffs have since grown to roughly 49%, there is little interest in sending more gas to China.
“There will be long-term consequences,” Anne-Sophie Corbeau, a Global Research Scholar with the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University told the Financial Times. “I do not think Chinese LNG importers will ever contract any new US LNG.”
Some background: China’s imports of American LNG have substantially decreased in recent years, as the country has opted to purchase more gas from Russia. Europe and other Western governments have moved to boycott Russian natural gas amid Moscow’s war in Ukraine, allowing countries like China and India to increase their imports at a lower cost.
While China does have several long-term contracts for purchasing LNG from the U.S., analysts are doubtful the country will restart trade anytime soon. Instead, China is more likely to increase its imports from Russian suppliers.
TRUMP CLAIMS GAS PRICES UNDER $2: During a question from the press about price pressures from tariffs at yesterday’s meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Trump claimed that he knew of very low gas prices.
“You have gasoline that hit a dollar-ninety-eight yesterday in a couple of states,” he said. “Gasoline is way down. The price of oil has dropped substantially.”
The reality: Gas prices are down about 50 cents from the same time last year, according to AAA, but aren’t much different than they were when Trump came into office. The average price is $3.16. No station in GasBuddy’s database has prices below $2.
ICYMI – TRUMP OPENS MARINE SANCTUARY TO COMMERCIAL FISHING: In an executive order signed yesterday, Trump moved to allow commercial fishing in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, which is home to many kinds of threatened, endangered and depleted marine species.
The details: The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument was first established by former President George W. Bush in 2009 and expanded to nearly 500,000 square miles by President Barack Obama. The protected region supports coral reefs, sea turtles, pearl oysters, sharks, dolphins, parrotfish, and more depleted species. As part of the management of the region, commercial fishing has long been prohibited within the monument’s boundaries.
In the executive order, Trump accused these restrictions of being disadvantageous to American fishermen.
“It’s so horrible and so stupid,” Trump said from the Oval Office yesterday. “You’re talking about a massive ocean and they’re forced to go and travel four to seven days to go and fish in an area that’s not as good.”
While environmentalists have insisted commercial fishing would threaten the monument’s ecosystems, the president’s order claims “appropriately managed commercial fishing” would not put scientific and historic interests in the region at risk. It also said that existing laws, like the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, and Oil Pollution Act of 1990, offer sufficient protections.
Trump indicated the administration may open up more marine national monuments to commercial fishing in a separate executive order. He has called on the secretaries of Commerce and Interior to review all existing monuments and offer recommendations on the matter.
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