WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Friday, readers! Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Donald Trump had a heated exchange in the Oval Office today. The two leaders were slated to sign a minerals deal, but the meeting ended with an unsigned agreement.
In today’s Daily on Energy, with the help of our editor Joe Lawler, we also cover the layoffs of hundreds of employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Reports are that nearly 800 workers have been laid off.
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: “Donald Trump and his Administration are attacking wind projects. They’re attacking solar projects. They’re attacking clean energy projects that aren’t oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear, and by doing so, they’re reducing supply and likely raising prices on American consumers.” – Sen. Tim Kaine.
Earlier this week, Kaine and fellow Democrat Sen. Martin Heinrich brought a resolution to the Senate floor that would terminate President Donald Trump’s energy emergency declaration. The Democrats argue the order will harm clean energy jobs and increase greenhouse gas emissions.
“This would be more than a horrible policy… It would also set a horrible precedent—a precedent that a president of either party can invent a sham emergency and then grab away from Congress powers that Congress has under Article One,” Kaine said.
ABOUT THAT UKRAINE DEAL…: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky left the White House today without having signed a mineral rights deal that was the occasion for the meeting.
Our colleagues have coverage of the extraordinary dust-up between Zelensky and Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance here.
But Maydeen wrote a story that went live this morning explaining what rare earth and critical minerals were meant to be included in the deal, and why the U.S. is interested in them. You can read that here.
MASS FIRINGS AT NOAA: Nearly 800 employees from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were fired yesterday evening.
Sources in the agency told CNN that scientists and specialists in weather, oceans, biodiversity, climate, and other research and planetary monitoring fields were affected by the layoffs. There could be additional layoffs today. Most employees who have worked in their jobs for a year or less were fired yesterday.
The layoffs are part of the Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency’s attempts to shrink the federal government.
Some in leadership positions at NOAA requested exemptions for meteorologists at the National Weather Service, Washington Examiner’s Samantha-Jo Roth reported. However, some meteorologists took to social media to announce their terminations.
“I never thought I’d be in this position, but I was unexpectedly terminated from my job as an NWS meteorologist. This isn’t just about me—this impacts the future of weather forecasting,” Matthew Eovino, a meteorologist at NWS Anchorage, tweeted.
FBI LOOKS INTO BIDEN’S CLIMATE GRANT PROGRAM: The FBI reportedly started questioning employees from the Environmental Protection Agency this week regarding former President Joe Biden’s $20 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund program, the Washington Post reports.
The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund is a program established by the Inflation Reduction Act that provides funding to build out clean energy projects in low-income communities. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, however, has claimed that billions of dollars were improperly distributed under the fund.
Administration appointees previously requested the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. to investigate the funding program but it resulted in the head of the criminal division, Denise Cheung, resigning. People familiar with the matter said Cheung had refused to open a grand jury investigation into the climate funding program because it lacked sufficient evidence.
But people familiar with the matter told the Washington Post that the investigation has continued. Interim U.S. attorney Ed Martin submitted a seizure warrant application, but it was rejected by a U.S. magistrate judge in D.C., the Washington Post said.
The Washington Post added that acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove’s office attempted to get at least one other U.S. attorney’s office to launch a grand jury and seek a court-ordered bank freeze. But the requests were rejected by the prosecutors.
The report said it is unclear whether new evidence has been obtained or if a warrant was granted elsewhere.
WELLS FARGO DROPS NET-ZERO GOAL: Wells Fargo announced today that it is dropping its target of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 and its interim targets for 2030, Bloomberg reports.
The megabank’s decision reflects the latest in a trend of financial institutions backing away from green initiatives, such as global climate alliances.
Wells Fargo said that its goals were premised on factors outside its control that are not in place, such as public policy and consumer behavior. Notably, the Trump administration has moved to ax climate programs and discouraged private-sector climate initiatives.
The bank said, though, that it was not retrenching from financial green projects. It said that it has “deployed $178 billion of sustainable finance” over the past three years.
It also noted, though, that it has $55 billion of outstanding commitments to oil, gas, pipeline companies, and utilities.
COP16 NEGOTIATORS AGREE TO BILLIONS FOR NATURE CONSERVATION: Negotiators at the United Nations biodiversity conference, or COP16, agreed to contribute $200 billion a year by 2030 for nature conservation, AP News reports.
Global leaders met last October in Colombia but failed to reach a final agreement on a number of key issues, including on funding and oversight of the money. But negotiators led by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa agreed to a $200 billion plan to protect nature.
The funding will go to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which was established in 2022 to protect and restore biodiversity by 2030. The deal also includes a plan to increase $20 billion in yearly funding for conservation for developing countries by 2025. The funding would increase to $30 billion annually by 2030.
“We have concluded the plenary session in Rome and the countries have described this summit as a milestone in the history of biodiversity. From Cali to Rome, we have achieved agreements that the world has been waiting for for 30 years,” said the COP16 president, Susana Muhamad of Colombia.
EU WILL PROPOSE MEASURES TO BOOST ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The European Commission will propose policies to boost the demand for electric vehicles in the European Union, Reuters reports.
Next week, the EU executive will present its automotive action plan and according to a draft proposal seen by Reuters they will present actions that state members can take to boost the uptake of EVs in fleets of company cars.
Reuters said the commission will work with EU countries to assess how to incentivize EV purchases and funding options. It added that zero-emission heavy vehicles should be exempt from road charges. The proposal will look to increase European content requirements on EV battery cells and components sold in Europe.
RUNDOWN
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