WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Friday readers. We’ve made it to the end of another week and the first month of the year! With the Trump administration’s border tariffs on Canada and Mexico set to go into effect tomorrow, it remains to be seen if oil will ultimately be exempt.
Today’s edition of Daily on Energy takes a look at efforts from Chevron to keep its Venezuelan operating license after it was called into question by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Plus, Callie and Maydeen detail why some environmental lawyers believe the administration’s pause of federal funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is actually “unlawful.”
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: In the wake of the devastating wildfires that wreaked havoc across the greater Los Angeles region, a new study led by scientists from across the U.S. and Europe warns the area will only become more prone to future fires.
“Climate change increased the risk of the devastating LA wildfires. Drought conditions are more frequently pushing into winter, increasing the chance a fire will break out during strong Santa Ana winds that can turn small ignitions into deadly infernos,” said Clair Barnes, study author and World Weather Attribution researcher at the Centre for Environmental Policy at the Imperial College London.
“Without a faster transition away from planet-heating fossil fuels, California will continue to get hotter, drier, and more flammable,” Barnes added.
USDA ORDERED TO REMOVE ONLINE CLIMATE CHANGE REFERENCES: The Department of Agriculture has reportedly been ordered to remove major references to climate change across the agency’s websites, according to a new Politico report.
The details: An internal email obtained by the outlet revealed the USDA’s office of communications ordered agency employees to delete landing pages regarding USDA climate hubs, climate-related agriculture initiatives, wildlife information, and dozens of other programs.
The email specifically called on employees to “Identify and archive or unpublish any landing pages focused on climate change” as well as “Identify all web content related to climate change and document it in a spreadsheet.” USDA website managers received the order Thursday and were given a Friday deadline.
CHEVRON SEEKING TRUMP SUPPORT TO KEEP VENEZUELAN OIL LICENSE: Oil and gas giant Chevron is reportedly seeking to ask the Trump administration to protect its license that allows the company to continue operating in Venezuela, after it was questioned by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The details: Chevron CEO Mike Wirth told the Financial Times that he plans to speak with President Donald Trump to emphasize that leaving Venezuela could give rival nations a leg up in the oil industry in the region.
“In Venezuela, in particular, what you have seen when countries from the west leave, you’ve seen companies from China, from Russia, increase their presence as a result,” Wirth told the outlet. However, if the license is revoked, Wirth indicated, Chevron would comply and stay “out of the politics.”
Chevron is currently the only U.S. oil producer in Venezuela and produces around 200,000 barrels a day, according to the Financial Times. The company was granted a license from the Biden administration in 2022, allowing it to expand business in the country.
Some background: During his Senate confirmation hearing earlier this month, Rubio said the U.S. should reconsider Chevron’s license for operations in Venezuela. “Companies like Chevron are actually providing billions of dollars of money into the regime’s coffers, and the regime kept none of the promises that they made,” Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “So all that needs to be re-explored.”
GRID OPERATORS EXPECTED TO MISS JULY DEADLINE TO BOOST U.S. GRID: All six major regional grid operators are poised to miss a key deadline to upgrade existing transmission to increase total grid capacity, according to a new report.
Some background: In 2021, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ordered the six major regional grid operators in the U.S. — including PJM and Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) — to upgrade their transmission lines, a change that would increase capacity as much as 40%. This was intended to ensure more power can be delivered amid cold weather, which is often stalled due to current systems. The upgrades were set to come at a critical time for the U.S., which is seeing increased strain on its national grid amid increased electrification, higher large-load manufacturing, and a massive data center and artificial intelligence boom.
The details: Grid operators have been facing a deadline of July of this year to implement the new upgrades, but regulatory documents reviewed by Reuters reveal that all six are asking for more time.
MISO confirmed to the outlet that it intended to ask FERC for an extension in March, but has yet to say how much time it will need. The grid operator, whose service area stretches from Louisiana to the Dakotas, said it is lacking available software vendors in order to complete the upgrades.
PJM, the largest grid operator in the country, told Reuters that it plans to request more time from regulators next week. Similarly, ISO New England is expected to request an extension in the fourth quarter of this year. Neither operator has revealed how much time it will need.
Other large grid operators, including Southwest Power Pool and California’s CAISO, have indicated they might need years. Andrew Ulmer, an attorney for CAISO, has reportedly called the July deadline “too large an effort” for the operator, noting that California may require an extension until late 2027.
Meanwhile, New York’s grid operator has already been successful in requesting its own extension. FERC reportedly gave the operator approval in early 2024 to complete the upgrades by the end of 2028.
NEW ZEALAND SETS NEW EMISSIONS REDUCTION TARGETS: The government of New Zealand has announced new carbon emission reduction goals for 2035, its second target set under the Paris Agreement.
The details: Late last night, New Zealand’s Ministry of the Environment revealed it is committing to reducing emissions by 51% to 55% compared to 2005 levels by 2035. This is a small expansion on the country’s current commitment to lower emissions by 50% by 2030. New Zealand has also pledged to hit net zero by 2050.
‘Pathetic’ increase: While the country’s Climate Change Minister Simon Watts has touted the new goal as “ambitious and achievable,” the government has faced immediate backlash over the target.
Many climate activists have insisted that the emissions reductions do not go far enough, as other countries like Brazil have committed to lowering emissions by as much as 67%. Rosemary Harris, a campaigner at Oil Change International, told Climate Change News that the country was “retreating on ambition and striking responsibility, raising their emission reductions by a pathetic 1%.”
There are also rising concerns among farmers in New Zealand that have said the emissions targets are out of reach. Toby Williams, meat and wool chair with Federated Farmers, told Farmers Weekly that the target will likely result in accelerated planting of pine trees. “There is a very real risk that we could become the great pine plantation of the South Pacific – hardly something to be proud of,” Williams told the outlet. Farmers have long had concerns about using forestry to combat carbon emissions, particularly over pine trees taking over land that can otherwise be used for food production.
A reminder: All members of the Paris Agreement are required to update their climate action plans — which include emissions reduction targets — every five years. Countries are not expected to issue identical goals, but each new target is expected to be more aggressive. In December, then-President Joe Biden set a 2035 emissions reduction goal of 61-66% below 2005 levels. Weeks later, Trump again withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, effectively removing its obligation to issue similar updated goals.
U.S. REMAINS 100% RELIANT ON CHINA FOR CRITICAL MINERALS: The U.S. Geological Survey released its annual Mineral Commodity Summaries report, which found that, in 2024, the U.S. was 100% reliant on imports for 12 of the 50 minerals on the List of Critical Minerals. The number of critical minerals where the U.S. is more than 50% reliant on imports fell from 29 to 28, USGS said.
Rich Nolan, President and CEO of the National Mining Association said, “We could be producing most of these minerals here at home — under world-leading environmental, labor and safety standards — yet China remains a massive threat to our supply chains and has boldly reminded the U.S. just how deep our dependence runs.”
The USGS report also highlighted that the prices for critical minerals like cobalt, lithium, and nickel dropped due to an oversupply by China. The value of U.S. production of metals to make lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles fell by 40% to 60% from 2023 level due to a fall in prices and a decrease in U.S. production.
“The largest decreases in metal production quantities, in descending order, were nickel, cobalt, platinum, palladium and cadmium,” USGS said. “The reduction in prices caused some domestic mining projects to delay operations or stop processing material.”
CLIMATE LAWYER CALLS TRUMP’S EFFORTS TO PAUSE FEDERAL FUNDING UNLAWFUL: An environmental lawyer called President Donald Trump’s executive order pausing federal funding from large climate legislation “unconstitutional and unauthorized by law” in a webinar hosted by the Environmental Protection Network.
Trump’s executive order on “Unleashing American Energy” directs all agencies to pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act while it undergoes a 90-day review. The two bills were key accomplishments for the Biden administration, which sought to increase funding toward clean energy technology, innovation, and infrastructure.
“The executive, first and foremost, is not authorized to delay funding based on policy grounds. The Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the power of the purse for a reason,” said Jillian Blanchard, vice president of Climate Change and Environmental Justice at the Lawyers for Good Government.
“The Constitution does not give the President a line item veto over Congress’s spending decisions. This administration is trying to create one through executive fiat,” she added.
Litigation: Earlier this week, the Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget directed federal agencies to pause all federal grants and loans as an attempt to implement the executive order. It rescinded the memo a day later.
Twenty-two state attorneys general sued the OMB over the memo, which Blanchard noted could become a wider ranging effort to stop the executive order itself.
She added that attorneys general have asked the judge at a federal court in Rhode Island to expand the temporary order into a preliminary injunction related to anything implementing the executive order.
“There’s an argument being made before the court right now that it’s being considered that it does not matter that they’ve rescinded the OMB memo, because the effect is still happening on the ground and they’re looking for a longer preliminary injunction,” Blanchard said.
ICYMI…SENATE CONFIRMS DOUG BURGUM: Yesterday evening, the Senate confirmed former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to be Interior Secretary in a widely bipartisan vote.
The details: Burgum, 68, was confirmed late Thursday night in a 79-18 vote with the majority of Senate Democrats voting in favor, making the Republican the eighth member of Trump’s Cabinet to be confirmed.
Burgum’s confirmation cements a renewed focus on the fossil fuel industry within the president’s cabinet, as Burgum has vowed to increase oil and natural gas production. During his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Burgum insisted that securing energy dominance in the U.S. would help boost national security.
“When energy production is restricted in America, it doesn’t reduce demand; it just shifts production to countries like Russia, Venezuela, and Iran, whose autocratic leaders don’t care about the environment,” Burgum told the Senate Committee of Energy and Natural Resources.
Who’s left: Burgum’s confirmation vote came one day after Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin was also confirmed by the Senate. Only one remaining cabinet nominee vital to implementing the president’s energy dominance agenda has yet to face a floor vote in the Senate. As of Friday, the confirmation vote on Chris Wright, Trump’s pick for Energy Secretary, was scheduled to take place late Monday afternoon.
Read more from Callie here.
RUNDOWN
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E&E News The fight over spending just got a lot more complicated
The Guardian Australia tried to influence other countries and Unesco to keep Great Barrier Reef off in-danger list