WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Monday, readers! We hope you all had a restful weekend. There is just about one week left before Congress is back in session, so be sure to enjoy the extra peace and quiet (if there is such a thing) before things are back in full swing after Labor Day next week.
In today’s edition of Daily on Energy, we bring you the latest on the Trump administration’s decision to halt construction of the Revolution Wind project off Rhode Island, and what the region’s grid operator has to say on the matter. Plus, the Interior Department has issued its latest list of critical minerals. Keep reading to find out which mineral has been left off the list…for now.
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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.
HALTING WIND PROJECT CREATES RELIABILITY RISKS, GRID OPERATOR WARNS: The Trump administration’s decision to halt construction of an offshore wind farm in New England is expected to increase risks to grid reliability, the region’s independent grid operator has warned.
The details: This morning, ISO-New England criticized the Interior Department’s stop-work order for the Revolution Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island. The grid operator insisted that the New England region needs all generation resources to be available to meet rising energy demand, which is only expected to grow due to data centers and artificial intelligence.
“Beyond near-term impacts to reliability in the summer and winter peak periods, delays in the availability of new resources will adversely affect New England’s economy and industrial growth, including potential future data centers,” ISO-NE said.
ISO-NE insisted that delaying the project’s completion “will increase risks to reliability.” The grid operator further slammed the administration’s efforts to stymie the renewable projects, saying “unpredictable risks” and “threats” to these resources will threaten future investments, increase consumer costs, as well as undermine grid reliability and the economy.
Quick reminder: Interior issued a stop-work order for the offshore wind project on Friday, citing unspecified “national security” concerns. This is the second fully-permitted wind project that the administration has attempted to block, the first being the Empire Wind project off the coast of New York. The stop-work order on that project was lifted after roughly one month, costing the developer nearly $1 billion.
There are currently five offshore wind projects under construction. While many within the industry had hoped these would be safe from the administration’s crackdown, Callie reported earlier this month that all are at risk of being halted by the government before they are completed.
Fallout: Danish offshore wind developer Ørsted saw its shares plunge today on the heels of the Trump administration’s decision. The project is roughly 80% completed, as the company has installed approximately 45 out of its 65 planned turbines, leaving investors worried about its ability to finish the project on time. During European afternoon trading, Ørsted shares were down 16%. One analyst with Sydbank told the Financial Times that the market reaction is “pretty devastating” for the company.
EPA MOVES TO DENY CALIFORNIA EMISSION REQUIREMENTS FOR TRUCKS: The Environmental Protection Agency this morning released a proposal to block a California regulation meant to reduce emissions from heavy-duty trucks.
The EPA said it is proposing to disapprove California’s Heavy-Duty (HD) Inspection and Maintenance (I/M) Requirements, also known as the Clean Truck Check, which requires periodic vehicle emission testing and monitoring to identify trucks in need of emissions-related repairs.
The agency said the requirements conflict with federal law, as it would apply to heavy-duty vehicles over 14,000 pounds that operate on California public roads and highways, even if they are not registered in the state.
California’s requirement is part of several state regulations that aim to reduce pollution from vehicles.
The EPA’s proposal will be open for public comment 30 days after it is posted on the Federal Register. The agency’s move is part of the Trump administration’s broad effort to repeal vehicle emission standards and state regulations that would accelerate the transition towards electric vehicles.
Read more by Maydeen here.
USGS RELEASES CRITICAL MINERAL LIST DRAFT: The Department of the Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey released its draft 2025 List of Critical Minerals, expanding it to include other minerals deemed essential for the economy and national security.
DOI updates the critical mineral list every three years. The list identifies which minerals are essential and helps to guide federal policy to strengthen the supply chain. It also informs investments in mining, mine waste, stockpiles, streamlined permitting, and more.
“By working with industry and state partners, we are ensuring that the minerals powering our energy, defense, and technology supply chains are produced and processed in the United States by American workers,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a press release.
The 2025 draft includes 54 mineral commodities with the new minerals: Potash, silicon, copper, silver, rhenium, and lead. The department has recommended removing arsenic and tellurium.
The draft will undergo a 30-day public comment period once it is published in the Federal Register. The DOI, specifically, is asking for public comments on whether to include uranium and metallurgical coal, also known as met coal, which is used in the production of steel, in the final draft.
Reactions: National Mining Association president and CEO Rich Nolan said in a statement that “Many so-called critical minerals are only found because they are either co-located with or are produced in the processing of other minerals. And the rapid pace of innovation means the minerals used in today’s technologies may be different than those needed tomorrow. Given those realities, any policies applied to a critical mineral listing should be applicable to all U.S. mined materials.”
Abigail Hunter, the executive director of SAFE’s Center for Critical Minerals Strategy, said in a statement, “We’ve long encouraged the federal agencies to explore forward-looking assessments and enthusiastically applaud this expanded consideration of how trade disruptions, price changes, and single points of failure for critical minerals could impact the U.S. economy. We also applaud the related prioritization in the new methodology, as if everything is critical, nothing is critical.”
2025 ON TRACK FOR RECORD NATURAL GAS CONSUMPTION: The Energy Information Administration is forecasting that the U.S. will hit record levels of natural gas consumption this year, in a large part thanks to colder weather seen in the early months.
The details: In the EIA’s latest short-term energy outlook, it predicted that natural gas consumption in the U.S. will jump by around 1% in 2025, hitting a record of 91.4 billion cubic feet per day. Consumption is expected to increase in every sector (such as residential, commercial, and industrial) expected for electric power.
EIA said high consumption seen in January and February of this year is driving the forecast. Cold weather, including extraordinary low temperatures brought on by the polar vortex in the Southeast, caused demand to spike for heating systems.
2026 is expected to see milder weather during the winter months, and therefore the U.S. will likely see natural gas consumption decrease slightly next year.
WILDFIRES ON THE WEST COAST: Oregon and California are battling wildfires that have prompted thousands to evacuate.
In Central Oregon, firefighters are battling the Flat Fire, which as of today has burned 21,971 acres with 5% containment. The fire has resulted in the loss of several homes and buildings in Deschutes County. Thousands of homes in Deschutes and Jefferson Counties were under some type of evacuation notices.
The Pickett Fire in California’s Napa County sparked on Thursday and as of this morning has burned 6,803 acres. The wildfire is 13% contained. There are more than 2,000 firefighting personnel battling the blazes as of today. Evacuation orders and warnings have been issued in several areas near the fire.
The wildfires come as the Western states like California, Oregon, and Washington are dealing with extremely high temperatures. The heat is expected to last through Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.
FEMA EMPLOYEES APPEAL TO CONGRESS, CLAIM TRUMP IS WEAKENING DISASTER RESPONSE: Dozens of current and former employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency have sent a letter to Congress warning that the Trump administration is weakening their ability to respond to disasters nationwide, calling on lawmakers to establish protections for the agency.
The employees accused the administration of taking several actions that “undermine FEMA’s legal authority and responsibility,” including failing to appoint a “qualified FEMA administrator,” eliminating mitigation grants, censoring climate-change-related research, and implementing large staffing cuts. They also took issue with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s order to personally review and approve all contracts, grants, and missions over $100,000. The FEMA employees said this manual review will reduce the agency’s ability to “swiftly deliver our mission.”
They called on Congress to provide new protections for FEMA. The letter specifically called for FEMA to be established as a cabinet-level independent agency within the executive branch, for Congress to protect employees from politically motivated firings, for increased transparency from the White House, and for lawmakers to protect the agency from additional interference from Homeland Security.
The letter, signed by 181 individuals, has been titled the “Katrina Declaration” and was sent to Congress on the 20th anniversary of when Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the Gulf Coast.
Key quote: “We find ourselves — on the 20th anniversary of a disaster that reshaped the nature of emergency management — only two months removed from a mass casualty flooding event in Kerrville, Texas,” the letter reads. “As that disaster unfolded, FEMA’s mission to provide critical support was obstructed by leadership who not only question the agency’s existence but place uninformed cost-cutting above serving the American people and the communities our oath compels us to serve.”
ICYMI – TRUMP PLANS TO MAKE COLD WAR-ERA PLUTONIUM AVAILABLE FOR ENERGY INDUSTRY: Late last week, Reuters reported that the Trump administration was considering making available around 20 metric tons of Cold War-era plutonium for U.S. power companies that are scrambling to secure fuel for new nuclear reactors.
The details: The plan could allow the weapons-usable plutonium to be converted into fuel for commercial reactors, at little to no cost. Reuters reported that the administration is considering only requiring power companies to pay for the transportation of the fuel as well as the construction and management of facilities that would recycle, process, and manufacture the fuel. The Department of Energy is reportedly set to announce the move in the coming days, and will be seeking proposals from the industry to put the plan in motion.
Some criticism: While the plan could help solve one of the biggest problems developers of advanced nuclear energy are facing – where to get their fuel – it was harshly criticized by one of the top Democrats on the Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group.
On Friday, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey likened the plan to selling “nuclear weapons to Costco.”
“The Department of Energy is planning to give up to 20 tons of weapons-usable plutonium to private industry for commercial use, trashing long-standing bipartisan U.S. policy and raising serious concerns about the spread of nuclear weapons to additional states or terrorist groups,” Markey said. “This would also undermine the economic viability of nuclear energy. There are no upsides here to Trump’s dangerous plan.”
PLUS – WRIGHT BLAMES RENEWABLES FOR ELECTRICITY PRICE HIKES IN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Callie sat down with Energy Secretary Chris Wright for an exclusive interview last Friday and pressed the secretary on Trump’s claims that wind and solar power are to blame for the recent rise in electricity prices.
The details: While clean energy advocates insist the president is wrong for blaming renewables, Wright backed the commander in chief, saying Trump is “100% correct.” He admitted that the situation is complex, but warned against looking primarily at individual state data to discuss electricity price trends.
The secretary used states like Iowa and Oklahoma as an example, as both have some of the largest shares of renewable energy growth while also seeing the smallest electricity price hikes when compared to the national average.
“They generate [wind energy] in those states, but most of it isn’t consumed in those states. They have land. They’re pro-development. They do generate power, and they sell it. They sell it onto the whole grid, not just in their own state,” Wright said, referencing that Iowa is a part of the MISO grid and sells its energy directly into that multi-state market.
“When they talk about Iowa, how much electricity they produce from wind power in Iowa, it’s not all consumed in Iowa,” Wright continued. “So when you look at [a] state, you’re just looking at a microcosm of a grid.”
Read more from Callie’s exclusive interview here.
A LOOK AHEAD:
Aug. 25 – 27 The Conservative Energy Network and Ohio Conservative Energy Forum are holding the National Conservative Energy Summit, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Aug. 26 – 28 Infocast is hosting its Texas Clean Energy Summit in Austin, Texas.
Aug. 26 Transmission infrastructure manufacturer Southwire is scheduled to hold a webinar focused on how advanced conductors can rapidly expand existing transmission capacity.
Aug. 27 The National Press Club is hosting a panel discussion on How America Can Achieve Nuclear Energy Dominance, featuring U.S. Nuclear Industry Council President Todd Abrajano, Nuclear Energy Institute’s John Kotek, and Bradley Williams with the Idaho National Laboratory.
Aug. 27 The New York Center for Foreign Policy Affairs is hosting an event to discuss climate policy, urban planning, and community-driven mitigation efforts in Washington D.C.
Aug. 27 – 28 The Alaska Oil and Gas Association is holding its 2025 Conference in Anchorage.
RUNDOWN
Associated Press To get that perfect ear of corn, weather has to cooperate. But climate change is making it dicier
CNBC Auto giants forced to confront some hard truths in the age of ‘polycrisis’
Inside Climate News Maryland’s Governor and Legislature Just Got So-So Grades on Their Environmental Scorecards