WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good morning and Happy Wednesday, readers! Washington, D.C., may be covered in several inches of snow, but the nation’s capital certainly hasn’t taken a day off. In today’s edition of Daily on Energy, Callie and Maydeen kick things off by taking a look at the president’s pick to lead the Bureau of Land Management, Kathleen Sgamma.
Inflation and energy prices are still on the rise, as the first Consumer Price Index under the new Trump administration shows.
Plus, keep reading to find out how much clean energy capacity was added in the U.S. last year and which states are in the lead for new green generation.
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.
TRUMP NOMINATES LONGTIME OIL AND GAS ADVOCATE TO HEAD UP BLM: President Donald Trump has nominated Kathleen Sgamma to head up the Bureau of Land Management, further cementing an oil and gas focus for the Department of Interior under his administration.
The details: The nomination was formally sent to the Senate from the White House on Tuesday, where it will be considered by the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, according to the congressional record.
Sgamma has served as president of the Denver-based oil and gas trade group Western Energy Alliance since 2006. For over 50 years, the group has represented independent oil and gas producers, advocating increased access to public lands for drilling as well as mining operations. Sgamma has called for less regulation on the industry when it comes to operating on public lands, criticizing rules put in place by the Biden and Obama administrations.
Before working in the oil and gas industry, Sgamma served in the army for several years and was deployed during the Persian Gulf War. She received her bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later received an M.S. in Information Systems from Virginia Tech.
Her confirmation as director of BLM would advance the Trump administration’s goals of prioritizing oil and gas development — walking back Biden administration efforts to accelerate the transition to cleaner energy alternatives.
Read more from Callie here.
ENERGY PRICES ON THE RISE IN FIRST TRUMP CPI REPORT: With inflation rising for the fourth month in a row in January, energy prices have also continued to increase, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.
The details: In the most recent Consumer Price Index – the first released under the new Trump administration – the bureau revealed that electricity prices rose by 1.9% for the year ending in January. The cost of energy services, which also includes utility gas, was up by 2.5%, while energy overall was up by 1%. Only the cost of fuel oil and gasoline were down, by 5.2% and 0.2% respectively.
Month-over-month, energy prices increased by 1.1% compared to December, with fuel oil seeing the largest jump of 6.2%. Electricity prices saw no month-over-month increase.
Why does it matter? The increase in overall prices doesn’t bode well for President Trump and his administration, which has vowed to lower the cost of energy for Americans. Having only been in office less than a month, Trump has been able to take little action outside of executive order towards lowering energy prices as he waited on Congress to confirm his top three energy and environment related cabinet secretaries late last month. Trump and his team have vowed to increase energy production, primarily through maximizing oil and gas.
ENERGY INDUSTRY WARNS EUROPEAN UNION RULES WILL STIFLE COMPETITION: The chief executive of Germany-based Siemens Energy is now warning that the sustainability and environmentally focused regulations could be going too far.
The details: CEO Christian Bruch issued the warning on Wednesday, calling on the bloc to simplify regulations like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which require companies to provide reports and hundreds of data points on environmental, social, and governance impacts. If the EU fails to adjust the rules, Bruch claimed, it would prevent European companies from having a competitive advantage.
“Just making cosmetic changes to regulations will not move us one inch closer to becoming more competitive,” the CEO said, adding that the rules must be “radically shortened and simplified,” according to the Financial Times.
“We’re completely overshooting the mark,” he continued. “And we cannot convince international investors that European companies are attractive.”
Growing trend: Bruch’s remarks are evidence of a growing trend among those within the energy industry who are growing increasingly concerned about the EU’s ESG regulations. Also this week, The American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union – whose members include AT&T, Apple, Amazon, Bank of America, Chevron, Ford, Microsoft, Pfizer, and more — called the EU to ease up on the regulations, which it dubbed “regulatory burdens” that would negatively influence trade.
ALSO ACROSS THE POND…EU TO SET 2040 CLIMATE TARGETS: The European Commission announced today that it plans to propose new climate goals for 2040 by the end of March, according to Reuters.
The targets are expected to focus on emissions reductions across the EU, getting the bloc closer to its net zero emissions goals for 2050. Previously, the EU pledged to slash emissions by 55% by 2030. The group has not yet announced its emissions reductions target for 2035, required by all countries that have adopted the Paris Agreement. The deadline to do so was this past Monday.
However, the new 2040 climate targets are expected to be used for setting the 2035 goals, according to Reuters. The European Commission has reportedly indicated that it plans to recommend that all EU members jointly slash emissions by 90% from 1990 levels by 2040.
CLEAN ENERGY CAPACITY GREW IN THE U.S. LAST YEAR: Clean energy had a record-breaking year with the U.S. adding 47% more clean energy capacity in 2024 than the year before, according to a new report by Cleanview.
Specifically, the report said that solar grew fastest in Republican-led states such as Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Louisiana. More than 25% of all solar was built in Texas, and 35% of all planned solar projects are in the state. For the first time, Florida added more solar capacity than California. U.S. annual solar capacity rose by 65% in 2024 compared to 2023.
States like California, Texas, and Arizona accounted for most of the new battery storage capacity. The report said California built 3,152 MW of new capacity last year. Texas built 2,832 MW of battery storage capacity and Arizona built 4 GWh. Total U.S. annual capacity rose by 65% in 2024.
However, wind capacity fell for the fourth year in a row, by 23%.
TARIFFS COULD MEAN MORE PLASTIC BOTTLES FOR COKE: The packaging of your favorite soda may be affected by Trump’s tariffs, as Coca-Cola has warned they will lead to the use of more plastic.
A reminder: On Sunday, Trump announced he would be implementing 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S. starting next month. This is on top of the sweeping 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico that have been put on a monthlong delay to allow for negotiations regarding cracking down on illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
The impact: Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey told investors this week that the company relies on aluminum imports from Canada to package its popular drinks. In an effort to cut down on pollution from single-plastic use products, Coca-Cola has accelerated its shift toward aluminum packaging. The material has a nearly double recycling rate compared to lightweight plastic alternatives. But higher costs of aluminum imports could reverse some of that progress.
“As it relates to our strategies around ensuring affordability and ensuring consumer demand, if one package suffers some increase in input costs, we continue to have other packaging offerings that will allow us to compete in the affordability space,” Quincey said, according to The Guardian. “For example, if aluminium cans become more expensive, we can put more emphasis on PET [plastic] bottles, etc.”
Criticized over plastic use: Environmental activists and organizations like Greenpeace have long slammed Coca-Cola over its pollution levels, and recently lambasted the company for scaling back its climate goals. In December, the company announced it aimed to use 35-40% of recycled material in its packaging by 2035 — down from its previous target of 50% by 2030.
“Coke is a huge part of our plastic pollution crisis but has just been paying lip service when it comes to real solutions,” Greenpeace said at the time. “The company has repeatedly announced new goals to much fanfare, followed by quiet admissions that goals are being reduced or unceremoniously dropped.”
ELECTRIC VEHICLES SALES UP IN JANUARY: Global sales for electric and plug-in vehicles increased in January by 18% year-on-year, Reuters reports.
The U.S. and Europe outpaced China in EV sales for the first time since last February, according to a research firm Rho Motion. Global sales of fully electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids rose 17.7% year-on-year to 1.3 million in January.
In January, sales were up 11.7% year-on-year in China and 21% in Europe. Meanwhile, EV sales in the U.S. and Canada grew 22% year-on-year.
ICYMI – WRIGHT SAYS THE U.S SHOULD STOP CLOSING COAL PLANTS: Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Bloomberg TV yesterday that the U.S. needs to stop the closures of coal-fired power plants because they are critical for U.S. energy security.
“Coal has been essential to the United States’s energy system for over 100 years. It’s been the largest source of global electricity for nearly 100 years, and it will be for decades to come,” Wright said.
He added that the U.S. is on the path of shrinking the energy generated from coal, which has made electricity more expensive and less stable. In the short term, Wright said the best thing to do is “stop the closure of coal power plants.”
Wright is the former founder and CEO of an oilfield service firm and has expressed support in boosting the oil and gas industry in order to lower energy costs. Wright has taken an all-the-above approach to sources of energy.
When it comes to using solar and wind energy, Wright told Bloomberg TV that the goal is to have affordable, reliable energy from “wherever that comes.”
But he added that “we shouldn’t subsidize technologies that ultimately just make our energy more expensive and less reliable. I don’t think you’ll see policies that continue to go down that road.”
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