WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and Happy Tuesday, readers! It has officially been 100 days since President Donald Trump took office for the second time, and we kick off this edition of Daily on Energy by taking a quick look at a number of energy- and environment-related actions he has taken since then. Keep reading to find the link to our complete breakdown.
Amid its fossil fuel-focused rebrand, BP is putting its support behind ‘Drill, Baby, Drill,” announcing plans to increase oil and gas production in the U.S.
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Plus, Callie and Maydeen dive into the latest on what caused the massive power outage in Spain and Portugal on Monday.
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.
ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT UNDER TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS: Today marks the 100th day of President Donald Trump’s second presidency, in which he completely shifted the United States’ focus away from tackling climate change to prioritize energy dominance and national security.
Trump set his sights on boosting fossil fuel industries on day one, removing regulations and opening federal land to energy projects. The administration has since left many international climate discussions, including the United Nations’ Paris Climate Agreement. A number of agencies acted to deliver on the president’s agenda, with the Environmental Protection Agency having announced it would also roll back and revisit several key climate regulations.
At the same time, Trump has moved to limit aid to renewable energy industries, most notably by pulling federal support for offshore wind. He’s also proposed sweeping tariffs that will have major consequences for the solar and the automotive industries.
Callie and Maydeen took a closer look at all the actions the president has taken in regards to the energy and environment sectors, breaking down who Trump has put in place to deliver on his agenda, how he has targeted the solar and wind industry, what support has been given to fossil fuels and critical minerals, the withdrawal from international climate discussions, Trump’s war on electric vehicles, the relative lack of emphasis on nuclear energy from the White House, and the administration’s plans to reshape federal protections for national parks.
You can find the complete breakdown of his executive orders, memos, and remarks here.
REPUBLICANS PROPOSE ADDING NEW FEES ON ELECTRIC VEHICLES AS PART OF RECONCILIATION: The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has released its proposed portion of Trump’s signature piece of legislation codifying the administration’s tax and spending agenda and included a proposal fueling the president’s war on electric vehicles.
The details: In the text, released today, the committee included a provision implementing a high registration fee on the owners of electric and hybrid vehicles. This fee costs as high as $200 for a “covered electric vehicle” and $100 for a “covered hybrid vehicle.” Those driving a covered motor vehicle outside of those categories would only face a registration fee of $20. The funds collected would go toward the Highway Trust Fund.
If included in the final bill, it would be the latest effort from Republicans to disincentivize EV adoption. Trump has taken several actions targeting the EV industry during his first 100 days, including signing an order eliminating “the electric vehicle mandate” and suspending a federal funding program aimed at funding nationwide charging stations.
CLIMATE CHANGE COULD WORSEN INFECTIONS RESISTANT TO ANTIBIOTICS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: A new study found that climate change could accelerate the spread of infections that are resistant to antibiotics, Bloomberg reports.
A new study in Nature Medicine found that drug-resistant infections could increase by up to 4% in developing nations with higher emissions through 2050. In comparison, rich countries with high emissions would see a less than 1% increase in infections.
Bloomberg said that the researchers examined more than 4,500 monitoring records collected from 1999 to 2022 using computer models to see how climate change would affect infections resistant to antibiotics.
Other factors influencing the findings included out-of-pocket health expenses, comprehensive health investments, and access to water and hygiene services.
“These findings highlight the importance of sustainable development strategies as the most effective approach to help low- and middle-income countries address the dual challenges of climate change and [antimicrobial resistance],” the report said.
DATA CENTER DEVELOPERS FORCED TO THINK OUTSIDE THE GRID TO MEET DEMAND: Demand for electricity from artificial intelligence-focused data centers is set to grow massively in the coming years, putting developers in a tricky position on how to secure enough power to support their tech advancements. A new survey conducted among dozens of American and Canadian data center executives has revealed that more are willing to think outside the grid in order to meet their needs.
The details: The survey, commissioned by AlphaStruxure and Schneider Electric partnered with Data Center Frontier, found that roughly 62% of executives want to be able to deploy on-site power generation systems to support their large load data centers, if their ideal location can’t meet their needs.
By deploying on-site power, this could eliminate the need to connect to the grid and limit the amount of pressure put on utilities already straining to support existing customers. There are different ways data center developers could approach this solution, with the most popular option being only using on-site power until the utility is able to deliver more energy and then fully relying on that power. Another popular option would be never connecting to the utility at all, or eventually using the utility as back-up power.
But not everyone is convinced it should be done without the utility. Roughly 40% of executives said they would simply relocate their data center to a different area that has available capacity, while 38% said they would delay the project until the power is available. Only 6% said they would cancel the project entirely.
Key quote: “The ‘time to power’ challenge has caused wait times to stretch over seven years, or even a decade in some cases. The crisis is accelerating quickly and it won’t be long before compounding grid stress, increasing energy rates, and lost economic opportunities have noticeable impacts for everyday consumers.” AlphasStruxure CEO Juan Macias said, adding that the findings illustrate data center developers are “increasingly thinking outside the grid by embracing infrastructure that’s ready to be deployed on-site.”
‘DRILL, BABY, DRILL’ HITS BP AS COMPANY SEES ANOTHER PROFIT DROP: British oil major BP is moving full steam ahead with the administration’s drilling agenda, revealing this week that it plans to substantially increase its oil and gas production in the U.S.
The details: CEO Murray Auchincloss told the Wall Street Journal that the company is looking to boost its U.S. production by over 50% by 2030, saying BP is “pretty tightly aligned” with Trump. The company intends to increase its production from 650,000 barrels per day to more than one million by the end of the decade.
“It’s both in oil and gas onshore and oil and gas in the Gulf of America,” Murray told the outlet. On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
Company pivot: BP’s push to “drill, baby, drill” is the latest development in the company’s plans to shift its focus back to fossil fuels and away from its transition towards cleaner forms of energy like renewables. Earlier this year, the company announced it would be scaling back its renewable investments and moved to sell 50% of its solar assets. Board chairman Helge Lund also announced this month that he would be stepping down from his position, after having led the change toward renewable solutions. The company had been facing pressure from shareholders to abandon its green goals.
As it has started to reset company priorities, BP also saw first quarter profits drop by 49% year over year to just $1.38 billion, according to the Financial Times. Shares were down by more than 4% in early trading this morning, and have fallen a total of roughly 14% this year so far.
Likelihood of increased drilling: It remains to be seen how much of BP’s increased drilling operations will be deployed this year, as concerns have grown domestically as to whether developers will be able to profitably pursue new drilling, given volatile market conditions. Trump’s tariffs on steels, combined with plunging prices, may result in cost-cutting measures for developers, like layoffs.
Analysts have projected that most producers will need prices to sit around $65 per barrel to see new drilling projects. Just before 1:30 p.m. EST today, both international and domestic benchmark prices were still down. West Texas Intermediate had fallen by 2.66% to just $60.40 per barrel, while Brent Crude dropped 2.78% and was priced at $64.03 per barrel.
SOLAR BREAKDOWNS MAY HAVE LED TO OUTAGES IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL: It remains unclear what caused the massive power outage across Spain, Portugal, and parts of France yesterday, but one utility company has said they may have found one possible trigger.
The details: Grid operator Red Eléctrica revealed in a conference call with reporters this morning that at around 12:33 p.m. local time on Monday, the Spanish grid suffered from an “event” that was the equivalent of a loss of generation in the south-western part of the country. The company said the generation impacted was likely solar power, but they declined to confirm.
While the grid self-stabilized and appeared to recover, roughly 1.5 seconds later a similar “event” further destabilized the grid. This destabilization went on to disrupt the border interconnection between Spain and France and forced all sources producing generation (including nuclear, gas, and hydro) to disconnect from the grid.
Spanish officials confirmed to CNN that in a matter of seconds, 15 gigawatts of energy dropped from the country’s total supply. This is roughly equivalent to 60% of electricity consumed. Investigators have ruled out several possible causes of the blackout, including a cybersecurity attack, weather or atmospheric event, and an excess of renewable energy production.
Green energy mix: Spain is one of the largest producers of renewable energy in Europe and saw its grid run on 100% renewable energy for the first time on April 16. Some have accused the Spanish government of being too reliant on renewables without substantial battery storage.
In addition to lessening its reliance on fossil fuels, the country has long planned to phase out the use of nuclear energy. However, government officials did indicate earlier this month that the country was more open to utilizing nuclear energy a bit longer. The most recent blackout may solidify that thinking even further.
Key quote: “We cannot say that high wind and solar power caused the blackout – in the days before we saw far greater amounts of renewables on the system. But greater amounts of renewables may have made it more difficult to absorb a frequency disturbance,” Rystad Energy analyst Pratheeskha Ramdas told The Guardian, adding, “It’s a lesson for other countries: there needs to be greater investment in grid-forming inverters, which can help to stabilise the grid.”
DEMOCRATS AND CLEAN ENERGY ACTIVISTS CALL FOR PERMITTING REFORM: DC Climate week continued today, with policy and advocacy at the center of discussions. Democrats and clean energy advocates echoed Republican calls for major permitting reform in order to get more electricity on the national grid, but offered up some stipulations.
The details: Virginia Democratic Rep. Don Beyer indicated that many of his colleagues want to ensure that when permitting reform is passed by Congress, it does not undo the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act, which requires federal agencies to conduct environmental reviews before approving permits for new projects like transmission lines or highways.
Critics have long accused NEPA of contributing to slower infrastructure development, increased costs, and extensive litigation. Meanwhile, supporters say the law is critical to avoid the endangerment of public lands and wildlife. Many Republicans have expressed interest in including a major overhaul of NEPA in new permitting reform.
“I think it is essential that we find a way, a responsible way, to go forward, because any project that takes seven years or 10 years from start to finish doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Beyer said.
Clean energy advocates like Clean Tomorrow founder and CEO Lindsey Baxter Griffith agreed saying the president actually has a chance to be a major champion for renewable energy via permitting reform.
“We have the potential to build more clean energy before 2030, you know President Trump could be the most successful president in renewables history, if we can get this right,” Griffith said. “That’s an opportunity also to meet, for the first time, growing electricity demand in this country.”
ICYMI – AUTO GROUPS CALL ON CONGRESS TO REPEAL CALIFORNIA’S EMISSION WAIVER: The Alliance for Automotive Innovation sent a letter to House lawmakers last week urging them to repeal California’s emission waiver that was granted by Biden’s EPA, the Detroit Free Press reported.
The EPA granted California a waiver to implement stronger emission standards than federal standards. California vehicle emission standards are meant to transition the state into selling only electric vehicles by 2035. California emission regulations are followed by over a dozen states.
The alliance argued that the regulations would increase automobile prices and reduce vehicle choice for consumers while Americans adjust to the 25% tariffs on imported vehicles and auto parts.
“If automakers cannot sell the required number of electric vehicles in ‘California’ states, they will be forced to substantially reduce the number of overall vehicles for sale to inflate their proportion of electric vehicles sales,” the letter reads.
Later this week, House lawmakers are set to vote on a resolution that would repeal California’s waiver, along with several other state emission rules.
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