WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Tuesday, readers! Energy Secretary Chris Wright was on the Hill today, reiterating his support for the agency’s Loan Programs Office. 

In today’s Daily on Energy, we also take a look at the latest from senators on reconciliation. We also have comments from Chris Green, the president of the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub.

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CHRIS WRIGHT BACKS LOAN OFFICE AND CLEAN TAX CREDITS BEFORE CONGRESS: Secretary of Energy Chris Wright reiterated his support for the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) as well as clean energy tax credits bolstering nuclear and geothermal industry today during an appearance before the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on energy. 

The LPO: While Wright appeared before the subcommittee today to discuss the fiscal 2026 budget, cuts to DOE and the energy sector included in the House-passed budget reconciliation took center stage. He was repeatedly pressed on the proposed cuts to the LPO, which critics say will limit the amount of energy infrastructure projects able to break ground under this administration. 

“It’s going to cripple the program,” New Jersey Democrat Frank Pallone said, asking Wright whether it was accurate that he would want to see the program continue despite what House Republicans pushed for in the tax megabill. 

“That’s accurate,” Wright said. He later pointed out that in the FY2026 budget, the administration is seeking to continue the LPO in order to boost nuclear energy projects. 

Tax Credits: Wright’s congressional appearance came one day after he advocated extending certain clean energy tax credits during an energy summit in Washington, D.C. During the event, Wright called on the House and Senate to extend the federal subsidies for nuclear and geothermal projects going into construction by 2031, rather than 2028, as the current reconciliation text is written. 

Wright reiterated this support during Tuesday’s hearing, saying, “I think geothermal should be included with nuclear as emerging reliable, dispatchable energy sources for those credits.”

Energy production debate: Toward the top of the hearing, Wright claimed that there was “almost no growth in American electricity production” under the Biden administration. This was later challenged by California Democrat Scott Peters, who pointed out that the U.S. saw record oil and gas production in 2023 and more renewable production than under the first Trump administration. 

While Wright later conceded that it was “true” the U.S. saw all-time highs for oil and gas energy production, he claimed that it was because those projects were on private lands. DOE did not immediately respond to Daily on Energy’s request for clarification on what the secretary meant by minimal production growth. 

SENATORS TALK RECONCILIATION: As Senate committees develop their version of the reconciliation bill, Republicans on the energy committee may consider adding a provision to sell public lands. 

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Mike Lee has said he wanted to revive a provision for sale or transfer of millions of acres in Utah and Nevada that were slashed from the House megabill. 

“I think what you saw in the House is indicative of just how controversial this issue is, especially among western members,” committee ranking member Sen. Martin Heinrich said at the Politico Energy Summit. 

“When you have this dogmatic ‘think tank,’ … driven approach to public lands, it becomes wildly unpopular,” Heinrich said. “That’s why you saw a lot of Republicans even dig in in the House and say, ‘if this is in the bill, we’re not voting for it.’ So I think, if that becomes baked into the Senate effort, it could easily jeopardize passage in the House.”

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is expected to release its text for the Senate’s reconciliation bill sometime this week. 

In addition, Republican Senator John Curtis was outspoken about the phasing out of certain credits included in the House megabill, which he said could harm several sectors of the economy. 

At the Politico Energy Summit, Curtis said each one of the tax provisions in the bill should be “evaluated in a vacuum.” He added he does not believe lawmakers are being fair to business in the way they are phasing out tax credits. 

“Let’s just be thoughtful in how we phase them out. Let’s not destroy careers and things like that. Let’s give people a chance to adjust. So in the case of those that it’s time to phase them out, I think how we phase them out matters,” Curtis said. 

SLASHING HYDROGEN CREDITS RISK U.S. FALLING BEHIND: Hydrogen advocates are lobbying members of Congress to maintain the clean hydrogen tax credits, warning a full repeal would be costly for U.S. global competitiveness. 

Chris Green, the president of the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub, warned that if the U.S. does not focus on industrializing the hydrogen sector, it risks falling behind to the rest of the world. 

“Hydrogen is going to be a globally traded energy product. That’s the direction it is going,” Green told Maydeen in an interview. He added that China has a larger share of overall hydrogen manufacturing production than it did five years ago. 

“Everybody’s going in the same direction, and if we don’t, then we’ll miss this developmental phase where you establish the maturation process of those value chains, and then we’ll be trying to catch up down the road or doing something different,” he added. 

The Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub was one of 200 groups that signed a letter last week calling on the Senate to preserve the Clean Hydrogen Production 45V tax credit, which provides a 10-year incentive for clean hydrogen. 

The House megabill includes a provision in which hydrogen projects that begin construction after 2025 would no longer be eligible for the credit. Green added that until there is more certainty or a clear path, companies are going to delay spending too much.

“Everybody that we talk to, and in all the projects that I’m aware of are very much in a wait and see mode right now,” Green said. 

UNITED KINGDOM LAUNCHES FIRST MAJOR NUCLEAR INVESTMENT IN DECADES: The United Kingdom is investing $19 billion (around 14.2 billion British pounds) to construct a new nuclear plant that is expected to create 10,000 jobs and power millions of homes.

The details: The U.K. government announced today that it is looking to build the Sizewell C nuclear facility in Suffolk, England, near two existing reactors. The new reactor is expected to produce enough to power around 6 million homes by the time it is running in the 2030s. 

The U.K. hasn’t seen a new nuclear plant open since Sizewell B in the mid-1990s. Prime Minister Keir Starmer indicated today that a big driver of the investment is the country’s desire to secure energy independence and end all reliance on Russian imports. 

“Having our own energy in this country that we control, gives us security, gives us independence, so [Vladimir] Putin can’t put his boot on our throat,” Starmer said. “And it means that we can control the prices in a way that we haven’t been able to in recent years, which has meant very high prices for businesses, for households and for families.”

In tandem with today’s announcement, the U.K. government announced that it had picked Rolls-Royce as its preferred bidder to develop numerous small modular reactors. These smaller reactors are expected to be used for powering data centers and several more million homes. Like the new large plant, these are not expected to come online until the 2030s. 

NEW JERSEY WIND PROJECT CANCELED: Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind terminated its New Jersey offshore wind farm project, which was expected to power more than 700,000 homes. 

“This filing marks the closing of a chapter,” Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Chief Executive Officer Joris Veldhoven said in a statement yesterday. 

The company last week filed a petition in the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, asking it to terminate its Offshore Renewable Energy Certificates order for the project. The filing cited the Trump executive order on offshore wind developments. 

“The Presidential Wind Memorandum and the federal government’s subsequent actions in response thereto have created significant uncertainty in the [offshore wind] industry and has directly impacted the feasibility of the Project,” the filing reads. 

ICYMI – EPA LOOKS TO GIVE TEXAS AUTHORITY TO PERMIT CO2 INJECTION PERMITS: The Environmental Protection Agency has taken steps toward allowing Texas to oversee the permitting process for projects that inject carbon dioxide underground, a move that would be warmly welcomed by the local oil and gas industry. 

The details: Yesterday afternoon, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the agency was proposing approving Texas’s request to handle permitting for injection wells in an effort to simplify carbon capture and storage projects in the state. 

Zeldin explained that Texas is “best positioned” to protect its underground sources of drinking water while advancing energy projects like CO2 injection wells. 

“In the Safe Drinking Water Act, Congress laid out a clear vision for delegating decision-making from EPA to states that have local expertise and understand their water resources, geology, communities, and opportunities for economic growth,” Zeldin said in a statement. 

If finalized, the decision will give Texas the authority to administer the full permitting scope for wells that pump CO2 into the ground, where it is stored in order to reduce emissions generated by power plants and other large-load facilities. 

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