WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Tuesday, readers! We hope everyone on the East Coast is ready for a long night. ☕💻 President Donald Trump is set to deliver the State of the Union address later this evening, during which he is expected to address the ongoing partial government shutdown, affordability, and his domestic and foreign accomplishments.
Callie and Maydeen will be watching for any remarks on plans to tackle rising costs from data centers or discussion of the administration’s efforts to bolster the fossil fuel industry. ⚡🛢️🏭 It’s unclear how long his speech will last, but the president warned yesterday that it will be a “long one.”
Meanwhile, a court battle resumed today between the Environmental Protection Agency and climate groups over the agency’s efforts to freeze and terminate billions of dollars in grants awarded through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. We have all the details below on the ongoing legal battle. 🏛️💲
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.
COURT BATTLE RESUMES BETWEEN EPA AND CLIMATE GROUPS: The legal battle between the Environmental Protection Agency and several climate groups over the agency’s move to terminate $20 billion in clean energy grants resumed today in a federal appeals court.
In December, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed to rehear the case brought by climate groups over the EPA’s attempts to cancel funding awarded through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
The program, which was established by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, awarded nearly $27 billion to several groups to fund clean energy projects across the country. However, the Trump EPA tried to freeze the funds and terminate them.
The EPA first went after $20 billion in grants to eight nonprofits, arguing the previous administration inappropriately distributed those funds by routing them through Citibank. The agency has since faced legal challenges brought by the grantees: Climate United, Coalition for Green Capital, and Power Forward Communities.
The legal battle has been drawn out for several months. In April 2025, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a preliminary injunction preventing the EPA from terminating the grants. But in September, a divided three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit ruled 2-1 that the district court lacked jurisdiction.
The climate grantee requested a review by the full appeals court, which brings us to today, where the case is now being reconsidered.
Read here to learn about the administration’s and grantees’ arguments.
WHAT WE COULD HEAR FROM TRUMP ON ENERGY TONIGHT: President Donald Trump is appearing before Congress today to deliver his State of the Union address, and it’s expected to be a long one. Excerpts of the speech have not yet been publicly released, but here is what we’re expecting to hear from the president as it relates to all things energy and environment.
Forcing data centers to pay: In recent weeks, the president has indicated his support for making Big Tech and data center developers pay for the power they need for their artificial intelligence operations to prevent costs from being borne by everyday consumers.
White House officials confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that Trump will announce “rate payer protection pledges” between the administration and Big Tech to pay higher electricity costs where data centers are being built. As we previously detailed in Daily on Energy, the administration has sought secure such commitments from the tech industry for some time.
Hitting clean energy: It’s well known that Trump detests the offshore wind industry, and has criticized the renewable energy resource almost any chance he’s had in the last year. It would come as no surprise if Trump renews his promise to prevent any wind turbines from being built under his administration, despite federal courts blocking the administration’s attempts to halt under-construction projects.
Additionally, the second Trump administration has been marked by sweeping rollbacks of climate change related rules and regulations, such as the rescission of the 2009 Endangerment Finding and the withdrawal from the 2016 Paris Agreement. Trump may very well highlight these as part of his campaign promise to support manufacturers and the fossil fuel industry through deregulation.
Touting fossil fuels: The state of the union address is taking place on the same day at the 10th anniversary of modern liquefied natural gas shipments from the U.S. Trump may point to this milestone in his remarks on Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, as the European Union has moved to ramp up its imports of U.S. LNG in order to completely phase out Russian gas.
Plus, hours before the speech, U.S. military forces boarded yet another sanctioned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean connected with transporting Venezuelan crude. In his remarks on foreign policy, Trump will likely tout his administration’s efforts to oust former dictator Nicolas Maduro and clear the pathway for U.S. oil and gas firms to re-enter the country and ramp up production.
What lawmakers want to hear: In the days before the address, several Republican lawmakers told E&E News they are hopeful the president will spend time discussing permitting reform, low gasoline prices, record production of U.S. oil, and ways drillers can continue to scale production.
10 YEARS OF MODERN LNG EXPORTS: Today is the 10th anniversary of the first major shipment of liquefied natural gas from Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass terminal along the Gulf Coast, which marked the beginning of the U.S.’s transition from a net importer of gas to the biggest exporter worldwide.
Some history: The very first LNG shipments from the U.S. began in 1959, but the shipments were fairly uneconomical and few and far between over the course of the next 50 years. Amid the shale revolution, LNG demand skyrocketed in the early 2000s and 2010s, and sparked the development of export infrastructure in the U.S. As of this year, the U.S. operates eight export terminals for LNG.
In 2016, the U.S. exported around 0.5 billion cubic feet per day of LNG. That ballooned to 15 bcf/d last year and is only expected to continue to grow. U.S. exports of LNG are averaging at more than 16 billion cubic feet per day so far this year, and are on track to more than double by 2031, the Energy Information Administration said today.
“The first LNG cargo departing the lower 48 states ten years ago—demonstrating the strength of American innovation and the impact of common sense policies that have unleashed U.S. LNG to power prosperity, strengthen national security, and support human flourishing,” the Energy Department said in a release published today.
Support from Europe: The anniversary was celebrated as a major milestone for U.S. and European trade yesterday during an event hosted by the USLNG Association, LNG Allies. European leaders, including EU Ambassador to the U.S. Jovita Neliupšienė, Lithuanian energy minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas, Polish energy minister Milosz Motyka, and Greek energy and environment minister Stavros Papastavrou, joined U.S. government officials and energy executives in Washington, D.C.
There, the European officials emphasized the role of nations like Poland, Lithuania, and Greece as critical intermediaries in distributing gas to the rest of the bloc, as the EU phases out Russian imports over its invasion of Ukraine, yanking significant leverage from Moscow.
“Poland is becoming a regional LNG distribution hub from the USA,” Motyka said. “Thanks to this, we ensure predictable and secure supplies for our neighbors, strengthening the stability of the entire region and realizing the common goals of transatlantic cooperation.”
HOUSE VOTES ON HOME ENERGY APPLIANCE BILL: This afternoon, the House will vote on a bill that will reform how the Department of Energy issues or revises its energy and water conservation standards for home appliances.
House lawmakers will vote on the Home Appliance Protection and Affordability Act, which was introduced by Republican Rep. Rick Allen of Georgia.
What would the bill do? Specifically, it would amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which requires DOE to set minimum efficiency standards for consumer appliances and commercial equipment.
The bill would terminate DOE’s requirement to periodically update energy conservation standards and allow the agency to instead amend those standards on a needed basis.
It would create a new process for the public to petition specific energy standards and impose new criteria for whether an energy conservation standard is economically justifiable. It would also ban the DOE from updating energy conservation standards for distribution transformers.
DATA CENTER BUILD-OUT FACING DELAYS: Not every data center slated to become operational this year will open, as a new report warns roughly a third will face delays.
The details: The report, released by energy research firm Sightline Climate, found that around 140 data center projects, with a combined 16 gigawatts of energy capacity, are expected to come online this year. As of this month, though, only 5 gigawatts worth is under construction. The report warned that typical build timelines for these projects are around 12-18 months, leaving the remaining 11 gigawatts up in the air.
As a result, Sightline Climate is estimating, 30-50% of the capacity slated for 2026 will be delayed into next year or even later. This would be continuing a trend seen last year, when 26% of expected projects failed to complete construction. These delays are caused by a combination of factors, including an inability to secure power for their operations, opposition from communities, and shortages of equipment necessary for supporting and connecting to the grid.
GOOGLE ANNOUNCES MINNESOTA DATA CENTER POWERED BY RENEWABLES: Google is joining the trend of data centers leveraging renewable energy resources to get their operations up and running with a new project in Minnesota.
The tech giant announced earlier today that it will be building a data center in Pine Island. The project will be powered by Xcel Energy and several of its clean energy resources, including wind, solar, and battery storage.
Specifically, Google has agreed to purchase 1.4 gigawatts of wind power, 200 megawatts of solar power, and 300 megawatts of iron-air battery storage. Google plans to pay all costs associated with the electric service, to prevent costs from shifting to local consumers. The deal will also allow Xcel to put a network of smaller batteries across the energy firm’s total system, increasing overall capacity and grid resilience for all customers.
FORMER DEMOCRATIC SENATOR QUITS CLEAN ENERGY GROUP OVER EPSTEIN TIES: Former Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey has reportedly resigned from his position on the board of directors of clean energy firm Monolith over his connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Kerrey confirmed to CNN during a phone interview today that he resigned from the board to prevent the company from being tarnished due to his links to Epstein.
“I don’t want to mess up this company’s capacity to be successful,” he told the outlet. “So, I resigned.”
Kerrey, who represented Nebraska in the Senate from 1989 to 2001 and previously served as the state’s governor, agreed to meet with Epstein on two separate occasions during 2013, according to documents released by the Department of Justice. The meetings took place several years after Epstein pled guilty to procuring a minor for prostitution.
Kerrey confirmed to CNN that he met with the late disgraced financier in an effort to support The New School, where he was serving as president emeritus at the time.
“I am willing to accept it was a lack of moral judgment. But the stories and files are misleading,” Kerrey said, insisting to the outlet that he did not do Epstein any favors.
EU SET TO PROPOSE BANNING RUSSIAN OIL IN APRIL: The European Union is reportedly accelerating its efforts to phase out Russian fossil fuels, proposing banning oil imports in just a matter of weeks.
The details: Reuters is now reporting that the European Commission will be submitting a proposal to ban Russian oil imports on April 15, just three days after Hungary holds its parliamentary election.
Multiple EU officials told the outlet that the timing of the proposal is intended to prevent a ban on Russian oil from influencing Hungary’s elections, as the nation (along with Slovakia) has spoken out against such a ban.
The proposal would completely phase out Russian oil imports no later than the end of 2027, aligned with the bloc’s complete phase-out of Russian gas.
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