WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Friday, readers! Somehow we’ve made it to the end of another week. If you are one of the many federal workers headed back to offices this week, we are wishing you all a smooth transition!
Before we dive into the news of the day, we want to give a brief shout-out to our congressional team, who spent the last month and a half providing rockstar coverage of the government shutdown. Our colleagues reporting on the House and Senate continue to cover all the drama from the fallout of the shutdown. Be sure to check out their work here 📰.
Back to Daily on Energy. Today’s newsletter takes a look at the latest effort from grantees of the Solar for All program to stop the Environmental Protection Agency’s move to repeal the program’s funding ☀️💸. Daily on Energy obtained a letter sent to one of the grantees last week, which details the EPA’s most recent argument.
Plus, we have a few “drill, baby, drill” updates, from the most recent rig count to Interior’s final rule rolling back protections for Alaska put in place by the Biden administration 🏔️🛢️. Keep reading to learn more.
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.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: The Trump administration continues to tout its support for developing small modular reactors and other advanced nuclear technologies to help support soaring energy demand brought on by artificial intelligence. But one nuclear energy executive warned this week that initiatives like the pilot reactor program may not be able to immediately meet those needs.
“What [the Idaho National Lab] is doing is super exciting…it’s getting a reactor to go critical, where you can take data on it for hours or days or even weeks in the facility is very, very important,” Oklo CEO J. Clay Sell told Callie on the sidelines of the American Nuclear Society’s winter summit. “That’s completely different from designing a reactor you can license and operate for 60 years reliably, and that’s where we are.”
“Are any of those reactors going to immediately play a role in meeting AI generated demand? Probably not,” he said.
SOLAR FOR ALL GRANTEES’ BID TO STOP EPA REPEAL FALLS SHORT: The Environmental Protection Agency has rejected a bid by Solar for All grantees to dispute the agency’s move to repeal its funding.
As a reminder: The EPA announced in August that it would move to cancel $7 billion from its Solar for All program, which helps low-income communities install solar panels. The program was part of the Biden administration’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was established as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
Groundswell, one of the program’s grantees, attempted to dispute the EPA’s effort to repeal its funding. But the agency last week sent a letter to Groundswell stating that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act terminated “unobligated balances from all EPA Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) accounts except funding for grants to reduce air pollution at ports.”
Groundswell CEO Michelle Moore told Maydeen in a statement that its Southeast Rural Power Program was “fully contracted and obligated” when the OBBBA was signed.
“I have a hard time imagining that our region’s Congressional delegation intended to take away more than 100MW of new local power projects and $1000 per year in bill savings for nearly 18,000 families when they voted for OBBBA – especially at a time [when] our region is short on power and our hardworking neighbors need every penny of affordability we can get,” Moore added.
The EPA faces several legal challenges from states, grantees, and other groups against the agency’s move to terminate the program.
‘DRILL, BABY, DRILL’ UPDATE: For the second week in a row, domestic oil and gas drillers saw the number of active rigs in the U.S. slightly increase over the last seven days.
Data released this afternoon by Baker Hughes reveals that one rig, located in inland waters, was added this past week, bringing the total number of active rigs to 549. Broken down further, Baker Hughes found that technically there were 3 oil rigs added to the count, but three gas rigs were also taken offline. One additional miscellaneous rig was added, bringing the weekly addition to one new rig.
While the consecutive increase in rigs is a positive sign for the industry, the total number of active rigs is still roughly 35 fewer than what was online this time last year.
SOMETHING TO WATCH…MASSACHUSETTS WEIGHS BILL THAT WOULD WEAKEN STATE’S CLIMATE GOALS: Massachusetts lawmakers are currently considering legislation that critics say would scale back the state’s efforts to tackle climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The details: As soon as next Wednesday, the Massachusetts House of Representatives could vote on the bill, which – surprisingly – has significant Democratic support. The measure was first introduced by Democratic state Rep. Mark Cusack earlier this month, with the intent to reduce financial burdens on consumers amid soaring energy prices and to set more realistic and “reasonable” climate targets.
Massachusetts’ current goal is to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990. Under the bill’s current text, these targets would no longer be enforceable, but rather more “advisory in nature,” and the commonwealth would be granted “immunity” if it fails to reach those emissions limits.
The legislation also calls for the capping of the state’s budget for its energy efficiency program, better known as Mass Save. The program’s budget was already approved by the Department of Public Utilities at around $4.5 billion. Cusack’s bill recommends capping the budget at $4 billion.
It would further reduce this budget by more than $300 million over the course of three years until 2027, slashing funds for marketing and advertising initiatives.
Additionally, the bill lowers green energy targets by delaying Massachusetts’ statutory deadline to contract more than 5 gigawatts of offshore wind. The state is currently required to hit that target by 2027 and the bill would push it back until 2029.
Cusack previously told the Commonwealth Beacon that he is not aiming to undermine the state’s broader climate goals, but rather to reassess its short-term mandates in order to lower energy bills and better grapple with the Trump administration’s assault on renewables.
“We want to get there, but if we’re going to miss our mandates, and it’s not the fault of ours, it’s incumbent on us not to get sued and not have the ratepayers be on the hook,” he said.
INDUSTRY GROUPS ASK HIGH COURT TO BLOCK CALIFORNIA DISCLOSURE LAWS: Industry groups filed an emergency request with the Supreme Court today to block California’s laws that mandate companies to disclose emissions and climate risk.
The Hill reports that the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Western Growers Association, and the Chamber of Commerce are asking the high court to prevent California Senate Bill 261 and Senate Bill 253 from taking effect.
The laws would require corporations to disclose their emissions and climate risks publicly. Senate Bill 253 would also mandate companies to report emissions created by the use of their products and supply chains.
The groups wrote in their brief, “California should not be permitted to compel thousands of companies nationwide to speak against their will on one of the most divisive and complex policy topics in modern public discourse — before any appellate court has determined whether a preliminary injunction is warranted.”
CANADA AND INDIA PARTNER ON CRITICAL MINERALS: Canada and India have agreed to work together to expand their long-term supply chain in critical minerals and clean energy.
Canadian Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu visited India this week to meet with India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal to strengthen their economic partnership.
The two released a joint statement, agreeing to “encourage long-term supply chain partnerships in critical minerals and clean energy collaboration essential for energy transition, and new-age industrial expansion.” They also agreed to expand investment and trading in the aerospace industry.
Trade relations between the United States and Canada have been strained due to the U.S. imposing sweeping tariffs. Trump last month suspended trade talks with Canada and has threatened to place higher tariffs on Canadian goods after the country ran ads featuring President Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs.
Additionally, the Trump administration has criticized India for continuing to buy Russian crude oil. The administration has placed higher tariffs on Indian goods as a result of the purchases.
ICYMI – INTERIOR RESCINDS BIDEN PROTECTIONS FOR NPR-A: Yesterday afternoon, the Interior Department announced that it was formally taking action to open the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska for oil and gas drilling.
Interior said that next week it is formally publishing a final rule that will rescind a rule issued by the Bureau of Land Management in April 2024, which had blocked drilling on 13 million acres of the NPR-A with the intent of conserving the environment, land, and habitats of wildlife in the region.
The agency first said it was considering the move in June. The final rule will be published in the Federal Register on Nov. 17.
Remember: The NPR-A, a roughly 23-million-acre area in Alaska’s North Slope Borough, was first set aside by President Warren Harding in 1923 as an emergency oil supply for the U.S. Navy. Jurisdiction of the land was transferred to the Interior Department in the 1970s, opening it up to oil and gas development.
Read more from Callie here.
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