WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Friday, Daily on Energy readers! The Trump administration shocked all today as it succeeded in blocking, albeit temporarily, the adoption of the international carbon tax on the shipping industry. Read below to find out when the International Maritime Organization now plans to vote on the measure.
Meanwhile, the administration hasn’t lost sight of opening up Alaska for energy development, as new reports suggest the Interior Department plans to announce leasing opportunities in the Coastal Plain later this month.
Plus, more states are suing the Environmental Protection Agency over its decision to walk back Solar for All funding. Keep reading to find out which Republican states have also joined the recent legal battles.
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 may be forced to furlough federal workers in charge of maintaining and modernizing our nation’s nuclear weapons arsenal if the government shutdown continues into next week, Energy Secretary Chris Wright warned Thursday.
“Starting tomorrow, Monday at the latest, we are not going to be able to pay those workers,” Wright told Bloomberg Television. “If that continues on for long, they may get other jobs. They’re going to stop their efforts to modernize our nuclear weapons, to guarantee the sovereignty of our country, something we shouldn’t mess around with.”
TRUMP SCORES WIN IN BLOCKING GLOBAL SHIPPING CARBON TAX…FOR NOW: In a surprising turn of events, the Trump administration successfully blocked the International Maritime Organization from adopting the proposed carbon tax on the global shipping industry earlier today.
The details: Many anticipated that the IMO would vote in favor of adopting the net-zero framework on Friday, but that vote ultimately became about delaying the original vote. The specialized UN agency will now consider adopting the framework and carbon tax one year from now.
The motion to delay the vote on the measure was reportedly put forward by Singapore on Friday and called to a vote by Saudi Arabia, which was aligned with the Trump administration in its efforts to block the framework. Fifty-seven countries voted in favor of delaying the adoption vote and 49 voted against. There were 21 abstentions.
The last-ditch attempt to block the measure came less than a day after President Donald Trump escalated pressure on other IMO member states to vote against. Yesterday afternoon, Trump took to social media to say he was “outraged” by the proposal.
“The United States will NOT stand for this Global Green New Scam Tax on Shipping, and will not adhere to it in any way, shape, or form,” Trump said.
Over the next year, the administration is likely to increase more pressure on members of the IMO to vote against adopting the framework, preventing the first global carbon pricing system in any industry.
Read more from Callie here.
INTERIOR PREPARING TO OPEN NORTH SLOPE FOR DRILLING: The Interior Department is reportedly expected to soon announce steps to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas exploration and drilling.
The details: Documents reviewed by Politico reveal that Interior has been planning to announce the move later this month. However, that could be delayed if the government shutdown continues.
The Trump administration is specifically looking to allow oil and gas leasing in ANWR’s coastal plain, a roughly 1.56 million-acre area in the North Slope along the edge of the Beaufort Sea. Documents also revealed that the agency plans to reinstate seven oil and gas leases obtained by the state of Alaska under Trump’s first administration.
The North Slope: Congress first authorized drilling in ANWR in 2017, though little movement has been seen since, in large part due to restrictions on land use and available acreage imposed under the Biden administration. Trump sought to approve drilling in the region during his first administration, but all nine lease sales were either suspended or canceled under former President Joe Biden.
Republicans have continuously advocated for increasing drilling activity in northern Alaska, particularly as energy demand from artificial intelligence, data centers, and manufacturing is only expected to grow. Democrats, climate activists, and many native communities in the region have pushed to conserve the land in ANWR, due to threats on the environment and local wildlife.
There is one native village located in ANWR called Kaktovik. Most residents of the village are in favor of expanding drilling operations in the North Slope due to their reliance on the taxation of these projects. Check out Callie’s deep dive from this summer on the community here.
‘DRILL, BABY, DRILL’ UPDATE: While oil prices were headed for a weekly loss, the domestic crude industry saw some slight relief, as the active rig count ticked upward today.
Data released by Baker Hughes this afternoon reveals that one rig was added to the U.S. active rig count, bringing the total to 548 rigs. Broken down further, Baker Hughes found that two offshore rigs were added this week and one rig on land was removed. This is still far fewer rigs than were active this time last year, as the oil and gas firm reported there were 37 more rigs around mid-October 2024.
Prices were also trending upward this afternoon, with both international and domestic benchmarks increasing by less than 1%. Just before 2:30 p.m. EST, West Texas Intermediate was up 0.28% and was priced at $57.62 per barrel. Brent Crude was also up 0.41% and selling at $61.31 per barrel.
BP REFINERY FIRE: A fire broke out at the largest oil refinery in the Midwest overnight, though it was quickly extinguished this morning.
British oil and gas giant BP confirmed to Reuters that the fire broke out after an operational incident at its Whiting, Indiana, refinery. There were no injuries, though multiple units were reportedly offline as a result of the incident, two market sources told the outlet.
The Whiting facility is one of the 10 largest refineries in the U.S., and is the largest in the Midwest, with a capacity of around 440,000 barrels per day. It’s roughly 17 miles south of downtown Chicago.
GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan warned that the fire will likely cause gas prices in the surrounding regions to rise slightly, by around 20 cents per gallon, particularly around the Great Lakes and Prairies.
BATTERIES SEEM TO BE PROTECTING CALIFORNIA FROM BLACKOUTS: A major increase in battery storage appears to be succeeding in preventing California from suffering blackouts.
The California Independent System Operator hasn’t had to issue a Flex Alert since 2022 and the state hasn’t seen rolling blackouts since 2020, a record of success that experts attribute to a major increase in battery storage, the L.A. Times reports.
The state’s battery storage has increased 3,000% over the past six years, to nearly 16 gigawatts.
TRUMP AGAIN SAYS INDIA WILL STOP BUYING RUSSIAN OIL: Trump said again today that India has agreed to stop buying oil from Russia, even though Indian officials have politely denied that a commitment was made, as we noted in yesterday’s letter.
“India is not going to be buying Russian oil anymore,” Trump said at a White House meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky this afternoon.
He went on to say that India has already decreased its purchases. “They’re pulling back,” he said.
ICYMI – NEARLY TWO DOZEN STATES SUE OVER SOLAR FOR ALL CUTS: Attorneys general representing nearly two dozen states, mostly Democratic ones, have sued the Trump administration over its decision to axe funding from the Solar for All program.
The states are arguing that the Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to claw back $7 billion from the Solar for All initiative violates the law governing federal agencies as well as the separation of powers, according to the Associated Press. They claim the cancellation of funds is unlawful, as Congress has not issued any directive to deobligate the funds.
The suit, filed on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, was led by Washington Attorney General Nick Brown as well as Minnesota and Arizona Attorneys General Keith Ellison and Kris Mayes.
“Congress passed a solar energy program to help make electricity costs more affordable, but the administration is ignoring the law and focused on the conspiracy theory that climate change is a hoax,” Brown wrote in the suit.
The other states that have joined the lawsuit are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin, as well as Washington, D.C.
Some background: The program, established by the Biden administration’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, aimed to help low-income communities install solar panels. So far, three lawsuits have been filed against the EPA for repealing the funds. The other suits have been filed by the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and Harris County, Texas.
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