WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Tuesday, readers! We are kicking off today’s newsletter with some updates on the Environmental Protection Agency’s effort to repeal the 2009 Endangerment Finding, a move that would undermine emission standards for all vehicles. 🚙🚗💨
In other news, a newly released poll shows that voters are skeptical that Republicans are focused on protecting them from household and energy costs. The poll comes out just months before the midterm elections, as Democrats have centered their message on affordability. We have all the details on the poll below. 🗳️⬇️
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.
ENDANGERMENT FINDING REPEAL COMING THIS WEEK: The Trump administration plans to move forward this week to repeal the 2009 Endangerment Finding, which will result in a major rollback of regulations on vehicle pollution.
As a reminder: The EPA last year proposed a rule that would repeal the 2009 Endangerment Finding, concluding that six greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide pose a threat to public health and welfare. It is supported by the 2007 Supreme Court ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA, declaring that greenhouse gases are pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
The final rule is slated to be published this week.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Washington Examiner, “This week at the White House, President Trump will be taking the most significant deregulatory actions in history to further unleash American energy dominance and drive down costs.”
A repeal of the finding would result in the elimination of emission standards for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles and engines.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the announcement yesterday, citing Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, who said the final rule “amounts to the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States.”
Some news on coal: The publication also reported that Zeldin, along with Energy Secretary Chris Wright, will announce an executive order directing the Department of War to purchase electricity from coal-fired power plants.
As part of the announcement, the administration will award funding to five coal plants in West Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, and Kentucky to recommission and upgrade the facilities. President Donald Trump will also receive an award from the Washington Coal Club.
Read more by Maydeen here.
ALASKAN DRILLING LEASE SALE PUSHED BACK: The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management has delayed its first oil and gas lease sale to take place in the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska by just over a week.
Quick reminder: BLM announced it would be holding the lease sale in the 23 million-acre reserve earlier this month, detailing that it will take place on March 9. The sale is expected to offer over 600 tracts across 5.5 million acres. Currently, only around 1.6 million acres are leased in the region.
What’s new: First thing this morning, BLM issued a correction for the sale, saying that there was a “technical error” in publishing the sale notice to the Federal Register last week. As BLM regulations require the agency to provide a public notice in the Federal Register at least 30 days before a sale, the sale has been pushed back to March 18.
The March sale will be the first in the NPR-A since 2019.
VOTERS DOUBT REPUBLICAN EFFORTS TO LOWER ENERGY PRICES: We’re less than nine months away from the midterm elections and voters are more confident that Democrats truly want to protect them from soaring energy costs, according to a new poll.
The new poll, conducted by Public First on behalf of Politico, found that Democrats have the edge over Republicans on energy issues. Out of 2,093 people polled, only 25% said they believed Republicans wanted to protect households from energy costs. Roughly 37% of respondents favored Democrats. Around 14% said both parties equally wanted to protect households, while 25% said neither or didn’t know.
The findings underscore how Democrats have been able to leverage rising electricity prices for their messaging, having successfully done so during last November’s gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia.
Our take: The polling is one of the first major indications that the Trump administration’s messaging on lowering electricity and energy prices may not be resonating with voters, and could prove to be a problem for Republicans come November as they look to keep their slim majority in the House. But as neither party clinched the majority of voter support in the recent survey, it is a clear sign that homeowners are looking for more action on both sides of the aisle.
Notable quote: “The verdict’s out. There’s still a lot of Americans that would still like to see one party or the other really come through on an affordability message,” Republican strategist Ron Bonjean told Politico. “The affordability issue is going to be the major issue in the November election, and neither party has closed the sale on it with voters.”
USTR ON EXPANDING CRITICAL MINERALS: The State Department last week at its critical minerals ministerial meeting announced a push for a trade bloc among allied countries to set price floors and coordinate financing on critical minerals.
On Fox Business, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the Trump administration is taking a “whole of government approach” to work with other countries to sign memorandums of understanding about having access to minerals in each other’s countries.
Greer said now the administration is negotiating an agreement on trading critical minerals, which will address price floors, investment rules, public-private partnerships, and more.
“It’s a whole of government approach, and we have to touch on each of these elements to make it economic and to make and produce critical minerals in the U.S. and its trading partners,” Greer said.
Greer noted that China has geopolitical goals regarding its economy and its state-owned companies. He said this is why the U.S. is working with other countries to set a price floor for critical minerals that makes them economically feasible.
“We want to make sure that our companies can get a return on their investment. It makes it economically viable to produce critical minerals here in the U.S. and in countries that also have market practices,” Greer said.
SHELL CALLS ON EUROPE TO RETHINK ENERGY STRATEGY: Oil and gas giant Shell is encouraging Europe to reverse course on its transition to clean sources of energy and embrace fossil fuels.
The details: Shell CEO Wael Sawan made the pitch for oil and gas earlier today, at the start of International Energy Week in London, according to trade publication Enlit. Sawan pointed to the United States and the Trump administration’s recent backing of the industry, saying the U.S. is leveraging oil and gas for exports, energy independence, and the ability to support technological developments such as artificial intelligence.
Meanwhile, Sawan said, Europe has focused on developing the “energy of tomorrow,” such as renewables, while failing to support the energy needs of today.
“Because even as renewables scale, they remain intermittent,” the oil major executive said. “Europe’s energy system will still need a stabilising force. What is that force? The role can be performed by natural gas, especially LNG.”
BIPARTISAN SENATE DUO INTRODUCES BILL TO BOOST NUCLEAR INVESTMENT: Republican Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho and Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona have introduced a new bill that would provide a federal backstop for new nuclear reactors, in an effort to encourage increased investment from the private sector.
The details: The bill, the Accelerating Reliable Capacity Act, would authorize up to $3.6 billion to minimize the risk of project cost overruns for advanced nuclear energy projects that have one or more reactors. These funds would establish a risk reduction program that would provide financial certainty to investors often deterred by unforeseen delays or cost increases associated with building out new nuclear energy. This program would support three or more advanced nuclear energy projects to accelerate their pathway to commercialization.
Getting “new nuclear projects off the ground is a financial risk many companies simply can’t take,” Gallego said in a statement.
The bill has the support of several clean energy and nuclear organizations, including ClearPath Action, the Nuclear Energy Institute, and the Nuclear Innovation Alliance.
The full text of the bill can be found here.
BRITISH TIN MINE COULD BE REVIVED BY TRUMP: The South Crofty, a British tin mine that has been closed for 30 years, could be revived by the Trump administration.
The administration last week said it would be willing to loan up to $225 million to developer Cornish Metals to reopen the mine as long as the U.S. receives some of the output, The Telegraph reports.
The Trump administration has made several agreements with other countries to diversify and secure the critical mineral supply chain for the U.S. It is an effort to reduce its reliance on Chinese minerals, which controls the global supply chain.
In other critical minerals news: India is talking to Brazil, Canada, France, and the Netherlands to reach deals to jointly secure critical minerals.
Reuters reports that the deal would focus on lithium and rare earths, which are essential for batteries, wind turbines, solar technology, and electric vehicles. India would also see access to mineral-processing technologies.
A source told Reuters that India will seek to replicate a deal with Germany last month on critical minerals, which covers exploration, processing, recycling, and the acquisition and development of mineral assets in both countries.
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney will likely visit India next month to sign several deals on uranium, energy, minerals, and artificial intelligence, the publication said.
ICYMI – WHITE HOUSE CONSIDERS DATA CENTER AGREEMENTS TO CURB PRICE HIKES: The Trump administration is accelerating its efforts to prevent AI data centers and the cost of their massive usage of energy from being borne by homeowners, as White House officials consider asking major tech firms to make new commitments to mitigate the impact.
Two administration officials confirmed to Politico this week that the administration has drafted a voluntary agreement between the president and major tech companies and data center developers that would subject the firms to numerous energy, water, and community rules.
Possible commitments: One of these principles would be requiring AI data center developers to pay 100% of the cost of new power generation needed to support their facilities, and order the companies to sign long-term electricity contracts.
The firms would also potentially be required to pay the full cost of any current or future transmission upgrades required to connect these data centers to the broader electricity grid.
Another principle would call on large-load facilities to be “water positive,” and develop sufficient water supplies to support their operations.
Subject to change: According to Politico, the Trump administration wishes to announce the pact with an event at the White House. It remains unclear when that could be, as no companies have publicly confirmed if they will commit to the agreement. This could include firms like OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta. A White House official did tell the outlet that the draft agreement is considered “outdated” and is “no longer accurate.” They did not reveal which parts have changed.
RUNDOWN
Outdoor Life ‘Affirmative Action for Cattle.’ More Than 50 Tribes Challenge Feds Over Bison-Grazing Leases on Public Land
Inside Climate News Trailblazing Atmospheric Scientist Was ‘a Titan in the Scientific World’
The Washington Post Why this country declared an ocean current collapse a national security risk
