WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Thursday, readers! President Donald Trump has vowed to lower energy costs for Americans, but electricity prices continue to rise faster than inflation. Here at Daily on Energy, we take a closer look at how much energy costs have increased for Americans and the reasoning behind the higher prices.
Meanwhile, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee this morning advanced two of Trump’s nominees to fill the vacancies at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, sending the nominees to the full Senate for a vote.
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.
ELECTRICITY PRICES STILL ON THE RISE: Electricity prices continue to rise at a faster rate than broader inflation, making it more difficult for President Donald Trump to keep his promise to cut energy prices in half.
The details: The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its latest Consumer Price Index this morning that electricity prices rose by 6.2% for the year ending in August, with prices increasing by 0.2% on a month-to-month basis.
The yearly increase is more than double the rate of inflation, which rose slightly to 2.9% for the year. Energy services, including utility gas, jumped in price by 7.7% for the year. Only prices for energy commodities such as gasoline and fuel oil saw yearly decreases, of around 6.6% and 0.5% respectively. However, gasoline prices did increase by 1.9% on a month-to-month basis.
Who’s to blame: Some forecasters have primarily pointed to rising natural gas and infrastructure prices for the continued hikes around electricity costs, particularly as grid operators including PJM Interconnection announced record-breaking rate hikes this summer. The president and his administration, however, have moved to blame renewable energy projects.
Read more from Callie here.
CLIMATE GROUPS SEEK COURT REHEARING OVER EPA GRANT CUTS: Grantees of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund filed a petition last night asking for the full U.S. Court of Appeals to rehear a case challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to cut nearly $20 billion in grants.
Climate United, the Coalition for Green Capital, and Power Forward Communities filed a petition after a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit last week ruled that the EPA can proceed to slash billions of dollars in grant money.
The petitioners argued the panel dismissed constitutional and Administrative Procedure Act claims that warranted review by the full court. The petition is the latest development in a legal dispute between the three grantees and the EPA that has lasted for months.
As a reminder: The EPA has sought to terminate the grantees’ grant money from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was established as part of the Biden administration’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. The agency has claimed that the grants were improperly distributed because they were routed through Citibank.
The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund includes three parts including the National Clean Investment Fund, Clean Communities Investment Accelerator, and Solar for All. The EPA is seeking to terminate each program of the fund’s grant money.
Read more by Maydeen here.
FERC NOMINEES ADVANCE IN THE SENATE: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted to advance Trump’s two Federal Energy Regulatory Commission nominees.
The committee voted on party lines to advance FERC nominees Laura Swett and David LaCerte. If confirmed, the nominees will fill the empty seats in FERC and shift the independent agency to a Republican majority of 3-2.
In two separate 12-8 votes, Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine voted with committee Republicans to advance each nominee. The nominations will now be sent to the full Senate for a vote.
Democrats have raised concerns over the Trump administration effort to increase its influence over independent agencies like FERC in order to advance the president’s agenda.
Committee ranking member Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico said “in normal times” he would have supported Swett’s nomination, but “these are not normal times.”
“This administration is issuing illegal stop work orders on fully permitted projects. They are creating a grid crisis. They are killing good union jobs, and they are raising electricity prices, and until they are willing to comply with the letter of the law, it will be difficult for me to support their nominations,” Heinrich said.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION URGING EUROPE TO TOSS CLIMATE RULES: Energy Secretary Chris Wright is hoping to convince European Union leaders to rethink methane regulations and other climate rules that would restrict imports of goods exceeding certain levels of greenhouse gas emissions.
The details: Wright, along with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, is ramping up pressure on the EU during the administration’s visit to the region. Wright met with EU energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen in Brussels today, after a multi-day trip to Milan for the GasTech conference. Ahead of the meeting, the Energy Secretary told reporters that he would be emphasizing that EU climate rules would be threatening Europe’s energy security.
“Europe’s embrace of a climate agenda and a march to net zero was wrong,” Wright said, according to Semafor. He argued that its regulations focused on methane emissions and corporate ESG-related reporting requirements would get in the way of its commitment to buy more energy products from the U.S. Wright claimed that while U.S. producers want to sell more to Europe, they are worried about the costs associated with meeting the new EU rules.
Wright described these rules as “non-tariff barriers that are getting needlessly in the way of bringing more energy into Europe,” Semafor reported.
The rules: The EU currently requires oil and gas producers to monitor and report their methane emissions associated with imports into the bloc. Starting in 2027, the EU will be requiring new compliance with methane rules equivalent to those within Europe when signing new contracts with foreign producers. Earlier this spring, reports indicated that the bloc was considering softening its rules to make it easier to import liquefied natural gas from the U.S., but sources at the time said the bloc was hoping to avoid making any changes altogether.
Plus – downplaying climate risks: Following his meeting with Jorgensen, Wright continued to advocate the use of fossil fuels, downplaying the risks of climate change, according to Reuters.
The secretary told reporters in Brussels that natural gas production has been the “biggest driver of decarbonization” in the U.S. While the use of natural gas has reduced reliance on dirtier forms of energy like coal, the energy source still produces potent greenhouse gas emissions like methane.
Wright appeared to echo the findings of the Department of Energy’s widely criticized report on climate change, reportedly insisting there is no upward or downward trend in the frequency of extreme weather events caused by climate change.
“We kind of struggle to find what is it from climate change that’s causing greater risks to humans,” Wright said, according to Reuters. “A warmer, wetter world is more conducive to growing crops.”
HANFORD NUCLEAR CLEANUP UPDATE: Democratic Sen. Patty Murray now claims that Wright did actually admit to delaying operations at the Hanford nuclear cleanup site in Washington, despite issuing a statement earlier in the week indicating that it was a priority.
The details: Murray told E&E News that during a phone conversation with the energy secretary, Wright “admitted” that DOE is considering delaying the completion of final testing, also known as hot commissioning, at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant Project. This is necessary for the facility to start processing nuclear waste and transform it into glass to be disposed of. Murray told the outlet that Wright supposedly raised safety concerns regarding the facility.
She described the potential delay as “astonishingly senseless and destructive.”
Quick reminder: Earlier this week, DOE released a statement insisting that the administration was not threatening the Hanford site cleanup efforts. In the statement, Wright said the agency had made “no changes to its longstanding commitment to the environmental cleanup of the Hanford site.”
“DOE is continuing to examine testing and operations of the DFLAW site to ensure waste disposal options are safe, cost-effective, and environmentally sound,” the statement continued. “Across the entire Department, we are actively working to improve the safety and efficacy of the important work we do each and every day.”
OPEC+ FUELING GLOBAL CRUDE SURPLUS: Global oil supply continues to outpace demand, in part driven by OPEC+’s plans to once again increase production next month, the International Energy Agency warned today.
The details: In its September oil market report, the IEA forecast that global oil demand will increase by just 740,000 barrels per day in 2025. Global production is also expected to increase by 2.7 million barrels per day to around 105.8 million barrels per day for this year. Production levels are expected to slow next year, only rising by 2.1 million barrels per day in 2026.
The agency has for months been warning of the market becoming oversupplied and entering a glut, as OPEC+ has continued to pump more oil.
“Oil markets are being pulled in different directions by a range of forces, with the potential for supply losses stemming from new sanctions on Russia and Iran coming against a backdrop of higher OPEC+ supply and the prospect of increasingly bloated oil balances,” the IEA wrote in its report.
Non-OPEC nations have also seen significant supply growth in the last year, including in the U.S., putting further downward pressure on international and domestic prices. Producers in the U.S. have warned they will be forced to ease up on drilling this year and next if prices continue to drop. Any slowdown seen in the U.S., though, is unlikely to offset the higher supply levels from OPEC+.
Where prices stand: Crude prices have remained in the low to mid $60s for several weeks and international and domestic benchmarks were down again this afternoon. Just after 2:30 p.m. Brent Crude had fallen by around 1.70% and was priced at $66.34 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate also dropped 2.07%, selling at $62.35 per barrel.
RUNDOWN
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