WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Tuesday, readers! With some help from our editor Joe Lawler, today’s edition of Daily on Energy takes a closer look at falling gas prices as administration officials revealed some gas stations are reporting prices as low as $1.99 a gallon.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright kicked off the North American Gas Forum this morning, where he declared climate change to be far from one of the top five global problems right now. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum will be speaking at the conference tomorrow. Like today, we’ll be on the ground, so be sure to say hello!
Plus, electric vehicle sales continued to fall last month. Keep reading to find out how much manufacturers like Hyundai and Ford were hit in the aftermath of the federal tax credits expiration.
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.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TOUTS GAS UNDER $2: The Trump administration is embracing falling gasoline prices as a major win heading into the new year, with President Donald Trump and his cabinet officials highlighting prices lower than $2 at some pumps.
The details: During Trump’s cabinet meeting today, Energy Secretary Chris Wright revealed that there are a number of gas stations nationwide selling gas at around $1.99 per gallon. And from the Department of Energy’s perspective, prices are only going to trend downward.
“That’s simply impossible without the leadership and changes you’ve brought,” Wright said, crediting the president with the falling prices.
Trump later touted the low prices again, saying that lowering energy prices will be critical for bringing other costs of living down.
“If energy comes down, everything comes down. That’s the way it works,” Trump said.
National averages for gasoline remain well above $2 per gallon, with AAA reporting the lowest average in Oklahoma at around $2.404 per gallon.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, did confirm this afternoon, however, that GasBuddy is monitoring around 20 stations around the U.S. that are selling below $2 per gallon. This is roughly equivalent to 0.013% of total gas stations in the country.
CLIMATE CHANGE NOT THAT BIG OF AN ISSUE, CHRIS WRIGHT SAYS: Wright downplayed the risks of climate change earlier this morning, telling a room of natural gas executives and advocates that climate change is far from being one of the top five issues facing the world right now.
“There’s nothing remotely close to indicating climate change would even be in the top five global problems,” Wright said during the North American Gas Forum, hosted by Energy Dialogues.
While he said climate change is a “real physical phenomenon” that will be dealt with “over time,” Wright insisted that there are greater issues to be addressed first.
The secretary later told Callie that in his view, the top five issues are malnutrition, a lack of clean cooking fuels, indoor air pollution, inadequate basic education, and inadequate public health.
Important to note: There is a broad agreement among environmentalists, many scientists, and green activists that climate change is a contributing factor to several of those issues listed above. In fact, the Environmental Protection Agency’s own website details how changing environmental conditions outdoors – such as rising ambient pollutant levels and warmer temperatures – can worsen indoor air quality. The United Nations’ World Food Programme also describes climate change as a “long-term threat” to food security and nutrition worldwide. In 2021, the agency estimated that the risk of hunger and malnutrition could rise by 20% by 2050 if communities fail to mitigate climate change.
“The science unmistakably shows that reducing climate pollution leads to cleaner air, better health, more opportunity, and safer food systems,” Environmental Defense Fund Vice President for Political and Government Affairs Joanna Slaney told Daily on Energy. “That’s what we stand to gain, but the administration is trying to allow more harmful pollution into our lives instead.”
Read more from Callie here.
CONGRESS TAKES UP CYBER AND PHYSICAL RISKS TO ELECTRIC GRID: The House Energy and Commerce’s subcommittee on Energy held a hearing this morning to discuss several cyber and physical risks the country’s electric grid is facing, including those brought on by artificial intelligence and lack of available power.
Role of AI: One of the witnesses, Zach Tudor, the associate laboratory director of national and homeland security at the Idaho National Laboratory, explained to lawmakers that AI is becoming a double-edged sword for critical infrastructure like transmission and electricity distribution. On the one hand, it allows adversaries like China and Russia to conduct widespread attacks. On the other hand, it enables the U.S. to develop AI grid resilience, Tudor explained.
“Understanding what adversaries can actually do with AI and how we can defend it is very important,” he said, adding that the national labs are using cyber testing to determine when a control system or vendor-provided system has AI capabilities and what critical vulnerabilities may be included.
Harry Krejsa, Director of Studies for the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology, also warned lawmakers that the rapid explosion of AI technologies is “lowering the bar” for expertise needed to launch malicious cyber campaigns. Because of that, he called for “modernization from top to bottom” for the grid’s critical infrastructure to ramp up defense.
All of the above: Throughout the hearing, both Republican and Democratic members emphasized their support for an all-of-the-above strategy, meaning generating as much energy for the grid from as many sources as possible.
At one point, Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado pointed out this bipartisan message and asked each one of the witnesses if they agreed with that sentiment. When all answered in the affirmative, DeGette explained that she was concerned that while her Republican colleagues say “all of the above,” many only advocate for policies supporting fossil fuels.
She then asked the witnesses – which also included Kenergy’s Tim Lindahl on behalf of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Sharla Artz with Xcel Energy on behalf of the Edison Electric Institute, and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s Michael Ball – if any of their industries were moving away from other sources of energy such as renewables and batteries due to cyber risks.
After all witnesses said no, DeGette asked Krejsa whether it would be more dangerous to support an all-of-the-above energy approach for the grid when accounting for other physical and cyber risks.
“It’s, I would say, more secure and resilient to have an all-of-the-above,” Krejsa said.
EMPLOYMENT DRAMA CONTINUES FOR FEMA WORKERS WHO CRITICIZED TRUMP: Suspended, rehired, then suspended once again – more than a dozen Federal Emergency Management Agency staffers are once again out at the agency over an open letter they signed in August criticizing the Trump administration.
Quick reminder: The staffers were placed on administrative leave in August after warning in a letter to Congress titled “Katrina Declaration” that FEMA was unprepared for another large-scale disaster under Trump. They specifically criticized the administration’s overhaul of the agency and decision to shift natural disaster response resources to the states.
What’s new: Last week, the suspended workers received reinstatement notices from the agency, informing them that a misconduct investigation that took place during the suspension was closed and they were being removed from administrative leave, CNN reported.
Messages reviewed by CNN revealed that one staffer was informed that the investigation found the workers were “protected by the whistleblower act” despite failing to abide by agency policy.
The workers were beginning to return to work when they were slapped with new suspension notices yesterday.
“CNN reporting revealed that 14 FEMA employees previously placed on leave for misconduct were wrongly and without authorization reinstated by bureaucrats acting outside of their authority,” a DHS spokesperson told CNN. “Once alerted, the unauthorized reinstatement was swiftly corrected by senior leadership. The 14 employees who signed the Katrina declaration have been returned to administrative leave.”
ELECTRIC VEHICLE SALES CONTINUE TO PLUMMET: Sales of electric vehicles are still trending downward in the weeks following the expiration of federal tax credits for new EVs and hybrids.
Data obtained by Reuters today revealed that both Ford and Hyundai – two of the major EV manufacturers and sellers in the U.S. – saw sales of their models drop by more than 50% in the month of November.
Hyundai specifically, saw sales of its top-selling EV models – the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 – drop by more than 55% last month compared to one year before. The company’s overall sales also dropped by around 2%, according to Reuters.
Hyundai Motor America CEO Randy Parker told the outlet that they were expecting sales to fall after the tax credits expired after Sept. 30, and added that some shoppers may have been more inclined to purchase a hybrid. Hyundai saw its hybrid vehicle sales jump by 42% in November.
Ford, which was also hit by production hits caused by fires at one of its key aluminum suppliers, saw sales for its Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning EVs drop by around 61% last month. Ford’s overall sales dropped by nearly 1%.
MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATION MOVES TO UNIONIZE: The Environmental Defense Fund is moving to unionize, with employees announcing the formation of the EDF Together union today.
The details: Employees with the nearly 60-year-old environmental nonprofit are formally requesting voluntary recognition from EDF’s Executive Management Team of their union. The union has the support of a supermajority of eligible employees and will represent nearly 500 workers, organizers said today.
The move comes after the green group saw layoffs last year, which appeared to be connected to a dramatic decrease in revenue from memberships and donations.
“Given EDF’s support for unions through its coalition partnerships externally, and its commitment to improving staff experiences internally, we hope to receive voluntary recognition and start good faith, productive bargaining as soon as possible,” organizers said today.
In forming the union, EDF staffers join several other environmental organizations that have moved to unionize in recent years including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the League of Conservation Voters.
‘RENEWABLE’ DROPPED FROM NAME OF COLORADO NATIONAL LAB: The Energy Department has renamed the national lab in Golden, Colorado, to remove the word “renewable.”
The lab that was previously known as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will now be known as the National Laboratory of the Rockies.
Assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson said in a press release that “We are no longer picking and choosing energy sources. Our highest priority is to invest in the scientific capabilities that will restore American manufacturing, drive down costs, and help this country meet its soaring energy demand.”
The agency said that the new name reflects a new direction for the agency, which was founded in 1973 in response to the oil crisis and historically promoted alternative and renewable sources of generation.
PUTIN THREATENS RETALIATION AGAINST TANKERS: Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the prospect of strikes on oil tankers of adversaries as a response to the campaign against Russian tankers carried out by Ukraine.
“[I]f this continues, we will consider the possibility — I’m not saying we will do this, but we will consider the possibility of retaliatory measures against the vessels of those countries that assist Ukraine in committing these piracy acts,” Putin said, according to Bloomberg.
Four Russian ships have been attacked in the past week, including a fuel tanker off the coast of Senegal, and two large oil tankers in the Black Sea.
Oil prices rose after his comments.
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