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WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Tuesday, readers! It’s still a chilly day here at the nation’s capital and across much of the country. We hope you’re staying warm and safe! ❄️☃️
As the Trump administration aims to secure the domestic supply of critical minerals, it is escalating its efforts to expand deep-sea mining. The Department of the Interior announced it is now seeking public input on potential lease sales for minerals off the coast of Alaska. 🌊⛏️🏔️ We’ve got all the details below.
Then, as of today, the United States has officially exited the Paris Agreement for the second time under the Trump administration.
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.
LATEST ON WINTER STORM FERN: Many across the country are still dealing with the aftermath of Winter Storm Fern.
As of this afternoon, Tennessee has the largest number of customers without power at 175,878, according to PowerOutage.com. Mississippi has 41,218 customers without power, Louisiana has 105,435, and Texas has 37,522. In total, there are 561,055 customers in the U.S. without electricity.
This past storm is the first significant winter storm to hit Texas since the 2021 winter storm, which left millions without power and resulted in more than 200 deaths across the state. Ahead of this week’s storm, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that the Texas grid was more than ready to handle the winter storm.
ERCOT’s dashboard showed normal grid conditions, with 14,041 megawatts of operating reserves as of this afternoon.
According to the Associated Press, the death toll has risen to 35 in states afflicted with severe cold. The frigid conditions are not expected to end anytime soon for most of the eastern half of the country. AccuWeather also noted that another storm could hit the East Coast from late Friday through Saturday, bringing more snow.
PJM WARNS OF ALL-TIME DEMAND HIGH: PJM Interconnection has warned that the severe cold will continue to put strain on the U.S. grid through the rest of the week, with record high energy demand.
The details: In a warning released yesterday, the grid operator said the states within its region were expected to see extreme cold until Sunday, brought on by a wide Arctic system. As homeowners and businesses crank up the heat to combat the low temperatures, PJM said energy demand would hit an all-time high for its grid.
“Peak demand has the potential to exceed 130,000 [megawatts] for seven straight days, a winter streak that PJM has never experienced,” the grid operator said.
The solutions: PJM is taking several steps to ensure enough power is pumping through the grid throughout the week to avoid or mitigate any load shortages caused by the extreme weather – particularly as ice and freezing rain can cause power lines to fall.
This includes:
- Issuing a maximum generation and load management alert that allows utilities to defer or cancel scheduled maintenance or testing to keep units online
- Requesting authorization from the Energy Department to utilize backup generation from large load customers like data centers
- Obtaining approval from the Energy Department to run all electricity-generating units in the region to maximum generation output.
Read more from Callie here.
U.S. OFFICIALLY EXITS THE PARIS AGREEMENT: The United States has formally exited the 2016 Paris Agreement for a second time, fulfilling one of President Donald Trump’s executive orders signed on his first day in office last year.
In a public order signing held just hours after his inauguration, Trump again signed an order withdrawing the U.S. from the international climate accord.
“I’m immediately withdrawing from the unfair, one-sided Paris climate accord rip-off,” he said at the time. “The United States will not sabotage our own industries while China pollutes with impunity.”
One week after signing the order, Trump sent a letter to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres relaying the decision. As a result, the withdrawal went into effect today.
TRUMP ORDERS REMOVAL OF CLIMATE CHANGE SIGNS AT NATIONAL PARKS: As part of Trump’s abandonment of climate-related policies and regulations, administration officials have reportedly ordered the removal of climate change-related signage at major national parks.
The details: Documents reviewed by the Washington Post reveal that Trump administration officials ordered parks staff to remove or edit signs and information materials in at least 17 National Parks in Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Utah, Montana, and Wyoming. This includes the Grand Canyon, Glacier, Big Bend, and Zion.
Staff reportedly have been instructed to edit or remove language related to climate change, environmental protection, and mistreatment of Native Americans. Some of the language that has been included in the removal order is information on how climate change is contributing to the melting of glaciers.
The driving force: Documents reveal that the order is directly connected to Trump’s executive order signed in March 2025 on “restoring truth and sanity to American history.”
The executive order called on Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to ensure that all public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, etc. “do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living…and instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people or, with respect to natural features, the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape.”
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION WEIGHS MINING OFF THE COAST OF ALASKA: The Trump administration is escalating its efforts to bolster the domestic critical minerals industry, exploring every opportunity to increase mining activities in the U.S. – including off the coast of Alaska.
The details: Earlier today, the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced that it will be publishing a Request for Information and Interest to evaluate whether the agency should hold a lease sale for minerals on the Outer Continental Shelf off the coast of Alaska. The Request for Information does not guarantee a lease sale will be held.
“Alaska’s offshore holds strategic potential for the minerals that drive American industry, defense and next-generation technologies,” BOEM’s Acting Director Matt Giacona said in a statement. “This Request for Information is a practical first step to gauge interest and identify areas where development could make sense for jobs, investment and national supply chains.”
Interested parties, industry experts, and the general public have until March 2 to submit comments to the agency.
From our view: No mineral lease sales have ever been held off the coast of Alaska, though it comes as no surprise that the administration is weighing changing that. Alaska has become central to the administration’s energy dominance agenda, encouraging increased oil and gas drilling as well as on-land mining.
On its website, BOEM details that 49 of the 50 minerals deemed critical by the U.S. government can be found in the state. It remains unclear how much mining potential lies off Alaska’s coasts, but a 2022 paper published by the U.S. Geological Survey found that there is evidence coastal and deep-sea minerals do exist in the region.
EPA TO CUT MORE THAN A DOZEN TOP EXECUTIVE JOBS: The Environmental Protection Agency plans to cut more than a dozen top executive positions at the agency as part of the Trump administration’s reorganization efforts.
Documents obtained by E&E News through the Freedom of Information Act reveal that three Senior Executive Service (SES) positions have been eliminated, with the agency planning to abolish 10 additional positions. As a result, the SES group will decrease from 332 to 319 members.
The EPA last month submitted a report to the Office of Personnel Management explaining how it will allocate executive positions “as a result of agency reorganization and workforce reshaping,” E&E News reported.
The publication explained that EPA’s report redacted the total number for future allocations for SES and other top positions.
Under the Trump administration, the EPA has undergone stringent reorganization efforts, resulting in a decline in its workforce. Since January 2025, 2,331 employees have departed from the agency, according to OPM’s November data.
Key quote: Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, who served 40 years at EPA, told E&E News that terminating SES positions will impact the agency’s “institutional knowledge.”
“If the agency is really streamlining the organization and having fewer leaders who help make sure the work gets done, that could complicate the effectiveness of how the agency would implement the work that it wants to do,” Orme-Zavaleta said.
E15 RURAL ENERGY COUNCIL: House lawmakers last week failed to include a provision in the spending bill that would allow a year-round sale of E15 ethanol, but as a result, they are creating a task force.
Republicans were unable to agree on including a provision that would allow year-round sales of E15 ethanol, a fuel blend containing 10.5% to 15% ethanol blended with gasoline that has been restricted due to smog concerns.
Farm groups demanded the measure, as it would boost demand for corn, one of the main ingredients. Meanwhile, oil groups have opposed E15 due to higher costs and reduced demand for unblended gasoline.
Lawmakers, instead, agreed to establish an "E-15 Rural Domestic Energy Council" that would negotiate the sale of E15.
According to Daily on Energy alum Josh Siegel, a group of House Democrats from agricultural districts sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, asking him to ensure the council has fair representation.
"A lack of representation of House Democrats on the Council would undermine its ability to produce a durable, bipartisan solution. As members who represent the Heartland and who have been involved in previous negotiations on this issue, we believe our participation would be additive to the discussion," the letter reads.
The letter was sent by House Democratic Reps. Nikki Budzinski of Illinois, Sharice Davids of Kansas, Haley Stevens of Michigan, Eric Sorensen of Illinois, and Kristen McDonald Rivet of Michigan.
ICYMI – UNITED KINGDOM DEFENDS OFFSHORE WIND: The United Kingdom is directly defending offshore wind from Trump’s diatribe against the industry in Davos last week, insisting that wind turbines are for “winners.”
“For us in the U.K., offshore wind is absolutely critical for our energy security. This is a hard-headed, not a soft-hearted, view that we have. We think it’s the right thing for the climate crisis but we think it’s absolutely the right thing for energy security,” U.K. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said in Hamburg, Germany, according to Politico. “I think offshore wind is for winners.”
His remarks were a direct response to Trump’s comments made last week, in which the president described European nations who have embraced the renewable energy alternative as “losers.”
A ripple effect: Trump has repeatedly touted his administration’s efforts to suppress the offshore wind industry, bragging that not a single project has been approved under his second administration. There are some fears that the administration’s suppression of offshore wind development will create a ripple effect globally, disincentivizing investment in new projects.
European energy ministers sought to instill confidence in the industry yesterday, with the U.K., Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands signing a deal to develop 100 gigawatts of offshore wind projects in the North Sea.
RUNDOWN
E&E News Trump opposes wind energy. That could be a tough sell in Iowa.
Washington Examiner Trump’s Greenland bid draws focus to rare earths mining possibilities
Latitude Media The grid can’t build fast enough
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