WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Monday, readers! We are officially on day six of a government shutdown, and Republicans continue to blame Democrats for the federal funding lapse.
Some members of the Democratic Party may be moving to force a vote on ending President Donald Trump’s energy emergency declaration, while insisting the president is to blame for the growing electricity price crisis.
Meanwhile, some within the fossil fuel industry are turning to criticize the Trump administration’s stymieing of renewables like wind and solar – warning the same could be done to oil and gas under a Democratic 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.
BIG OIL BLASTS TRUMP’S CRACKDOWN ON OFFSHORE WIND: President Donald Trump is facing increased criticism over his effort to hamstring offshore wind development from a surprising source: the fossil fuel industry.
The details: Shell USA president Colette Hirstius spoke out against the administration’s crackdown on offshore wind over the weekend, warning that halting fully permitted projects is “very dangerous.”
“I think uncertainty in the regulatory environment is very damaging,” she told the Financial Times. “However far the pendulum swings one way, it’s likely that it’s going to swing just as far the other way.”
There are currently five major offshore wind projects, including Revolution Wind, that are under construction. Hirstius wishes to see all of these move forward. She told the outlet that regulatory predictability is crucial for any offshore projects, whether it be permitting or leasing.
Hirstius also noted that under the Biden administration the offshore oil and gas sector suffered due to uncertainty around lease sales. Without broad regulatory certainty for permitting, the Shell executive warned it could be “equally as damaging” for fossil fuels.
Read more from Callie here.
DEMOCRATS LOOK TO END TRUMP’S ‘ENERGY EMERGENCY’: Democrats in Congress are once again looking to end the president’s “energy emergency,” declared through executive order on his first day in office.
Democrats in the Senate are hoping to force a vote as soon as this week to repeal the energy emergency declaration. Several members are planning to argue that Trump and his administration have in fact caused the crisis around rising electricity prices through their crackdown on offshore wind and solar power, lawmakers told E&E News.
Energy and Natural Resources Committee ranking member Sen. Martin Heinrich is leading this charge to terminate the energy emergency declaration. This is the second attempt from Democrats to do so after the party failed in February.
Under the law, Congress is permitted to review emergency declarations every six months and can vote to repeal such orders via simple majority. If Democrats were able to secure the necessary Republican votes, it is very likely that Trump would veto the bill.
Key quote: “The real energy emergency — which is the price pressures that we’re seeing — is getting worse all the time,” Heinrich told the outlet. “And that’s what we’re going to paint a picture of — is how their decision to cancel projects; their decision to sit on permits that are normally very straightforward and to politicize that permitting process; their decision to put out stop-work orders — that’s what’s creating the energy emergency.”
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE LOOKS TO EXPAND TELECOMMUNICATIONS IN DC: The National Park Service is seeking public comment on its plans to construct telecommunications around areas of the National Mall in D.C.
NPS will begin accepting public comments on a study outlining plans for the potential construction of telecommunications infrastructure. The study, known as the National Mall Telecommunications Infrastructure Plan, identifies infrastructure needed to provide full 5G coverage from all major wireless carriers. It also provides a framework for how permit requests for telecom projects should be reviewed.
The public comment period will be open until Nov. 6.
OVER 100 TRUMP ADMINISTRATION NOMINEES AND APPOINTMENTS WITH FOSSIL FUEL TIES: Over 100 executive branch nominees and appointees of the Trump administration managing energy and environmental policy have ties to the fossil fuel industry, according to a new report from the nonprofit group Public Citizen.
The group includes 43 former industry employees, 29 former corporate executives, 14 former corporate lawyers, 12 people tied to think tanks that get funding from the fossil fuel industry, and 13 others with industry ties working on energy and environmental-related policies in the Trump administration.
The report used data from the Office of Personnel Management’s Plum Book, data appearing on Congress.gov, and surveys of personnel-related news. It added that the Department of the Interior has the largest number of employees with fossil fuel industry ties.
White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement that “President Trump was elected with an overwhelming mandate to ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ and unleash America’s energy potential.”
“It’s totally logical that his energy nominees would align with the agenda the President was elected to implement and have a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter,” she said.
ALASKA NATIVE CORPORATIONS INVESTS IN GRAPHITE ONE: Doyon Limited and Aleut, two Alaska Native corporations, will invest $5 million in Graphite One, a mining company under the federal government’s fast-track permitting program.
Graphite One is working on its project Graphite Creek in Alaska, considered one of the largest deposits of graphite in the U.S. The project has been approved under the federal government’s Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, or FAST-41, program, which streamlines crucial infrastructure projects.
The company is working to build a complete supply chain from mining the graphite to the production of lithium-ion battery anode materials and other graphite products for the U.S. market.
Doyon Limited president and CEO Aaron Schutt said in a press release: “For Doyon, this is not just an investment in Graphite One, it is a long-term investment in Alaska.”
“With decades of experience in responsible resource development, Doyon looks forward to working with Graphite One to bring the Graphite Creek Critical Minerals Project into production,” he added.
EX-FOREST SERVICE CHIEF ‘PUZZLED’ BY ROADLESS RULE ROLLBACK: The Trump administration is quickly moving to walk back decades-old protections for tens of millions of acres’ worth of national forests from logging and road building, a move that has drawn criticism from conservationists and former Forest Service officials.
The details: Mike Dombeck, former chief of the U.S. Forest Service and ex-acting director of the Bureau of Land Management under the Clinton administration, slammed the efforts to repeal the 2001 Roadless Rule in a recent interview with The Guardian.
Dombeck, who served as Forest Service chief when the Roadless Rule was issued, called the decision by the Trump administration “puzzling” and “chaotic.”
“We are losing this land rapidly,” he said. “If we don’t conserve it, we will lose it.”
Dombeck explained that if the administration strips the protections to increase the amount of land available for logging, it will be forced to create and maintain new roads.
“The easiest timber to get has already gone,” he said. ‘We will be putting new, expensive roads into hard-to-reach areas, which will then erode and pollute the water supply. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
Quick reminder: In August, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced that her agency would be moving to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule, which she called outdated and burdensome. The rule prohibits road building and logging on roughly 59 million acres of national forest land. The administration did hold a public comment period on the proposal, lasting a short 21 days that ended in mid-September.
ICYMI – OPEC DEJA VU: OPEC+ is set to continue with its monthly increases of oil production next month, but is keeping the hike on the smaller side, as many still fear a supply glut.
The details: Eight members of the oil-producing bloc agreed yesterday to increase crude production levels in November by 137,000 barrels per day. This increase in production is identical for the one announced for October last month. It is much smaller than the hikes seen during the spring and summer, when the bloc moved quickly to fully recover cuts of around 2.2 million barrels per day.
OPEC+ is now moving to unwind a second set of production cuts made in recent years, totaling around 1.65 million barrels per day. These cuts were initially expected to remain in place through next year, but OPEC+ has held very bullish market views and remains confident in a “steady global economic outlook.”
The continued production hikes have not settled any market fears of a supply glut, especially as demand is expected to fall following the summer season. Some analysts have suggested that OPEC+ is growing more aware of these concerns and opted for a more modest increase with these in mind.
“OPEC+ stepped carefully after witnessing how nervous the market had become,” Rystad Energy’s Jorge Leon told Reuters. “The group is walking a tightrope between maintaining stability and clawing back market share in a surplus environment.”
A LOOK AHEAD:
Oct. 6 The Engine Technology Forum is holding a webinar on exploring power solutions for data centers.
Oct. 7 The United States Energy Association is holding an event titled “Navigating the Nexus: New Horizons for Peace & Trade in the South Caucasus,” which will focus on energy and geopolitical opportunities in Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Oct. 7 Canary Media is hosting a webinar exploring the traditional concept of energy efficiency.
Oct. 7 The Environmental Law Institute is hosting its 2025 Annual Award Dinner in Washington, D.C.
Oct. 8 The Atlantic Council’s 2025 Energy and Defense Summit will be held in Washington, D.C.
Oct. 8 The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works is holding hearings to examine the nominations of Ho Nieh to serve on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Douglas Troutman to serve as Assistant Administrator for Toxic Substances with the Environmental Protection Agency.
Oct. 8 The Association of American Railroads is holding a series of discussions on the future of transportation, featuring remarks from Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska and Rep. Bruce Westerman of Arkansas.
Oct. 9 The Los Angeles Business Council’s 19th annual Sustainability Summit will be held at the University of Southern California.
Oct. 9 Columbia University’s Climate School is holding a public panel on the environmental harms of toxic dye runoff found in landfills and caused by the textile and fashion industry.
RUNDOWN
Bloomberg Plan to Reflect Sunlight to Power Solar Panels at Night Upsets Astronomers
Canary Media As coal fades, Australia looks to realize dream of 100% renewable energy
Washington Post After gutting subsidies, White House finds new ways to stifle solar
