WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Veterans Day, readers! Many Americans are feeling the first cold snap of the season today – stay safe and warm if you are out in the chilly temperatures!
In today’s newsletter, Seth Cohen, chief counsel for nuclear policy at the Energy Department, expresses confidence that the administration’s overhaul of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will strengthen the agency ☢️. Keep reading to see what he has to say.
In other news, the Trump administration is reportedly preparing to propose new oil drilling off the coast of California as early as this week 🛢️🌊🏄. The move is expected to heighten tensions between President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who are fierce opponents of one another.
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.
NRC TO GROW, NOT SHRINK, FROM TRUMP’S OVERHAUL: The Trump administration remains confident that its restructuring and overhaul of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will actually help expand the agency, not downsize it, as its portfolio is expected to rapidly grow.
“Despite some of the language in the executive order, the NRC is almost certainly going to be growing in the coming years,” Seth Cohen, chief counsel for nuclear policy at the Department of Energy, said during the American Nuclear Society’s winter conference this morning.
Cohen acknowledged that messaging regarding restructuring workforce understanding can be a cause of concern for folks in any industry, but insisted that the administration’s goal is not to “make this the tiniest Nuclear Regulatory Commission it can be.”
“The President fully anticipates that the NRC will likely need to grow to accommodate an increase in applications that can support 300 additional gigawatts of nuclear power by 2050,” Cohen said.
Why this matters: For months, many have feared that President Donald Trump’s executive order focused on restructuring the regulatory agency would result in sweeping staffing cuts, making it more difficult to deliver on the administration’s goals of quadrupling domestic nuclear capacity. And since the EO was signed, the NRC has lost nearly 200 staffers, including several senior leadership members, and saw one commissioner resign and another fired.
Industry leaders and advanced nuclear company CEOs have expressed concerns about this talent drain, warning that it could make it more difficult for the private sector to deliver on Trump’s lofty goals for rapidly building out nuclear energy.
Key quote: In the oil and gas industry in Texas, “the Railroad Commission was constantly losing people to the industry they were trying to regulate. So there was that constant push and pull back and forth of ‘we need the Railroad Commission to move faster’ [and] the Railroad Commission say, ‘well, quit stealing our people,” Natura Resources CEO and founder Doug Robinson told Callie. “I think the NRC is going to face that same pressure…I think they’re losing a lot of people because of DOGE and so forth. That probably needs to come to a halt.”
CLEAN ENERGY GROUPS SUE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: Several clean energy groups and the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, are suing the Trump administration over its cancellation of $7.5 billion in Energy Department grants for projects in Democratic states.
The Interstate Renewable Energy Council, Plug-In America, Elevate Energy, the City of St. Paul, and the Southeast Community Organization filed the lawsuit yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
They allege that the Trump administration violated the First and Fifth Amendments through the Energy Department’s cancellation of more than $7.5 billion in awards and projects in Democratic-led states. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and White House budget director Russell Vought were named in the lawsuit as defendants.
Vought had tweeted prior that “Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled.” Vought named 13 Democratic-led states, including California, Colorado, and Massachusetts, that would see grant cuts.
The cancellation in funding was part of President Donald Trump’s threats to cut programs and employees as a result of the government shutdown.
The plaintiffs wrote “Defendants’ constitutional violations are plain, and the harms to Plaintiffs and the communities they intended to serve are all too real.”
The groups warned that if the terminations were not reversed, they would need to lay off staff and stop pursuing projects designed to lower the energy costs for households. The plaintiffs are asking the court to restore the terminated funding.
Read more by Maydeen here.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO PROPOSE OPENING OIL DRILLING OFF THE COAST OF CALIFORNIA: The Trump administration plans to propose opening new oil drilling off the coast of California, the New York Times reports.
There has not been new oil drilling off the coast of California for at least four decades. The move would also heighten the tensions between California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and Trump, who have been strong adversaries.
The New York Times said that, according to three people briefed on the matter, the Interior Department could announce the proposal as early as this week.
Newsom’s press office reacted to the news in a tweet, stating “This plan is dead on arrival.” They added, “Donnie, if you’re going to open up America’s coasts, why skip your own backyard at Mar-a-Lago?”
TRUMP’S NEW OFFSHORE LEASE SALES TO SKIP NEPA: The Trump administration will reportedly not be subjecting any of the dozens of offshore oil and gas lease sales mandated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to the National Environmental Policy Act, meaning they could very well skip out on environmental reviews.
The details: The Interior Department confirmed to E&E News this week that NEPA “is not applicable” to the newly scheduled lease sales. The agency said the newly passed law requires regulators to use the same terms, conditions, and lease forms as those that were used under Trump’s first administration. As the sales are statutorily required under the law, the agency said it does not give Interior of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management the discretion to add additional stipulations based on environmental concerns that could change whether the sale is held.
“Because BOEM does not have sufficient discretion to affect the outcome of these statutorily directed actions by making any changes based on environmental information, NEPA is inapplicable for OBBBA-mandated sales,” Interior spokesperson Alyse Sharpe reportedly said.
Quick reminder: In August, Interior rolled out a more than 14-year schedule for oil and gas drilling rights off the Gulf coast, as mandated by OBBBA. At least 30 lease sales in the two regions are scheduled between December 2025 and March 2040.
SHELL CHALLENGES VENTURE GLOBAL’S ARBITRATION WIN: Oil and gas major Shell is calling on the New York Supreme Court to consider reversing its loss in the arbitration case against liquefied natural gas producer Venture Global.
A refresh: In August, a New York arbitration court ruled in favor of the LNG producer, who Shell claimed failed to deliver cargoes of liquefied natural gas under long-term contracts. Rather than delivering on the contracts, Venture Global sold the LNG directly on the spot market when prices were peaking in a large part due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Venture Global was quickly criticized by oil and gas companies over the incident, but the firm maintained its business model has always allowed it to sell cargo to the spot market before fulfilling long-term contracts.
The challenge: Yesterday, Shell filed with the state Supreme Court challenging the ruling, claiming that Venture Global withheld crucial evidence during the case regarding why it postponed the commercial start of operations at its Calcasieu Pass export facility. The filing, obtained by Reuters, reportedly claims that the documents were sent between Venture Global and a third party. Shell has claimed it asked arbitrators to consider communications between Venture Global and the third party, but said Venture Global “avoided disclosure through a series of misleading statements.”
Venture Global has slammed the challenge, with the LNG producer telling Reuters that there was a fair and complete arbitration process.
“Their court petition to vacate the award is without merit and is another desperate attempt to exert leverage to achieve a result they couldn’t secure contractually or in arbitration,” a spokesperson told the outlet.
RECORD LOW TEMPERATURES: Many across the United States are feeling the first major cold snap of the season, with record-breaking low temperatures and snowfall.
Millions of people are under freezing warnings in states like Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. Temperatures dropped into the teens in areas of Alabama and Georgia, while some parts of Florida experienced temperatures in the 20s.
There has been major snowfall around the Great Lakes and parts of the Northeast, marking the first snowfall of the season for many.
Accuweather said there is “up to 18 inches of lake-effect snow in Michigan in the town of Negaunee, with 14 inches in Walkerton, Indiana; 13 inches in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin; and 13 inches at Davis, West Virginia.”
The temperatures were so low in Florida that iguanas began to freeze and fall from the trees, the Associated Press reported. Iguanas freeze when temperatures are below 40 degrees, which is what many were experiencing in northern Florida.
The lower temperatures are not expected to last long in the mid-section of the country, The Weather Channel said, adding that it might take a bit longer for the chilly air to leave the Northeast.
CHINA CARBON EMISSIONS ON A DOWNWARD TREND: China’s carbon emissions were unchanged in the third quarter, continuing a flat or declining trend that began in March 2024, according to analysis by the Carbon Brief.
The report said the adoption of electric vehicles dropped emissions from transportation by 5% year over year. China has been rapidly growing its EV sector, making it one of the largest EV industries in the world.
The transportation sector saw a decline, but oil consumption in other sectors grew by 10%, driven by the chemical industry.
China is also on track to reach a new renewable record this year, the analysis said. China has so far this year completed 240 gigawatts of solar and 61 gigawatts of wind capacity.
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