Daily on Energy: Fact-checking Trump’s claims on whale deaths, ‘windmills,’ and more

Speaking at a rally in Summerville, South Carolina last night, Trump vowed that as president, he would cancel NOAA’s proposed speed limit regulations for ships in the area, which he claimed would “demolish the charter fishing business, crush boat manufacturers and desecrate your cherished Low Country traditions.”

The proposed rule would have broadened seasonal speed restrictions along the East Coast, and extended a 10-knot speed limit that applies to boats longer than 65 feet to boats 35 feet or longer.

Trump said that just one whale in the last 50 years died off South Carolina’s coast as the result of a vessel strike, “but on the other hand their windmills are causing whales to die in numbers never seen before.”

‘The windmills are driving them crazy,” he added. “They’re driving the whales I think a little batty and they’re washing up on shore at levels never seen before and they want to stop your boats.”

The speed limit rules: The speed limit regulation Trump is referring to has not yet been enforced. House Republicans introduced a measure in June to delay NOAA’s proposed 10-knot speed restriction.

Whale deaths: It’s unclear where Trump got his facts on the boat deaths or the deaths tied to offshore wind activity.

The apparent rise in marine mammals washing ashore is a serious issue, though, that has become a concern for the offshore wind industry, fishing, and coastal legislators.

So far in 2023, there have been 33 humpback whale deaths in the Northeast, according to data from NOAA, while 114 North Atlantic Right whales have been reported dead, injured, or ill in the same time period.

NOAA declared an Unusual Mortality Event, or UME, for the right whale population beginning in 2017, when it says the number of whale deaths began to increase.

Whale strandings have caused particular alarm in New Jersey, where 13 have washed ashore so far this year, more than any other year recorded by the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.

Why it matters: Trump’s claims are likely to deepen the schism that has emerged between whale right activists and offshore wind advocates.

Concerned parties have cited worries that whales and dolphins could be harmed in the process of building offshore wind turbines, possibly from noise and sonar emissions during the siting preconstruction phase for the turbines.

In March, a bipartisan group of House lawmakers voted to approve an amendment calling for the GAO to independently investigate the environmental review processes for offshore wind development along the Atlantic Coast amid the uptick in whale and dolphin deaths.

Meanwhile, groups like the Clean Ocean Action (COA) have urged the Biden administration to pause wind development as they conduct “immediate and transparent” investigations into the whale deaths, and order a “hard stop to all existing offshore wind industry geotechnical and development activities.”

Democrats have also been increasingly vocal on the issue. Earlier this year, a group of five Senate Democrats, including Sens. Cory Booker and Bob Menendez of New Jersey, called on NOAA to release more information into the “concerning” uptick in humpback and North Atlantic right whale deaths.

“If the death trajectory continues, particularly amongst juvenile individuals, species will begin to disappear,” they said.

Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writers Breanne Deppisch (@breanne_dep) and Nancy Vu (@NancyVu99). Email [email protected] or [email protected] 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.

FORD HALTS CONTROVERSIAL MICHIGAN BATTERY PLANT: Ford Motors said it has paused construction of its $3.5 billion EV battery plant in Michigan, citing concerns about the plant’s ability to operate competitively.

A spokesman for the company would not say whether the ongoing UAW strike was a factor in the decision to halt work.

Nevertheless, UAW president Shawn Fain blasted the automaker, saying that the pause “is a shameful, barely-veiled threat by Ford to cut jobs. Closing 65 plants over the last 20 years wasn’t enough for the Big Three, now they want to threaten us with closing plants that aren’t even open yet. We are simply asking for a just transition to electric vehicles and Ford is instead doubling down on their race to the bottom.”

The plant under construction in Marshall, is supposed to be built in partnership with Chinese battery giant CATL, an arrangement that has drawn scrutiny from congressional Republicans.

Meanwhile: President Joe Biden will travel today to Detroit to join the picket line for the strike, a trip designed to highlight his support for labor groups with whom he has long shared a close relationship, but who have increasingly soured on him amid his administration’s push for EVs and clean energy.

Biden’s trip comes just one day before former President Donald Trump is slated to travel to Detroit, where he will give a speech to current and former union members as he vies to win their support.

Fain has thrown cold water on suggestions that UAW will endorse Trump in the 2024 presidential election, though the union appears to be waiting until after the strike is over to make any sort of endorsement.

BIDEN FAVORS ENERGY IN BLUE STATES, LUMMIS SAYS: Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming is accusing the Biden administration of politicizing new public lands protections and prioritizing oil and gas production in Democratic-led New Mexico, while curtailing oil and gas production in Wyoming, Alaska, and other conservative states.

In an interview with Breanne, Lummis – the chairwoman of the Senate Western Caucus – noted that New Mexico is now outproducing her state of Wyoming in the areas of both natural gas (8.4 billion cubic feet per day versus 3.3 billion) and oil (1.76 million barrels per day versus 265,000).

Since the two states are both home to massive proven oil and gas reserves, Lummis asserted that politics is likely a primary driver behind the disparity, which she says benefits Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s home state of New Mexico, where Democrats control the governor’s office and the legislature, while harming Republican-led states such as Alaska and Wyoming.

“We’re really frustrated with the Biden administration’s crackdown in Wyoming and Alaska on oil and gas production — and letting it flow freely in New Mexico, which is where Deb Haaland is from,” Lummis said.

Lummis specifically criticized new rules and management plans from the Bureau of Land Management. Read more from Breanne here.

BIDEN’S MESSAGE TO PACIFIC ISLAND LEADERS: Biden told leaders from the Pacific Islands Forum yesterday that he has heard their warnings about the effects of climate change in their region, and is pledging more aid.

At the beginning of a two-day summit, Biden said that his administration is requesting Congress to approve $200 million in new assistance for the region, including financing to help the islands prepare for climate and natural hazards, along with improving infrastructure.

“I want you to know I hear you, the people in the United States and around the world hear you,” Biden told the leaders. “We hear your warnings of a rising sea and (that) they pose an existential threat to your nations. We hear your calls for reassurance that you never, never, never will lose your statehood, or membership of the U.N. as a result of a climate crisis. Today, the United States is making it clear that this is our position as well.”

Many Pacific Island leaders have been critical of rich countries lagging in efforts to combat climate change despite being responsible for much of the problem, and profiting from loans to vulnerable nations to mitigate the effects. Read more on that from the Associated Press. 

OVERSIGHT PROBES GRANHOLM’S SUMMER ELECTRIC VEHICLE ROAD TRIP: The GOP-led House Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s electric vehicle road trip this summer, which drew attention after charging hiccups resulted in a family calling the authorities on staff blocking a charging station for the official.

As Nancy reports, Oversight Chairman James Comer of Kentucky and energy policy subcommittee Chairman Pat Fallon of Texas asked the agency Tuesday for documents related to Granholm’s journey through North Carolina to Tennessee to “understand the purposes, costs, and consequences” of the road trip. Their letter focuses the inquiry on an NPR report that documented the mishaps of the drive. The demand is the latest instance of Republicans attacking the Biden administration’s push for electric vehicles.

In the letter, the Republicans called the trip a “publicity stunt” and said they would protect consumer choice.

Granholm’s trip was intended to draw attention to the billions that the Biden administration has poured into EVs and related infrastructure, but that message was soon overshadowed when Granholm’s own staff had to grapple with the limitations of driving electric vehicles. While trying to fast-charge a caravan of EVs in Georgia, her team realized there weren’t enough plugs to go around, so a staffer tried parking a nonelectric vehicle by a charger to reserve the spot for the energy secretary. As a result, a family with an infant was blocked off from accessing the charger and soon called the police on the staff. More on that here. 

ADS RAISE CONCERNS OF FLARING AT OIL AND GAS SITES: The Rio Grande International Study Center and energy oversight advocacy group Commission Shift are rolling out an ad campaign calling the Biden administration to strengthen rules on routine flaring at oil wells.

In digital ads across Texas, the campaign argues the state’s oil and gas regulator – the Railroad Commission of Texas – has “failed to rein in routine flaring at oil wells,” harming Latino families that live around the sites. But finalizing EPA rules to address oil and gas methane pollution could help solve the issue, according to the groups.

“The state’s oil and gas regulator, the Railroad Commission, has allowed oil and gas operators to flout flaring rules for years, to the detriment of the health and safety of our communities,” said Virginia Palacios, Executive Director of Commission Shift.

Commission Shift is a group that has called for reform of the Railroad Commission.

Watch the English and Spanish ads.

What the EPA is proposing: Last fall, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed new rules that would require all oil and gas sites in the country to monitor their emissions, identify causes of major leaks, and take corrective action. Under the EPA’s proposed program, called the Super-Emitter Response Program, operators would inspect their sites within five days of being notified of a potential leak by third party monitors, and would have to fix the issue within 10 days.

While the proposal has earned praise from environmentalists, who argue the rule would further protect public health, industry groups are concerned that the program would give local activists and environmental groups direct entry into oversight of the industry – something they argued is not supported by the Clean Air Act.

A finalized rule is expected later this fall.

ARE WE REACHING CLIMATE TARGETS? POSSIBLY, PER IEA: Record growth in clean energy technology could mean it’s still possible to limit global temperatures from reaching 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels – but the globe would need to invest trillions more in clean energy every year at the start of the next decade, according to the International Energy Agency.

As Reuters lays out, the IEA says that the world would need to invest nearly $4.5 trillion per year starting in 2030, up from spending an expected $1.8 trillion in 2023.

In an update to its Net Zero Roadmap – which outlines possible scenarios to reach net zero emissions by 2050 – the IEA said an increase in solar power capacity and in EV sales were in line with targets, as well as infrastructure plans in both fields.

Much more effort is needed by 2030, such as the tripling of global renewable capacity, a doubling of energy efficient infrastructure, an increase in heat pump sales, and a bigger rise in EV use. The IEA’s report also called for a 75% cut in energy sector methane emissions by 2030, which could cost an estimated $75 billion. More details here.

UKRAINE-U.S. MOU TO BUILD UP ENERGY SECTOR: The U.S. and Ukraine signed a memorandum of understanding that outlines Kyiv will receive up to $522 million to strengthen the resilience of its energy system, according to the U.S. embassy in Ukraine.

As Reuters reports, Ukraine will receive $422 million in new energy assistance, and a further $100 million will be subject to the implementation of certain measures including reforms.

The memorandum of understanding is intended to help Ukraine reform its energy sector to transition to a low-carbon, competitive economy integrated with the European Union after the initiation of the Russia-Ukraine war. The MOU also aims to help Ukraine restore critical infrastructure following Russian air attacks on power plants and transformers that left millions of people without electricity last winter.

The embassy announced the MoU following a visit to the U.S. last week by President Volodymyr Zelensky. Read more on that here. 

The Rundown

Washington Post Why Biden’s allies are scrambling to elevate his landmark climate law

Bloomberg Volkswagen cuts EV production at German sites as demand craters

CNBC Saudi Arabia announces crucial step forward in its nascent nuclear power plans