WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Friday readers! It has been one week since the devastating flash flood struck central Texas, leaving at least 121 people dead. President Donald Trump traveled to central Texas earlier today and will be meeting with first responders and local officials in the areas hit the hardest.
As we head into the weekend, residents of Nantucket have been handed a win in their yearlong legal battle over a broken wind turbine blade that washed upon their shores. The town is poised to receive more than $10 million from the turbine manufacturer in a settlement agreement.
Plus, if you missed our recent reporting on the Three Mile Island restart, Callie broke it down in the latest episode of Deep Dive with the Examiner’s Natasha Sweatte. Tune in here!
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.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Many are questioning the state and federal response to the Texas flash flood, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott brushed aside the criticism.
“Who’s to blame? Know this, that’s the word choice of losers,” Abbott said on Tuesday, during a news conference in Hunt, Texas.
“Any size community they care about football, high school, Friday Night lights, college football, or pro. Know this, every football team makes mistakes,” Abbott said. “The losing teams are the ones trying to point out who’s to blame. The championship teams are the ones who say, ‘don’t worry about it, man. We got this.’
LATEST ON TEXAS: President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are in Texas today visiting the areas struck by the flash flood.
There are still search operations occurring, as 170 people remain missing. At least 121 people have been confirmed dead. In hard-hit Kerr County alone, nearly 161 people are reported missing. Trump is meeting with first responders and surveying the damage.
“It’s a horrible thing, a horrible thing,” the president told reporters Friday before leaving the White House. “Nobody can even believe it. That much water, that fast.”
Senate Democrat criticizes FEMA response: New Jersey Democrat Sen. Andy Kim criticized the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the absence of its acting administrator.
David Richardson, FEMA acting administrator has yet to visit the site of the natural disaster that occurred in central Texas.
“Where is he right now?” Kim said on MSNBC, referring to Richardson. “Has anyone actually seen him since this disaster in Texas? We have a completely absent FEMA acting administrator.”
Kim also condemned Department of Homeland Security policy requiring Secretary Kristi Noem to approve any purchase, grant, and contract of more than $100,000, which CNN reported slowed FEMA’s response to the flood.
The policy is “one of the stupidest decisions and policies I’ve ever heard of, especially when it comes to disaster response,” Kim said. “For an administration that tries to talk about red tape, they are adding red tape here. They are adding bureaucracy.”
WHERE ‘DRILL, BABY, DRILL’ STANDS: The Trump administration’s goal to “drill, baby, drill” keeps stretching out of reach, as the number of active drilling rigs in the U.S. has once again dropped.
Baker Hughes released the latest numbers of active domestic drilling rigs this afternoon, revealing that there are two fewer rigs when compared to last week and nearly 50 fewer than this time last year.
As of Friday, there were only 537 active drilling rigs in the U.S., down from 584 in 2024. Of the 47 rigs that have been dropped, Baker Hughes estimated that the majority were oil rigs. The U.S. has added at least eight new gas drilling rigs over the year.
The impact: The number of active drilling rigs has consistently decreased for months – having sat at around 587 active rigs in late April. Oil executives have warned that dropping prices combined with high tariffs on products like steel and aluminum have placed a lot of pressure on drillers, threatening future levels of production.
British oil major BP even admitted today that low oil prices are expected to hurt its second quarter earnings, by up to $800 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. Gas earnings are also set to be down as much as $300 million. Still, as tensions in the Middle East have settled and OPEC continues to unwind its production cuts, BP said it expects higher levels of production in the coming months.
Where prices sit now: As of around 2:30 p.m. both international and domestic benchmarks were poised to close on a high note, with both increasing by more than 2%. Brent Crude had jumped by 2.53% and was selling at $70.38 per barrel. Similarly, West Texas Intermediate rose by 2.79% and was priced at $68.50 per barrel.
GLOBAL CLIMATE BANKING ALLIANCE SEES ANOTHER DEPARTURE: Just as the dust appeared to settle following the mass Wall Street exodus from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, the climate coalition has seen another major bank jump ship.
The details: British bank HSBC confirmed to Reuters that it has exited the climate banking alliance as it moves to update its own net-zero transition plan. The decision comes several months after HSBC also dropped its own emissions reduction target for 2030.
“We remain resolutely focused on supporting our customers to finance their transition objectives and on making progress towards our net zero by 2050 ambition,” an HSBC spokesperson told the outlet.
Some background: Throughout December and January, there was a wave of U.S.-based banks departing from the international alliance. This included Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Bank of America. Not long after, a number of Canadian banks also exited the alliance.
The Net-Zero Banking Alliance was first launched in April 2021 with the aim of bringing together global banks and institutions to set climate targets that align with the Paris Agreement. In an attempt to prevent other banks from leaving, the group voted to loosen its climate targets and rules in April.
While many of the requirements have been transformed into recommendations, the changes were not enough to keep HSBC. The bank indicated that, while it recognized the role the alliance has played in developing emissions reduction frameworks for banks, it believed it had served its purpose, Reuters reported.
TRUMP THREATENS 35% TARIFFS ON CANADA: The president is threatening 35% tariffs on Canadian goods starting next month.
Trump posted a letter on Truth Social yesterday evening, alleging that Canada has failed to stop the flow of fentanyl coming into the U.S. He added that Canada has also “financially retaliated” by imposing its tariffs against the U.S.
Trump said starting Aug. 1, he will impose 35% tariffs on Canadian products sent into the U.S. He added that if Canada decides to raise its tariffs then he will add to the 35% levy.
“If Canada works with me to stop the flow of Fentanyl, we will, perhaps, consider an adjustment to this letter,” Trump wrote. “These Tariffs may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your country.”
EPA UNION DEMANDING ZELDIN REINSTATE WORKERS: The Environmental Protection Agency’s union is demanding the agency reinstate employees recently put on leave after signing a declaration of dissent against the administration’s approach.
Over a week ago, EPA employees signed a letter disapproving of the Trump administration’s handling of the agency. The employees said the administration is undermining the “EPA mission of protecting human health and the environment.”
But, shortly after the letter was published, 139 employees that signed the letter were placed on administrative leave. AFGE Council 238 President Justin Chen issued a letter yesterday to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, urging that he reinstate the employees.
“The agency’s decision to place these employees on administrative leave and to threaten further employment actions is a blatant act of retaliation,” Chen wrote. “These employees engaged in protected speech on a matter of significant public concern, and their actions are fully protected by federal law and our collective bargaining agreement. We will not stand idly by while our members are unjustly targeted.”
“Consequently, there is no valid legal basis for the agency’s actions,” Chen continues. “AFGE Council 238 will therefore protect its members to the fullest extent of law and our collective bargaining agreement.”
DEVELOPER TO PAY NANTUCKET $10.5M OVER BROKEN WIND TURBINE BLADE: The town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, is set to receive millions from GE Vernova, almost exactly a year after one of the company’s wind turbine blades broke into pieces and fell into waters off the New England coast.
The details: Town officials announced this morning that the wind turbine manufacturer would be coughing up $10.5 million as part of a settlement with the town. Under the agreement, Nantucket officials have agreed to use part of the settlement award to create a “Community Claims Fund,” which can be used to reimburse individuals or local businesses that suffered losses as a result of the incident.
What happened: In mid July of last year, individuals with the Coast Guard spotted debris that was floating near or had washed up on the shore of Nantucket Island. It was discovered that the debris was the remnants of a wind turbine blade. The turbine was a part of the Vineyard Wind farm, which was undergoing testing at the time it was damaged.
At least six truckloads of debris were removed from the South Shore beaches at the time. The pieces that had washed ashore measured roughly 1 square foot or less and were made of nontoxic fiberglass.
Vineyard Wind was not listed in the settlement agreement.
ICYMI – ADMINISTRATION POISED TO WITHDRAW SUPPORT FOR MULTI-STATE TRANSMISSION PROJECT, HAWLEY CLAIMS: The largest transmission project in the U.S. may be losing its federal funding secured under the Biden administration, according to Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley.
What to know: Clean energy developer Invenergy is looking to build a more than 800-mile transmission line across Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, adding around 5,000 megawatts of energy across four grid regions. The energy expected to travel through the line is set to be generated by wind farms in Kansas. These have yet to be built.
The project, which has been in the works for over a decade, has been fully approved by necessary state entities, has bipartisan backing, received a $4.9 billion loan guarantee from the Department of Energy last year, and was set to start construction in 2026.
The pushback: Invenergy has said this project will help address the national energy emergency declared by Trump on his first day in office, by supplying more power to midwestern grids. However, some local farmers and politicians have criticized the project, saying it won’t deliver immediate benefits to those living next to the proposed power line.
Hawley has called on DOE to walk back its loan guarantee announced in November, saying the project would rip “generational land” away from Missouri families. Yesterday, he indicated that Secretary of Energy Chris Wright was in favor of this reversal.
“Wright said he will be putting a stop to the Grain Belt Express green scam. It’s costing taxpayers BILLIONS! Thank you, President Trump,” Hawley said in a post to X.
‘Bizarre’: Invenergy has since described the senator’s criticism as “bizarre,” claiming he is moving to kill a project that would deliver $52 billion in energy savings, increased grid reliability, over 5,000 jobs, and $11 billion worth of investment in domestic energy infrastructure. The company noted that both the White House and House Republicans have praised the project in recent months.
Hawley has also faced backlash from conservative energy groups, including the American Conservation Coalition, which has said the project is crucial for obtaining grid stability.
The Department of Energy did not respond to Daily on Energy’s request for comment.
RUNDOWN
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