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Politico
4 days ago
- Health
- Politico
Oil groups target heat rule as workers bake
For oil and gas workers, heat exposure can turn deadly. The industry is trying to tank a federal rule intended to help. The industry hopes its push will find favor with the Trump administration, which has pledged to eliminate barriers to fossil fuel production and dismantle policies to tackle climate change, writes Ariel Wittenberg. The rule — which the Biden administration proposed in July — would require employers to offer outdoor workers paid water and rest breaks when combined heat and humidity reach 80 degrees. Companies would also have to train managers and workers to identify heat illness symptoms and know when to get medical attention. The fossil fuel industry ranks third in the nation for heat-related hospitalizations and is among the top five for deaths. A reported 149 oil and gas workers have been hospitalized for heat exposure since 2017, compared with nine workers in the wind and solar industries. 'There are a lot of places where workers can't say, 'Oh, it's getting hot out here, I need to drink some water,' and this would help protect them before they are so ill they need to go to the hospital or die,' Jordan Barab, an Obama-era Occupational Safety and Health Administration official, told Ariel. Strenuous labor can worsen the dangers of high temperatures, leading to kidney damage, heat exhaustion and even heat stroke, which can kill in a matter of minutes. But industry groups, including the American Petroleum Institute, are urging the Trump administration to abandon the rule. They say it would apply 'a one-size-fits all' standard instead of letting employers set break schedules 'based on their specific workforce operations.' Such 'unbridled access to breaks' is unworkable, the group wrote to OSHA in January. Debate over the measure could bubble over next month when administration officials are scheduled to hold a hearing for public comment. By that time, summer will be heating up, and it could be a scorcher if history is any guide. The U.S. has suffered a string of record-breaking temperatures as climate change driven by burning fossil fuels turbocharges heat waves around the world. Temperatures in Texas have already broken 100 degree s — a record for May — and the rest of the country is on track to see hotter-than-normal days in the months ahead. It's Thursday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@ Today in POLITICO Energy's podcast: Catherine Morehouse breaks down the forced power outages in New Orleans this weekend, which left 100,000 people in the dark, and how that could help the Trump administration's efforts to keep fossil fuel plants running. Power Centers Bitcoin miner moves on up A former bitcoin miner whose company had a track record of permit violations and conflicts with neighbors is now operating at the highest ranks of the Energy Department, writes Brian Dabbs. Greg Beard, a career energy investor who ran the bitcoin firm Stronghold Digital Mining until March, joined the DOE's Loan Programs Office in recent weeks as a top-ranking political appointee — and staffers say he's already making big moves at the department. Musk is out, but DOGE remainsElon Musk is stepping back from the federal government but his Department of Government Efficiency isn't going anywhere, write Robin Bravender, Danny Nguyen and Sophia Cai. Just this week at the Interior Department, a 30-year veteran of the agency who told employees to ignore DOGE directives was escorted out of the building. Elsewhere, some DOGE employees have been hired on as permanent government staffers and given high-ranking positions inside agencies. And Cabinet heads like Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought have been quietly prepping plans for lasting changes that stand to be even more consequential than the initial rounds of cuts from Musk's team. From the sidelines: Musk and Tesla blast the GOPTesla criticized the Republican megabill for gutting clean energy tax credits, a message amplified by Musk hours after he announced he was leaving the Trump administration, writes James Bikales. 'Abruptly ending the energy tax credits would threaten America's energy independence and the reliability of our grid,' Tesla Energy, the company's solar and battery division, wrote on X. In Other News Glacier collapse: Nearly all of a Swiss Alpine village was buried when an unstable glacier in Switzerland collapsed this week. Green fee: Hawaii has become the first U.S. state to charge tourists a fee in an effort to fund climate policies. Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that federal agencies conducting environmental reviews can take a more limited view of the impacts of transportation and energy infrastructure projects they are permitting. April saw $4.5 billion in cancellations and delays of clean energy projects in the U.S., highlighting pressure on the clean power and low-carbon sectors as Congress weighs cutting billions of dollars in tax credits. By the end of the decade, the cost of buying and operating electric trucks could equal to — or even beat — the price of comparable diesel vehicles. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.
Politico
21-05-2025
- Business
- Politico
3,500 percent solar tariff divides US industry
There's a new solar tariff in town, and it's a biggie. An independent federal agency has backed imposing levies as high as 3,521 percent on China-linked solar imports from four Southeast Asian countries, writes Christa Marshall. The International Trade Commission concluded unanimously that U.S. manufacturers have been 'materially injured' by imported solar cells and panels from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The commission's finding clears the way for the Commerce Department to issue the trade penalties. The news is drawing mixed reactions from a solar industry already facing massive headwinds from the Trump administration's efforts to undermine Biden-era clean energy policies. The Solar Energy Industries Association, the industry's leading trade group, said the decision would raise costs for manufacturers and project developers that still rely on foreign parts. 'Imposing additional tariffs on cell imports at this stage risks stalling progress and undermining the very industry they are meant to support,' said Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA's president and CEO. But several U.S. solar manufacturers, including industry leader First Solar, applauded the decision as a major win. They have long contended that China unfairly subsidizes companies in Southeast Asian countries to flood the U.S. market with cheaper solar components. 'This ruling is a step forward in addressing China's continuing efforts to undermine the U.S. manufacturing rebuilding effort,' Mike Carr with the Solar Energy Manufacturers for America Coalition told Christa. Not so fast … Still, even domestic solar manufacturers say the new tariffs may amount to diddly squat if GOP lawmakers slash Biden-era benefits for the industry in their massive budget bill. The bill would weaken or ax provisions in Democrats' 2022 climate law that benefit the solar industry, including for domestic manufacturers. 'All the trade protections in the world won't make a difference if Congress backtracks on its commitments to reshore this critical industry,' Carr said. Provisions in the climate law have helped domestic production of solar panels grow sixfold since 2023. Solar manufacturing jumped from less than $1 billion in annual investments in 2022 to nearly $6 billion last year, according to research firm Rhodium Group. The Republican megabill that moved through the House Ways and Means Committee this month could imperil 300 solar and storage facilities and cut solar power generation equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of Pennsylvania by 2023, according to a SEIA analysis. It's Wednesday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@ Today in POLITICO Energy's podcast: James Bikales breaks down how House Republicans' reconciliation package could undermine President Donald Trump's efforts to create a domestic supply chain for critical minerals. Power Centers Zeldin vs. Senate Democrats Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin sparred angrily with a top Senate Democrat over the cancellation of hundreds of agency grants awarded during the Biden administration, writes Sean Reilly. During the hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Zeldin and ranking member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) descended into a shouting match over the mechanics of how those cancellations were decided. The heated exchange underscores Democrats' bitterness over the Trump administration's efforts to take back billions of dollars in Biden-era grants awarded by EPA and other agencies. Offshore wind resurrection raises quid pro quo queries Trump's sudden decision Monday to lift his stop-work order on Empire Wind 1, a major New York offshore wind farm, prompted widespread speculation that the president had extracted a commitment from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to green-light a natural gas pipeline, writes Benjamin Storrow. The governor, a Democrat, insisted no such deal was made, even as her aides noted Hochul was not opposed to a new pipeline — provided it meet all the necessary permitting requirements. Wildfires rage as EU delays anti-deforestation rulesGlobal forest loss from climate-change-fueled wildfires reached a 20-year high in 2024, leading to the destruction of some of the planet's most important natural carbon sinks, writes Louise Guillot. The finding, detailed in a new report from the World Resources Institute and the University of Maryland, comes as the EU delays anti-deforestation rules and unwinds other environmental protections in a bid to boost economic competitiveness. In Other News Study: Earth's major climate goal is too warm for the polar ice sheets. Pesky pests: What climate change means for summertime bugs. Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. The Interior Department said it's begun the process of evaluating a possible offshore mineral lease sale in U.S. waters off American Samoa, the first such auction in more than three decades. The Trump administration said Wednesday it is redirecting $365 million intended to expand rooftop solar and storage in Puerto Rico to the island's unreliable power grid. Environmental and Appalachian advocacy groups are demanding a full Senate hearing — and not just a vote — to question Trump's pick to lead the Mine Safety and Health Administration amid budget and staffing cuts. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.
Politico
15-05-2025
- Business
- Politico
Environmental reviews in name only?
The Trump administration is moving forward with a plan to fast-track environmental reviews of fossil fuel and mining projects — a move experts say is almost guaranteed to cause environmental harm and legal headaches. The new 28-day review period, analysts told Ian M. Stevenson, makes it next to impossible to comply with federal requirements under the decades-old National Environmental Policy Act. 'It takes longer to get a mortgage,' said Jamie Pleune, a law professor at the University of Utah. The landmark environmental law requires agencies to assess a project's environmental effects before greenlighting development. That can take more than a year, a timeline that doesn't conform with President Donald Trump's plan to expand fossil fuels and critical mineral mining. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has touted the shift as a way to cut 'unnecessary delays.' The industries eligible for the fast-tracked process include coal, oil, natural gas, critical minerals, hydropower, geothermal and uranium. Wind and solar projects are excluded. Federal workers and other experts say the move will likely result in environmental analyses that contain little or no recognition of environmental factors on the ground. Take, for example, the reality of seasons. If a project is proposed in the dead of winter, an environmental review would not be able to count bird species that live in the area or what plants grow along nearby streams. 'The idea that you could compress a multiyear time frame for analyzing a complex mining operation into less than a month and still protect water quality and public health is absurd,' said John Robison with the Idaho Conservation League. 'This is a recipe for either public health disasters or litigation.' On the litigation front, a sub-par environmental analysis could ultimately hurt project developers in court. If, for example, there are naturally occurring heavy metals at a project site, but they are not included in a rushed environmental review, the company could get dinged later if those minerals leach. Still, developers have long complained about lengthy and sometimes unpredictable NEPA reviews — and may want to take advantage of Trump's policies favoring industry. The streamlining has already begun. This week, the Trump administration announced it would take a mere two weeks to process the federal permits to reopen a uranium mine in Utah. It's Thursday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@ Today in POLITICO Energy's podcast: Josh Siegel and James Bikales break down House Republicans' plan to repeal and phase out major energy portions of Democrats' 2022 climate law. Power Centers Trump plans sweeping energy auditThe Trump administration has announced a wide-ranging review of more than $15 billion in federal awards approved under former President Joe Biden, writes Hannah Northey. Energy Secretary Chris Wright in a memo to staff called for ramping up oversight of at least 179 awards and said decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis about whether the awards meet the administration's standards. Hurricane season is comingVacancies at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are raising fears that cuts to the federal workforce have left the country with too few experts to help prepare for weather disasters ahead of the looming Atlantic hurricane season, writes Zack Colman. NOAA managers are pleading with employees to pursue reassignments to fill 155 vacancies at the National Weather Service, the public safety agency whose regional offices make up the nation's first line of defense for imminent storms and disasters. For many employees, such jobs would amount to demotions. Climate change drives tropical disease outbreakA new study published Thursday warns that tiger mosquitoes are increasingly spreading to Europe because of climate change, raising the risk that some tropical diseases become endemic across the continent, writes Elena Giordano. Nearly half the global population is now at risk of contracting dengue and chikungunya, which were once limited to the tropics, due to the warming planet. Both viruses, transmitted by mosquitoes, can occasionally be fatal. In Other News Uneven toll: Redlining shaped the power grid. Communities of color are still paying the price. Life after the Hindenburg: Why these start-ups think zeppelins could be the future of air travel. Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. An impending Supreme Court decision related to birthright citizenship could have broad implications for the Trump administration's policies, including its 'energy dominance' agenda. The Senate confirmed Sean Donahue, Trump's nominee, to be the Environmental Protection Agency's chief legal officer. FERC Chair Mark Christie on Thursday said the social cost of carbon is a 'bogus' measure backed by 'junk science.' That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.
Politico
09-05-2025
- Business
- Politico
AI giants bring their energy pleas to Congress
Tech giants are urging lawmakers to speed up the permitting process for large data centers — a move that could have major implications for the nation's electricity mix, public lands and sensitive ecosystems. Since President Donald Trump was elected, he's made it clear the government won't stand in the way of the tech industry's drive to dominate artificial intelligence. The hundreds of billions of dollars that technology companies say they plan to spend to build gargantuan data centers could transform America's energy mix and substantially increase the power sector's climate pollution. OpenAI and cloud-computing giants such as Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon are proposing sprawling campuses. If built, some of those projects could consume as much power as medium-sized cities. This week, they brought that case to Congress. OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman and other top tech executives told a Senate committee on Thursday that electricity, permitting bottlenecks and labor shortages are holding back the U.S. build-out of data centers, writes Christa Marshall. For electric grid managers and experts on U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, concerns have been mounting for months that a rapid expansion of electricity demand through 2030 could destabilize the grid and lead to a dramatic increase in planet-warming pollution. The truth is 'we know too little,' said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) at the hearing. 'Manhattan Project of our time' Shortly after his inauguration, Trump issued an executive order rescinding the restrictions that former President Joe Biden had placed on artificial intelligence. Trump committed to backing and boosting the budding sector. For the tech industry, it's full steam ahead — as long as government permitting challenges are addressed, said the executives. Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft, said obtaining a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to build near wetlands is a particular challenge, noting it can take up to 24 months. He floated the idea of designating a lead agency to speed the processing of applications for AI infrastructure. Such an agency should use AI 'to improve timelines and transparency for applicants and ensure the permitting agencies have quick access to information to assist them in their review and decision-making process,' he said. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who has called AI the 'Manhattan Project of our time,' announced a plan in April to potentially build data centers on federal land at 16 sites. Thank goodness it's Friday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@ Today in POLITICO Energy's podcast: Josh Siegel and James Bikales break down how a public lands amendment could threaten Republicans' megabill. Power Centers EPA's overhaul: What to know Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin's plan to revamp the agency includes another round of organizational changes expected as soon as next week, write Ellie Borst, Miranda Willson and Sean Reilly. New organizational charts from the agency suggest it may eliminate or renovate key programs that deal with climate change, 'forever chemicals' and pollution prevention. On the chopping blockTrump wants to cut a program that helps hospitals and emergency managers save lives during natural disasters such as wildfires and tornadoes, writes Ariel Wittenberg. The Department of Health and Human Services' Hospital Preparedness Program isn't just for hospitals. Created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the program also funds training for emergency managers and emergency responders to make sure every aspect of a region's health care system has a plan for and is able to communicate during disasters, whether they are pandemics, cyberattacks, mass shootings, wildfires or hurricanes. How carmakers fought EU rules and wonEurope's auto industry successfully petitioned the European Union to loosen regulations limiting planet-warming pollution from vehicles, which the industry said were too costly, writes Jordyn Dahl. The victory marks yet another blow to the EU's green efforts amid growing resistance. In Other News After the storm: Months after Helene, it's still hard to drive these North Carolina roads. Not just natural disasters: The everyday ways climate change is already making our lives worse. Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. Equinor will terminate a New York offshore wind project in the coming days unless the Trump administration lifts a stop-work order issued by the Interior Department, according to a company exercutive. Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company is considering adding dozens more methane gas turbines to its operations in South Memphis, according to documents xAI submitted to EPA in March. The Environmental Defense Fund released EPA's annual accounting of greenhouse gas emissions after the agency refused to do so. The Sierra Club is cutting staff in the latest round of downsizing at the green group that's struggled with budget shortfalls and internal drama in recent years. That's it for today, folks. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!
Politico
17-03-2025
- Business
- Politico
Trump chills clean energy manufacturing boom
Presented by the American Public Power Association Donald Trump and Joe Biden share one thing in common: a love of manufacturing. But the similarities end there. The former president lavished subsidies on manufacturers that churn out clean energy components like solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicle batteries. The current president favors tariffs on imported goods to help American factories and has pledged to slash the Biden-era subsidies. The resulting uncertainty for clean energy manufacturers is already starting to bite. Canceled manufacturing projects through the first 2 1/2 months of 2025 totaled roughly $8 billion, far exceeding the $1.6 billion terminated during all of last year, according to Atlas Public Policy. The canceled projects include a transmission cable factory in Massachusetts, a battery plant in Arizona and an EV component factory in Georgia. 'It's really very risky right now,' Alex Zhu, the CEO of the solar cell maker ES Foundry, told me for a story today about the state of clean tech manufacturing. And he's one of the lucky ones: ES Foundry recently opened a cell factory in South Carolina, the second of its kind in the U.S. Trump isn't the only reason for the new skittishness. Manufacturing is a tough business, and China dominates clean technology. A slowdown in the Chinese economy means the country has surplus capacity to ship solar panels, batteries and EVs around the world. That's good news if you're in the market to, say, build a utility-scale solar development because panels are dirt cheap. But it's bad news for anyone outside China trying to make a living fabricating solar panels because, again, they're dirt cheap. 'The international market environment was always very difficult,' Antoine Vagneur-Jones, BloombergNEF's head of trade and supply chains, told me. The Trump effect: Trump is making the outlook for those manufacturers more challenging. While every analyst I spoke with expects the Republican-controlled Congress to preserve Biden-era manufacturing tax credits, Trump's anti-clean energy agenda is weighing on the sector. His pledge to rescind EV tax credits and freeze new permits for offshore wind projects has dented demand for both technologies. Some CEOs have opted to wait and see. Martin Pochtaruk, the CEO of the solar panel maker Heline, told me he is watching to see what Congress does before signing off on plans for a new solar cell factory in the U.S. 'I need to ensure that the rug is not pulled from under my feet,' he said. It's Monday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Benjamin Storrow. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to bstorrow@ Today in POLITICO Energy's podcast: Scott Waldman breaks down the Department of Defense's push to end its climate efforts. Power Centers Will he or won't he?Trump plans to abolish two California national monuments. Maybe. The White House has sparked widespread confusion over whether and how Trump will get rid of the Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands national monuments, write Heather Richards, Scott Streater and Jennifer Yachnin. A fact sheet accompanying a Friday executive order said the order terminates Biden-era designations of 'nearly a million acres' of federal lands that 'lock up vast amounts of land from economic development and energy production.' But the order doesn't mention the monuments — and that line in the fact sheet was removed Saturday without explanation. If Trump follows through with the plan, it would almost certainly spark lawsuits challenging his authority to do so. Oil exec leads DOE renewables officeClean energy advocates cried foul when Trump nominated Audrey Robertson to head the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Brian Dabbs writes. Robertson helped found the natural gas fracking firm Franklin Mountain Energy and sits on the board of Liberty Energy, the fracking services company previously led by Energy Secretary Chris Wright. But a former Biden DOE official said her experience could come in handy in the office. 'At the end of the day, a lot of the industry work that's happening, especially in hydrogen and geothermal, relies heavily on oil and gas personnel and equipment,' the official said. The incredible shrinking governmentThe Trump administration is trying to shrink the Interior Department by offering early retirement and separation incentives, Robin Bravender writes. A memo obtained by POLITICO's E&E News gives employees until March 26 to decide whether to take the offer. Some positions — including jobs in wildland fire management and law enforcement — are exempt. The offer is part of the administration's bid to slash the federal workforce. In Other News RIP carbon pricing: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney killed the consumer carbon tax right after he was sworn in Friday, despite previously supporting it. Gold case: The Trump administration's efforts to claw back $20 billion in funding for climate projects have created a firestorm at the Justice Department. Decarbonization push: California unveiled its plan to deploy 6 million heat pumps in the state by 2030. Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. A project to pull carbon dioxide from the sky would get its power from an on-site wind farm. The Energy Department affirmed its commitment to a Biden-era effort to restart a shuttered nuclear plant, approving a nearly $57 million loan for the project. A canceled gas pipeline project in the Northeast is getting attention from the Trump administration. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.
