WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy St. Patrick’s Day, readers! It is the start of another week and today’s edition of Daily on Energy kicks things off with a close-up on oil prices increasing on the news that the U.S. would be upping attacks on Houthi rebels.
More than two months after the deadly Los Angeles wildfires broke out, investigators appear to have found what caused the Eaton Fire that left 17 people dead and more than 9,000 homes and businesses destroyed.
Plus, keep reading to find out what German officials have to say on reviving the Nord Stream pipelines. And, as every Monday, you can find what events, conferences, and webinars Callie and Maydeen have their eye on this week in the energy and environment spaces.
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.
OIL PRICES RISE AS TRUMP ORDERS ATTACK ON HOUTHI REBELS: Oil prices rose after President Donald Trump ordered airstrikes on Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen over the weekend, which caused disruption to key global oil shipping networks.
As of Monday afternoon, the international benchmark Brent crude was priced at $71.02 per barrel, up 0.62%, and the domestic benchmark West Texas Intermediate was priced at $67.56 per barrel, up 0.57%.
Trump on Saturday ordered airstrikes in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in response to their recent attacks on merchant ships and U.S. forces in the region.
The waterways near Yemen include the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden, which are critical transit routes for transporting oil and liquefied natural gas between Asia and Europe. Earlier this year, Houthi rebels attacked an oil tanker to show their solidarity with Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war.
Houthi leaders have indicated they plan on responding to U.S. airstrikes.
“Iran could make things interesting,” said Patrick De Haan, an analyst at GasBuddy. “The Houthis could go after some of the vessels that are transiting. That is certainly a wild card that we could see in the coming weeks, although President Trump promising significant escalations remains to be seen if they’re going to test that theory.”
Houthi attacks have caused some oil tankers to avoid the Red Sea and instead take a long and costly journey around the Cape of Good Hope.
However, De Haan said if the U.S. could eliminate the threat of Houthi rebels, the risk of disruption would be lowered, and shipping vessels could use the waterways near Yemen, which would lower costs and, in turn, lower oil prices in the weeks ahead.
RENEWABLE EXECUTIVES APPEAL TO TRUMP POST-ENERGY SUPERBOWL: In the aftermath of CERAWeek in Houston last week, where fossil fuels came out on top, executives in the renewable energy industry remain adamant that the Trump administration will need to embrace their tech to meet demand.
The details: In line with the administration’s energy agenda, NextEra Energy CEO John Ketchum has said his company is looking to accelerate its use of fossil fuels like natural gas. He has warned, however, that the industry cannot rely on oil and gas. To Ketchum, wind, solar, and renewable energy battery storage all play a key role.
In a recent interview with the New York Times, Ketchum explained that new gas turbines can take up to five years to get in operation – delaying new gas projects until at least 2030. Advanced nuclear projects are also years away from coming to fruition. Ketchum told the outlet that wind and solar can fill the growing energy demand gap, as the renewable projects often only take 12 to 18 months to be built.
“Our message to the administration is, let’s be realistic about this,” Ketchum said. “If you take renewables and storage off the table, we’re going to force electricity prices to the moon.”
Industry growth: While the administration has taken a hard line on supporting new oil and gas projects, putting the majority of assistance for wind and solar on hold, renewables are still expected to make up the majority of new energy capacity added to the national grid this year. Last month, the Energy Information Administration estimated that wind, solar, and battery storage would make up 93% of new capacity in 2025. Natural gas is only expected to add around 7%.
PALISADES NUCLEAR PLANT TO RECEIVE SECOND DISBURSEMENT OF FEDERAL LOAN: Holtec International is set to receive its second loan disbursement from the federal government to go toward its efforts to restart the Palisades Nuclear Plant later this year.
The details: Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced today that the Department of Energy is releasing $56,787,300 of the up to $1.52 billion loan guaranteed to Holtec for the Palisades restart. The loan was first announced in September 2024 and is intended to be used for inspections, testing, restorations, rebuilding, and equipment replacements – ensuring that the plant is compliant with Nuclear Regulatory Commission standards.
“Unleashing American energy dominance will require leveraging all energy sources that are affordable, reliable and secure – including nuclear energy,” Wright said in a statement, claiming that the loan disbursement is evidence of the administration’s commitment to increasing domestic energy production. The loan was first approved under the Biden administration.
Some background: Holtec is looking to receive final approval to restart the plant from the NRC sometime this summer in order to officially bring Palisades back online in the fourth quarter of this year. The company originally planned to reopen the facility by October, but that timeline has been dubbed as “aggressive” by federal regulators, as Holtec still needs to receive approval for a key repair being made to hundreds of steam generator tubes.
If approved, the Palisades Nuclear Plant would be the first decommissioned nuclear facility in the U.S. to come back online. It is expected to provide around 800 megawatts of carbon-free energy to two local utility providers: Wolverine Power Cooperative and Hoosier Energy.
A reminder: The Washington Examiner got a tour of the Palisades Nuclear Plant in January, speaking with current and past employees as well as locals living less than a mile from the facility that have concerns over the restart. Check out Callie’s exclusive reporting here.
DEAD POWER LINE PRIME SUSPECT IN DEADLY EATON FIRE: Investigators and utility operators are now more convinced that a dead power line may have started the deadly Eaton fire in Los Angeles in January.
The details: More than two months after the Eaton Fire broke out, investigators with the Southern California Edison are still looking into what exactly started the fire. They had initially insisted no power lines were involved, but a new Wall Street Journal report now reveals there may be one to blame.
The SCE is specifically looking at a dead power line located near the Altadena neighborhood, near where the fire first started. The company appears to be convinced that this power line may have become re-energized through induction, sparking the deadly blaze.
“We certainly have a lot of attention and focus on the induction theory,” Edison International CEO Pedro Pizarro told the outlet. “Because it was not connected to anything, then induction ends up being a leading hypothesis.”
Pizarro explained that the dead power line has been out of service since 1971 and sits around 50 feet away from the nearest active line. There are around four active transmission lines in the same area. As a result, electromagnetic fields created by the active lines cause the inactive line to experience some level of induction at all times. While the company had previously outfitted the dead line with equipment to send electric currents into the ground, they recently discovered that equipment had been damaged. The SCE, which manages around 465 miles of inactive transmission lines, is still looking into how the dead power line came back to life, and whether the damaged equipment had any impact.
Looking back: On the evening of Jan. 7, the Eaton Fire erupted in Los Angeles County just hours after the deadly Palisades Fire. The fires lasted for weeks, with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officially containing it on Jan. 31. The fire spanned 14,021 acres, destroying more than 9,000 homes and businesses and damaging more than 1,000 more. Seventeen people died as a result of the Eaton Fire and around nine firefighters were injured.
DEADLY WEEKEND STORM SYSTEM: A powerful storm system swept across much of the U.S. over the weekend, sparking wildfires, heavy rain, and tornadoes.
The storm system began Friday, starting in the central U.S. and moving its way across the country toward the East Coast on Sunday. The powerful storm resulted in at least 42 deaths due to the severe weather.
There were 52 tornadoes reported from severe thunderstorms over the weekend, AccuWeather said. An EF-4 tornado, which is the second most intense tornado on the scale, with 190 mph winds, was reported in Jackson County, Arkansas.
In Oklahoma, strong winds and dry conditions sparked nearly 150 wildfires, resulting in four deaths. There was also a large dust storm across West and central Texas, Oklahoma, and parts of Kansas, AccuWeather said.
According to AccuWeather, the storm-related deaths confirmed in each state:
- Missouri: 12
- Kansas: 8
- Arkansas: 3
- Alabama: 3
- Mississippi: 6
- Texas: 4
- Oklahoma: 4
- North Carolina: 4
The severe weather moved into the East Coast on Sunday bringing heavy downpours, wind, and hail. Strong winds were reported Sunday afternoon across Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, with some gusts exceeding 80 mph, AccuWeather said.
GERMANY WARNS AGAINST REVIVING NORD STREAM PIPELINE: German officials are publicly protesting plans to revive the Nord Stream gas pipelines, as the U.S. has reportedly shown interest in restarting the flow of Russian gas to Europe.
The details: This morning, Germany’s economy and energy minister Robert Habeck insisted there was zero possibility of reviving the pipelines, which run under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, according to Reuters. He pointed to Moscow’s ongoing war in Ukraine, saying a restart would be “the wrong direction” for the bloc to go.
“The Ukrainians are still under the aggression of Russia,” Habeck said. “So I think talking about the potential of Nord Stream 2 or Nord Stream 1, if it’s going to be repaired, is completely the wrong direction of discussion.”
Habeck said that he also fears Germany’s incoming government may repeat past mistakes of relying too heavily on energy imports from Russia.
Discussions around reviving the pipelines first surfaced earlier this month, when the Financial Times reported that Matthias Warnig, a former German spy and close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was lobbying U.S. officials on the matter. Warnig has reportedly been seeking support from the Trump administration to restart the flow of gas through the pipelines in order to strengthen economic ties between the U.S. and Russia.
Some background: If Russia were to restart sending gas to Europe, the Nord Stream Pipelines would likely be the easiest way to do so, as the two pipelines bypass Ukraine and Poland. Nord Stream 1 was operational between 2011 and 2022, with gas flow having been halted by energy company Gazprom amid Western sanctions on Russia over their invasion of Ukraine. Nord Stream 2 was completed in 2021, but it has not been used. Both pipelines were damaged in attacks in September 2022 that no one has yet claimed responsibility for.
PERUVIAN FARMER TAKES GERMANY’S RWE TO COURT: Peruvian farmer Saúl Luciano Lliuya is suing German energy major RWE in a landmark climate case, with a western-Germany court hearing the case today.
The details: In his lawsuit, Lliuya argues that RWE’s greenhouse gas emissions fueled global warming, posing a risk to his home of Huaraz, Peru, according to the Associated Press. The farmer claims that the impact the energy company has had on climate change accelerated the melting of Andean glaciers above his hometown, which now faces a greater flood risk.
RWE has never operated in Peru and has denied it should be subject to any legal responsibility. The company claims the lawsuit sets a dangerous precedent for future climate litigation targeting individual emitters over global emissions.
What’s being decided: Lliuya first launched the suit in 2015, when it was initially dismissed by a court in Essen, Germany. Two years later, the Higher Regional Court in Hamm agreed to hear evidence in the case. The court has been asked to decide if the melting glaciers above Lliuya’s home pose a serious risk to the city of Huaraz, according to Reuters. Over the next two days, the court will be reviewing expert reports released in 2023 and 2024 following visits to the site in question in 2022. If the court determines there is a serious risk, it will then be asked to rule on the impact greenhouse gas emissions and climate change have had on the melting. That ruling may take years to determine.
A LOOK AHEAD:
March 17 – 21 Both the Senate and House of Representatives are in recess.
March 17 – 19 The Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPAE) Summit will be held in National Harbor, Maryland.
March 18 The Security and Sustainability Forum, and the Environmental and Energy Management Institute at George Washington University are hosting a webinar titled “Decentralizing Climate Action: The Role of Blockchain in State, Local, and Corporate Leadership.”
March 19 Advanced Energy United is holding a webinar titled “How PJM Can Deliver Affordable, Reliable Power Faster.”
March 20 The Atlantic Council is holding a webinar to launch a report titled “Atoms for Appalachia: The role of nuclear energy in economic development.”
March 20 The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is scheduled to hold its monthly commission meeting.
March 20 Heatmap Labs and PR firm FischTank are holding a virtual discussion on Strategic Communications for the Climate Industry, focusing on policy and marketing challenges.
March 20 – 29 is the Washington D.C. Environmental Film Festival.
RUNDOWN
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