Today’s Key Takeaways: SCOTUS won’t hear appeal from oil and gas companies on climate suits. Natural gas power plants win big with AI. Supercharging America’s white-gold rush with massive lithium find. Trump’s first moves on energy policy.
OIL:
Supreme Court declines to hear from oil, gas companies trying to block climate suits
Lindsey Whitehurst, ABC News, January 13, 2025
The Supreme Court said Monday it won’t hear an appeal from oil and gas companies trying to block lawsuits seeking to hold the industry liable for billions of dollars in damage linked to climate change.
The industry has faced a series of lawsuits saying it deceived the public about how fossil fuels contribute to climate change. Governments in states including California, Colorado and New Jersey are seeking billions of dollars in damages from things like wildfires, rising sea levels and severe storms. The lawsuits come during a wave of legal actions in the U.S. and worldwide seeking to leverage action on climate change through the courts.
In Hawaii, the oil and gas companies appealed to the Supreme Court after losing in front of the state’s highest court on a lawsuit from the city of Honolulu.
The companies argue emissions are a national issue that should instead be fought over in federal court, where they’ve successfully had suits tossed out.
“The stakes in this case could not be higher,” attorneys wrote in court documents. The lawsuits “present a serious threat to one of the nation’s most vital industries.”
The Democratic Biden administration weighed in at the justices’ request and urged them to reject the case, saying it’s fair to keep it in state court at this point. The incoming Republican Trump administration is expected to take a sharply different view of environmental law and energy production.
Honolulu argued it’s made a strong case under state laws against deceptive marketing and it should be allowed to play out there. “Deceptive commercial practices fall squarely within the core interests and historic powers of the states,” attorneys wrote.
GAS:
U.S. Natural Gas Power Plants to Flourish Alongside the AI Boom | OilPrice.com
Tsvetana Paraskova, OilPrice.Com, January 13, 2025
U.S. natural gas is set to be a big winner in the AI boom with several dozen new gas-fired power plants expected to be built in America by the end of the decade, according to analysts.
A total of 80 new gas power plants could be constructed by 2030, adding about 46 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity, per estimates from energy data provider Enverus cited by the Financial Times. This would be 20% higher than the gas capacity additions in the past five years.
Yet, five years ago expectations were that America’s power consumption may have already peaked and would only flatline going forward.
AI and the data centers have upended these forecasts and now U.S. power demand is expected to rise each year in the coming years.
The surge in U.S. power demand due to the AI advancements and data center construction is set to unleash a new boom in the build out of natural gas power plants to provide reliable 24/7 electricity.
Big Oil is already proposing to help power the AI revolution and the enormous energy consumption with gas power plants. Chevron and Exxon are talking to power generators, energy providers, and data centers to provide what they describe as lower-carbon energy
MINING:
Massive Lithium Discovery Could Transform U.S. Energy Landscape
Haley Zaremba, OilPrice.Com, January 6, 2025
- The discovery of 40 million metric tons of lithium in the McDermitt Caldera positions the US to become a major player in the global lithium market.
- The Thacker Pass project, set to begin operations in 2026, aims to produce 40,000 metric tons of lithium annually, potentially reducing US reliance on China for lithium refining.
- While the lithium discovery presents a major economic opportunity for the US, concerns remain about the environmental impact of lithium mining.
A massive new lithium discovery on the border between Oregan and Nevada could supercharge the country’s white-gold rush. It is estimated that the newly discovered reserves under the ancient McDermitt Caldera holds a whopping 40 million metric tons of lithium. The scale of this deposit is extraordinary, “dwarfing other reserves worldwide.” Just last year, lithium producers were thrilled to find a reserve of 4 million metric tons of lithium in the Smackover Formation, a geologic formation that spans the width of Arkansas. Next to the McDermitt Caldera, that now seems a paltry sum.
These discoveries could prove to be a critical competitive edge for the United States, which has been struggling to diversify its lithium supply chains away from China in recent years. China alone refines 60% of the world’s lithium, and as trade tensions ramp up between Washington and Beijing based on Donald Trump’s campaign trail promises, developing a domestic lithium industry is more critical than ever before. The timing could not be more ideal, and the scale of the McDermitt deposits could indeed be a launch pad for a “new chapter in energy independence” for the United States.
POLITICS:
Trump’s likely first moves on US energy policy
Reuters, January 13, 2025
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to maximize U.S. oil and natural gas production – already at record highs – in part by clearing away what he deems as unnecessary regulation and bureaucracy.
Here are some of the energy-related executive orders Trump could announce during his first days in office, as he seeks to follow through on that promise.
CLIMATE WITHDRAWAL
Trump could order the U.S. to withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement, an international pact to fight climate change and limit the rise in global temperatures by slashing fossil fuel-related emissions. Trump withdrew the U.S. during his first term, and transition sources have said he wants to do it again. A withdrawal from the accord is significant because the United States is the world’s largest historical greenhouse gas emitter and an important driver of global climate ambition.
GAS EXPORT BOOST
Trump has made clear he intends to swiftly lift a moratorium on new liquefied natural gas export permits imposed by President Joe Biden’s administration – something his advisers say could happen within hours of his inauguration on Jan. 20. Biden imposed the freeze in early 2024 to conduct a study on the environmental and economic impacts of rising U.S. gas exports, which have boomed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove European governments to cut Russian gas imports. The study urged caution in issuing new permits. Trump, however, could wait until after the study’s comment period ends on Feb. 18 to protect any permit approvals from court cases.
ENERGY EMERGENCY
Trump may declare a national emergency for U.S. energy, allowing him to fast-track permits for new power infrastructure and other energy projects. The move, which Trump promised on the campaign trail, would fit into his broader agenda to expand energy production as the power grid struggles to prepare for a projected surge in demand from data centers. Natural gas would likely be a big focus, though other sectors like renewables, pipeline operators, and the nuclear industry could also benefit. The declaration could be vulnerable to legal challenges, if his administration cannot firmly establish the existence of a real emergency justifying a shortcut around environmental and other permitting procedures.
DRILL, BABY, DRILL
Trump is likely to order his administration to vastly expand oil and gas drilling on federal lands and waters, reversing Biden-era moves to minimize fossil fuel development on U.S. acreage. It will be largely up to the discretion of his Interior Department to decide how often, and at what scale, to offer acreage for auction to drillers. About a quarter of the nation’s oil comes from federal leases. A big challenge, however, will be expanding auctions to new regions offshore, after Biden used the Lands Act this month to protect vast swathes of the Atlantic, Pacific, and elsewhere from oil development.