Today’s Key Takeaways: Sullivan moves to reverse Biden rejection of Ambler Access Project. Exxon stops climate activist investors. Biden $7B Boondoggle – 10 down, 499,990 to go. Interior Secretary finally meets with AK Native Leaders…after 9 requests.
NEWS OF THE DAY:
Sullivan secures NDAA rider to advance Alaska mining road
Hannah Northey, Andres Picon, E & E News, June 18, 2025
The Senate Armed Services Committee approved its fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act last week.
The Senate’s $912 billion defense policy bill would reverse the Biden administration’s move to reject the contentious Ambler mining road in Alaska, said Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.
Sullivan said Friday he was able to attach an amendment to the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act that passed the Democratic-controlled Senate Armed Services Committee last week on a 22-3 vote.
The Biden administration earlier this year signaled its intent to block the 211-mile-long mining road because of concerns about subsistence hunting and fishing in Alaska, as well as caribou populations and permafrost.
Sullivan, in a release, said the defense bill includes a provision that would “rescind the Biden administration’s lawless rejection of the previously approved Ambler Access Project — a nonpublic road to one of America’s most prolific untapped reserves of critical minerals, resources that our country is concerningly reliant on China to produce.”
OIL:
JUDGE ENDS EXXON SUIT AGAINST CLIMATE ACTIVIST INVESTOR: The legal fight between Exxon Mobil and activist investor Arjuna Capital has come to an end, at least for now.
U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman for the Northern District of Texas threw out Exxon’s lawsuit against Arjuna, in which the oil major had sought to block a climate-related shareholder resolution from Arjuna, even though the proposal was withdrawn before the shareholder meeting last month.
Pittman, appointed by Donald Trump, said yesterday that the suit was moot, given that Arjuna had promised not to file a similar resolution in the future, CNBC reports.
Exxon claims victory: Exxon CEO Darren Woods cast the decision as a win for the company, saying in a press release that Pittman “made it clear that Arjuna is bound by its commitment to not submit, or work with others to submit, similar proposals to ExxonMobil in the future.”
Exxon’s leadership is coming off a major win over climate investors at the May meeting. Woods and other board members were easily reappointed despite an effort by activist investors and Democratic state financial officials to oppose them over their treatment of Arjuna and other activist shareholders.
From the Washington Examiner Daily on Energy, June 18, 2024
ALASKA RESOURCES:
Alaska Natives still frustrated after Haaland meeting
Greenwire, June 14, 2024
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, they said, had previously declined or ignored their meeting requests.
Alaska Native leaders met with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in Washington on Thursday after she had rejected or ignored at least eight previous requests, they said.
Elected leaders of the North Slope Iñupiaq Community met with Haaland and other Interior Department staffers at the agency’s headquarters after Iñupiat representatives had accused the department of stonewalling them by refusing their previous requests to meet with the secretary to discuss Interior’s policies.
“The mood going in from our side was one of sadness as it has taken eight, nine requests to get an audience with the secretary,” said Kate Wolgemuth, program, and government affairs manager for Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, a nonprofit that represents Arctic Slope communities. “To her credit, she granted us that audience,” Wolgemuth said of Haaland. After “nine requests, there’s definitely some feelings” among the Alaskans, but there was “very respectful engagement” with the secretary, she added.
The Alaskans in Washington this week came with a series of requests for Haaland on oil and gas regulations and decisions. They want formal notices of consultation through both mail and email moving forward and a commitment that North Slope leadership be part of the development of policies and be alerted to decisions and announcements before “leaks to the press or outside organizations,” they said.
POLITICS:
Biden’s Massive EV Charging Station Failure
Institute for Energy Research, June 19, 2024
Key Takeaways
- President Biden is spending $7.5 billion to build EV charging infrastructure, but so far only 7 stations have opened from his “National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure” program, turning the program into a debacle.
- While Biden apparently is unhappy with the progress so far, it turns out many of the delays were created when he issued executive orders early in his tenure to force social-engineering mandates and requirements upon federal funding programs.
- For example, he mandated 40 percent of all funding on climate and energy target “underserved communities” even though one of the areas eligible is Martha’s Vineyard, vacation town to the rich and famous.
- Some Department of Transportation officials have gone “off the record” after their department was challenged about the efficacy of the program, pointing to the voluminous government reporting and analysis required by Biden’s executive orders.
- Secretary of Energy Granholm has even stated that some of the areas targeted for charging stations do not have electricity.
Biden’s $7.5 billion EV charging stations program, which promised half a million installations, still has over 499,990 to go after three years. President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in November 2021, allocating $7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging, of which $5 billion is dedicated to building a network of chargers along major highways, called the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program. Just seven electric-vehicle charging stations have begun operating with that $5-billion funding, marking “pathetic” progress, as automakers and others indicate that drastically expanding EV-charging stations is crucial to the wide deployment of electric vehicles, which is part of Biden’s climate change program. The seven EV-charging stations deployed to date consist of a few dozen total charging ports.