Daily on Energy: EPA looks to roll back wastewater rules, a bipartisan LNG bill, and data center support dwindles

EPA PROPOSES ROLL BACK OF WASTEWATER STANDARDS ON POWER PLANTS: The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed rescinding the Biden administration’s wastewater standards for power plants. 

The agency will reconsider a rule known as the effluent limitation guidelines for power plants. The rule was finalized in 2024 by the Biden administration as part of a suite of standards aimed at reducing pollution for fossil fuel power plants. 

The Trump EPA argued that the previous administration’s rule “jeopardized many affordable and reliable baseload power plants.” The Trump EPA’s proposal would rescind certain “one-size-fits-all” limits and allow permit writers greater flexibility to set discharge limits on a case-by-case basis. 

Some background: The Biden administration’s 2024 wastewater rule set stringent standards aimed at reducing the discharge of toxic metals and other pollutants into waterways from coal-fired power plants. 

The administration said at the time that the dischargers include pollutants such as selenium, mercury, arsenic, and nickel, halogen compounds such as bromide, chloride, and iodide, nutrients, and total dissolved solids. It noted that those pollutants can enter drinking water sources, recreational waters, and aquatic life. 

Opposition: The environmental group, Earthjustice, said the proposal would allow power plants to contaminate groundwater and other waterways. 

“This is another example of the Trump administration endangering the health of Americans as a favor to corporate polluters,” Earthjustice attorney Thom Cmar said in a statement. “This plan would eliminate safeguards on hundreds of millions of pounds of wastewater with neurotoxins and cancer-causing contaminants. It would allow coal power plants to avoid cleaning up contamination that threatens our drinking water sources.” 

Delays vehicle emission standards: In other EPA news, the agency also announced it would delay the compliance deadline for the Biden administration emission standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles for two years until model year 2029. 

The Biden administration in 2024 finalized “Tier 4” emission standards for 2027 to 2029 Model Year, aiming to reduce emissions by 50%. 

CORNYN, FETTERMAN LNG BILL: Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and Democrat Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania introduced a bill today that would prevent future presidents from delaying or blocking liquefied natural gas export permit approvals. 

The “LNG Export Security Act,” first reported by Daily on Energy alum Josh Siegel, comes in response to former President Joe Biden’s move to pause new LNG export permits as the administration studied economic and climate effects. The pause was later blocked by a federal court.

Specifically, the bill would expand a “public interest” definition in the Natural Gas Act to protect the development of natural gas facilities and domestic natural gas supply. 

Both Republicans and Democrats have grown anxious about the executive branch interfering and derailing the permit approval process for future renewable and fossil fuel energy sources, driving much of the negotiations for meaningful tech-neutral permitting reform in Congress.  

The United States is expected to reach record high production of natural gas this summer to support rising LNG exports. The global LNG market has since been tightened due to the war in Iran with Europe turning to the U.S. for its supply. 

TRUMP SAYS CHINA PLANS TO BUY MORE U.S. ENERGY: President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping for more than two hours at the start of their two-day summit, during which his Chinese counterpart reportedly committed to purchasing more energy products from the United States. 

Trump revealed the commitment to Fox News’ Sean Hannity following the meeting in an interview that is scheduled to air later this evening. 

According to the outlet, Trump said Xi promised that China would cooperate with the U.S. on Iran, buy U.S. soybeans as well as more oil, liquefied natural gas, and other energy.

These commitments were also teased in the White House’s official readout of the bilateral meeting, which read “The two sides agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to support the free flow of energy. President XI also made clear China’s opposition to the militarization of the Strait and any effort to charge a toll for its use, and he expressed interest in purchasing more American oil to reduce China’s dependence on the Strait in the future.” 

China’s readout of the meeting did not offer any additional details on potential new energy deals between the two countries and it remains unclear what exactly those deals could look like. 

HOW OIL MARKETS ARE REACTING: Oil prices remained relatively stable today following Trump’s meeting with Jinping, with international and domestic benchmarks hovering around the $100 per barrel line. 

At around 2:30 p.m. EDT, Brent crude was up by 0.27% and was selling at $105.92 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate also jumped by 0.26% and was priced at $101.28 per barrel. 

Gasoline prices also remained fairly steady today, with AAA reporting the national average price at the pump to be $4.534 a gallon, up just two cents from yesterday. 

VOTER SENTIMENTS ON PERMITTING AND U.S. ENERGY MIX: A new survey released by the Partnership to Address Global Emissions Coalition has found that around 71% of voters support Congress passing meaningful permitting reform legislation that could accelerate development of new energy infrastructure. 

The survey found that this support exists across the political spectrum, with 64% of moderate Democrats saying they are in favor of some reform including for fossil fuel projects. 

Specifically, around 57% of moderate Democrats said they favored permitting reform for new energy infrastructure including natural gas pipelines, with another 57% said they supported increasing the production and use of natural gas in the U.S. 

The support for natural gas comes as most voters – 65% – described energy costs as a serious problem. The survey found that around 75% say the U.S. is failing to keep up with growing demand, putting further pressure on prices. As a result, the coalition also found that at least 69% of Americans – including 73% of moderate Democrats – back all of the above energy solutions. 

You can find other key findings from the survey here. 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AWARDS $94M FOR SMR DEVELOPMENT: The Department of Energy is awarding eight companies a total of $94 million to go towards developing small modular reactors and help meet the president’s goal of quadrupling nuclear energy capacity in the U.S. by 2050. 

The details: The agency announced the awards earlier this afternoon, saying the projects selected would help deliver new nuclear power in the 2030s. 

The largest award, more than $27.8 million, is being given to the Nebraska Public Power District in order for them to obtain an early site permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to deploy future SMRs in Nebraska. 

Constellation Energy is also receiving an award of over $17 million to pursue a similar early site permit from the NRC for deploying advanced reactors in New York. 

The remaining six projects focus primarily on supply chain development for SMRs, with awards ranging between $547,900 and more than $21 million. The companies receiving the funds include BWXT Nuclear Energy, Container Technologies Industries, Framatome U.S. Government Solutions, Global Nuclear Fuel Americas, North American Forgemasters Company, and Scot Forge Company. 

Key quote: “Advanced light-water SMRs will give our nation the reliable, round-the-clock power we need to fuel the President’s manufacturing boom, support data centers and AI growth, and reinforce a stronger, more secure electric grid,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said. “These awards ensure we can deploy these reactors as soon as possible.”

ICYMI – MOST AMERICANS OPPOSE DATA CENTERS: New polling suggests that most Americans are against having artificial intelligence data centers built near where they live, signaling that the Trump administration‘s efforts aimed at rapidly expanding data centers development to win the AI race may be losing public support. 

The details: A survey conducted by Gallup in early March, released this week, found that seven out of ten Americans oppose constructing data centers for AI in their local area, with nearly half (48%) strongly opposed to the idea. 

Around 23% of respondents said they somewhat opposed data centers being built in their areas, while only 27% said they were in favor.

Much of the opposition to data center growth has been tied to the facilities’ extensive use of resources, as well as environmental pollution and the effect on local consumer’s own energy bills. 

A separate survey conducted by Gallup in April found that at least 50% of those opposed to data center construction cited effects on resources including water, energy consumption, farmland, and deforestation. 

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