Congressional agenda, Trump mining grants and EPA court fight dominate energy briefing

As Congress returns from its summer break, the Senate will tackle permitting reform, a stalled year-round ethanol sale, and Senator John Curtis’s Fix Our Forests Act, all while racing to fund the government before the September 30 fiscal deadline. President Trump announced more than $180 million in grants for mining education, with the Department of Energy allocating up to $100 million and the military providing over $80 million to three universities.

The Environmental Protection Agency has petitioned a court to keep a stay on a decision that blocked $20 billion in clean-energy grants, pending a Supreme Court review. Oil markets saw modest gains amid speculation about a U.S.-Iran agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, former Interior Department officials accused Secretary Doug Burgum of secrecy and mismanagement, a claim the agency dismissed as false. A recent court ruling also favored renewable groups over the Pentagon’s delay of onshore wind reviews, marking another setback for the administration’s wind-project restrictions.