WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Monday, readers! Tens of millions of Americans are under extreme heat alerts today and into much of the week. If you live in one of the states suffering from the high temperatures, be sure to stay hydrated, keep in the shade and cool off when you can! On days like these, we know we are grateful air conditioning was invented.
Congress is less than two weeks away from President Donald Trump’s deadline to get the One Big Beautiful Bill on his desk by the fourth of July as lawmakers face pressure to change provisions related to public land sales and green tax credits. Stick with us as we continue to monitor developments over the coming days.
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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 DOWN IN THE WAKE OF TRUMP’S ATTACKS ON IRAN: Oil prices plummeted this afternoon in the wake of the attacks President Donald Trump ordered over the weekend on three nuclear sites in Iran, signaling weakened concerns that the Middle Eastern country could retaliate by severely disrupting the global oil market.
Iran is a major producer of oil and sits along the narrow Strait of Hormuz. This water route is critical to the transportation of crude worldwide, as roughly one-fifth of global daily oil production passes through the strait every day. Following Saturday’s attacks, dozens of oil tankers appeared to u-turn out of the water route, over fears that it would be blocked.
Iran did retaliate this afternoon, launching a missile attack on a U.S. military base in Qatar. The attack, however, has largely been considered as a weak strike back and an indication that the nation doesn’t wish to escalate much more. With prices down by more than 6%, market concerns also appear to have softened.
Where prices stand: Both international and domestic benchmarks substantially fell this afternoon after a brief peak around $80 per barrel in early trading. Just before 2:30 p.m. EST Brent Crude had fallen by 6.40% (nearly $5) and was priced at around $72.08 per barrel. Similarly, West Texas Intermediate had dropped by 6.45% and was selling at roughly $69.08 per barrel.
Trump calls to keep them low: The dramatic decrease in prices came right around the same time that Trump turned to social media to call on “everyone” to keep the cost of oil down.
“EVERYONE, KEEP OIL PRICES DOWN,” he wrote in a post to Truth Social. “I’M WATCHING! YOU’RE PLAYING RIGHT INTO THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY. DON’T DO IT!”
It was not immediately clear who Trump meant by “everyone” in his post this morning, though, 10 minutes later he directly called on the Department of Energy to ramp up its efforts to increase domestic drilling.
Where prices could go: Several U.S. officials have called on Iran to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling it a “suicidal move” given how critical the water route is to Iran’s own transportation of oil. If Iran were to disrupt oil transport, analysts have warned, it could send prices of crude into the triple digits. Earlier this month, JP Morgan warned that worst case prices could hit as high as $130 per barrel.
While still a possibility, analysts have since said that it is unlikely Iran will go that far. However, they could raise the costs of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and prevent vessels from wanting to transit through, therein still increasing prices.
PLUS…THE THREAT TO THE ENVIRONMENT IS SEEN AS LOW: Ahead of the U.S. strikes on the three nuclear facilities in Iran, experts told the Washington Examiner that any attacks would cause little in the way of environmental harms to the surrounding regions.
Unlike a nuclear power plant, which typically stores radioactive waste on-site or nearby and has a reactor that generates electricity through nuclear fission, sites like Fordow are only enrichment facilities. The Fordow facility in particular processes isotopes of uranium to potentially make them usable in a nuclear weapon. This type of uranium is considered to be far less radioactive than what it can become when used in a nuclear weapon.
Edwin Lyman, a nuclear expert with the Union of Concerned Scientists, told Callie late last week that a far greater risk connected to an attack on the site would be a leak of chemicals like hexafluoride gas, which could lead to injuries from chemical exposure. Though, as Fordow is built deep underground, those risks can also be mitigated.
“In the case of Fordow, since it’s deeply buried in, the way it would be destroyed would be to drop this bunker-buster bomb and cause the mountain to collapse on top of it. Then there would be even less chance of any kind of release,” Lyman said. “So as far as the environmental hazards from an attack on Fordow, I don’t think those are that significant.”
Yesterday, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Iranian regulatory authorities said there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels after the recent attacks on the three sites. IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said the agency will continue to monitor the situation, but said they don’t expect to see any “health consequences” in the surrounding regions.
INTENSE HEAT WAVE HITTING PARTS OF THE COUNTRY: Starting today, people living in the Midwest and Northeast are experiencing high temperatures and humidity that are expected to last throughout the week.
This week’s temperatures mark the first heat wave of the summer. Meteorologists are predicting that the worst of the heat and humidity is expected to ease after tomorrow night for those in New England.
However, the scorching temperatures will linger into Thursday across portions of the mid-Atlantic, including here in Washington, D.C.
“This is a strong and dangerous heat wave to kick off the summer,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter said.
“Overnight minimum temperatures above 80 degrees in urban areas across the Northeast is extremely concerning. There will be little relief from the heat at night, raising the risk of health impacts for people without air conditioning and for those vulnerable to heat-related illnesses,” Porter said.
The National Weather Service issued extreme heat warnings for central and eastern states. The high temperatures could break the record for June.
High temperatures, high energy demand: This week’s high temperatures are prompting electrical grid operators to direct power plants to be ready to operate at maximum capacity to meet the high energy demand, Reuters reports.
Grid operators like PJM Interconnection and the Midwest’s MISO issued alerts to be prepared to operate at maximum capacity during the heat wave.
Read here for a few tips on staying safe during extreme temperatures.
NEW YORK TO BUILD A NEW NUCLEAR POWER PLANT: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul plans to build a new nuclear power plant to help power about 1 million homes.
In an interview, Hochul told the Wall Street Journal that she directed the New York Power Authority to add at least 1 gigawatt of new nuclear power generation to the state’s fleet. The utility will look to build the new nuclear plant in Lewiston, on the border with Canada.
The governor’s plan reflects the shift in public perception that embraces nuclear energy as a clean and reliable source.
“I’m going to lean into making sure that every company that wants to come to New York and everyone who wants to live here will never have to worry about reliability and affordability when it comes to their utility costs,” Hochul said in an interview.
Hochul’s plan comes a few years after the state closed the Indian Point power plant in 2021, which has resulted in the state relying more on fossil fuels to meet energy demands.
Learn about New York’s plan and Indian Point’s closure here.
MIKE LEE PROMISES TO REVISE PUBLIC LAND SALES FOR HUNTERS: Sen. Mike Lee promises to modify his measure to sell off federal land for housing in the Republicans’ budget reconciliation.
“Hunter Nation: You spoke, and I’m listening,” Lee wrote in a post on X over the weekend. “I’ll be making changes in the coming days.”
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA), a nonprofit sportsman organization, has spoken against the senator’s measure, arguing that it sidesteps public input and process for selling public lands. The organization is organizing a nationwide “Flood the Lines” on Wednesday, where hunters and anglers will call senators to oppose the measure.
“They’re coming for OUR public lands. The Senate wants to sell off our wild places. If we don’t fight back, we lose access – forever,” the BHA tweeted earlier this month. “Tell your Senators: Keep public lands in public hands. Oppose public land selloff in the budget bill.”
In recent days, Lee has defended his proposal against fellow conservatives and environmentalists, who argue that the proposal would sell off the nation’s most protected land.
The measure would require the sale of 0.50% to 0.75% of Bureau of Land Management land and National Forest System land in 11 western states for housing development.
However, Lee has repeatedly argued that the measure would not sell land from National Parks, National Monuments, National Recreation Areas, etc. In an interview last week, the senator said he would amend the bill to ensure that land sales would be within two to five miles of an existing population center.
Benji Backer, the founder and executive chairman of Nature is Nonpartisan, has been continuously vocal against the senator’s measure, claiming it would harm national parks and other protected areas.
“The value of selling 3 million acres of public land (which no one is in support of): $5 billion, one-time,” Backer tweeted yesterday. “The value of conserving America’s natural beauty: *literally* priceless.”
ICYMI – REPUBLICANS CONTINUE TO CLASH WITH TRUMP OVER GREEN TAX CREDITS: While some Senate Republicans have sought to soften cuts to green tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump lambasted the subsidies over the weekend, calling them a “giant scam.”
“I HATE ‘GREEN TAX CREDITS’ IN THE GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL. They are largely a giant SCAM. I would much prefer that this money be used somewhere else, including reductions,” Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social.
Uncertainty in the GOP: The president’s remarks echo his past criticisms of renewable energy sources like wind and solar. But they come as several Republican lawmakers are trying to keep certain tax credits to not disrupt the market or local economies. Many have also pointed out that renewables have aided in lowering power bills as energy demand has soared.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley seemingly responded to Trump’s remarks in his own post to X, writing, “Iowans get 60% of their electricity frm wind energy It’s an important tool for America’s energy independence &2 keep Iowans’ utility bills low.”
Republicans like Utah Sen. John Curtis, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, and West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito have urged their colleagues to make sure that the credits – particularly those favoring power sources like geothermal, nuclear, and hydrogen – are not fully repealed.
A LOOK AHEAD
June 23 – 24 The 2025 annual meeting of the Western Governors’ Association is being held in Santa Fe, New Mexico and will feature remarks from cabinet members like Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin.
June 24 The House Natural Resources subcommittee on Water, Wildfire and Fisheries is holding a legislative hearing on a number of wildlife and conservation related bills.
June 24 – 26 The Transmission and Interconnection Summit is being held in Arlington, Virginia.
June 25 The Sustainable Investment Forum is being hosted in Washington D.C.
June 25 The Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights is holding a hearing titled “Enter the Dragon – China and the Left’s Lawfare Against American Energy Dominance.”
June 25 The House Natural Resources Committee is holding a full committee markup.
June 25 The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works is holding a nomination hearing for Usha-Maria Turner to be an Assistant Administrator of the EPA and David Wright to be a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
June 26 The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is holding its monthly open meeting. It will be Chairman Mark Christie’s last meeting leading the commission.
June 26 The House Natural Resources subcommittee on Federal Lands is holding an oversight hearing titled “Fix Our Forests: Advancing Innovative Technologies to Improve Forest Management and Prevent Wildfires.”
June 26 The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Environment is holding a hearing receiving Congressional action, EPA agency rules, and potential uses of coal ash.
June 26 – 27 The 2025 Community Solar Innovation Summit is set to be held in Denver, Colorado.
RUNDOWN
Associated Press Crushing it. What do you do with 4,000 hailstones that you collect while chasing storms
Reuters UN nuclear watchdog has limited oversight in Iran. Here’s why
Washington Post No one has made fusion power viable yet. Why is Big Tech investing billions?