WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Friday, Daily on Energy readers! The East Coast is expected to have mild and pleasant weather this weekend, with highs in Washington, D.C., in the low 70s before jumping back to the 80s later in the week. ☀️😎 If you’re in town, be sure to get outside and enjoy the sunshine before the city is hit with the wave of humidity each summer brings.
With the help of our editor Joe Lawler, today’s newsletter dives right into The Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposal to roll back the 2024 climate disclosure rules. 🏭📃 Curious about what the rules are and why they want to get rid of them? We have everything you need to know below.
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Plus, yet another governor is taking action to protect residents from surging energy and water demand brought on by data centers. ⚡💧 Curious who it is? Read on to find out.
Have a great weekend!
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.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: On the sidelines of the Community and Distributed Energy Summit this week, Callie sat down with Jeff Cramer, president and CEO of the Coalition for Community Solar Access, and talked about the Trump administration appearing to soften its position on solar power in recent months.
“Inherently these things become politicized, especially early on in administrations…they’ve also seen some of the political benefits to solar,” Cramer said. “And you’ve got a lot of red state political leaders, as well as farmers, landowners that see the benefits of solar, and how it can supplement, and actually a mid-scale solar like ours can actually support family farms, and I think they’re seeing some sort of political boon there.”
He said he believed solar has been “sort of immune” from drastic politicization seen around resources such as wind energy, because of its “politically local benefits.”
“I would not be surprised if we see an even continued turnaround around solar and storage, politically,” he said.
SEC PROPOSES KILLING BIDEN CLIMATE DISCLOSURE RULES: The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed rescinding rules approved under former President Joe Biden that require public companies to report their carbon emissions and climate change-related risks.
The commission described the climate disclosure rules as “unnecessary,” claiming the dormant rules exceed the scope of the agency’s statutory authority and impose significant costs on public companies and their shareholders.
The SEC has also said the rules are “inconsistent with a registrant-specific, materiality-based approach” for disclosures, stray beyond policy concerns of federal securities laws, and are “at odds” with the agency’s policy objectives of facilitating capital formation and promoting public company status.
Some background: The climate disclosure rules were first approved under the Biden administration in March 2024, creating guidelines for how and which companies report to investors on how their operations affect climate change. This includes reporting greenhouse gas emissions.
The final rule was significantly watered down from the original proposal, not requiring companies to disclose emissions generated by their customers and suppliers.
Read more from Callie here.
CHEVRON WARNS OF OIL SHORTAGES AND HIGHER GAS PRICES: President Donald Trump said earlier today that he was about to make a “final determination” about the ceasefire deal with Iran. Any easing of blockades in the Strait of Hormuz would ramp up traffic through the narrow waterway and help global flows of energy products inch closer to pre-war levels.
Chevron CEO Mike Wirth emphasized the importance of opening the Strait of Hormuz this morning, telling Bloomberg TV that stockpiles are hitting concerningly low levels.
“We’re exporting crude at record levels, we’re exporting products to Europe in particular, and so what that means is products that might otherwise be used in the U.S. are being highly valued elsewhere. And so we’re seeing flows in that direction,” Wirth said. “Inventories are low for diesel, for gasoline in the U.S., and we’re moving into a period of time which seasonally says demand is likely to rise.”
With demand increasing, and inventories tightening, Wirth said there are risks that prices will surge even higher.
“Shortages that have now only really appeared in Asia could begin to show up in other parts of the world,” he said.
Yesterday, while at an event hosted by investment bank Bernstein, Wirth speculated that oil prices will still face upward pressure through July.
SO, WHERE ARE PRICES NOW? With all eyes on the White House for an update on the peace deal, oil prices extended their decline further today and were headed for the largest monthly drop in over six years.
As of around 3 p.m. EDT, Brent crude had fallen by 1.29% and was priced at $91.50 a barrel. Similarly, West Texas Intermediate was down 1.32% and selling at $87.73 a barrel.
Gasoline has also been on a steady decline throughout the week, though analysts have warned we aren’t out of the woods yet.
“If a definite deal that reopens the Strait isn’t done in the days ahead, the pendulum will again swing the other way and oil prices could scream higher,” GasBuddy petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan said today. “Plenty of uncertainty, market overpriced a deal, and if it doesn’t come, we’re going to see a notable surge.”
If the strait doesn’t reopen, De Haan estimates, it would take about a week or two for prices to shoot back up.
As of Friday, AAA reported that the national average price of gasoline at $4.391 a gallon, down nearly 20 cents from last week. Diesel was also down for the week, averaging at $5.522 a gallon.
‘DRILL, BABY, DRILL’ UPDATE: High oil prices are a boon for the domestic oil and gas industry, which saw the total number of active drilling rigs increase yet again this week.
Data released by Baker Hughes this afternoon shows that the number of active oil and gas rigs in the U.S. rose by four this week, bringing the total to 562. This is just one fewer rig than this time last year.
Broken down further, Baker Hughes found that the number of rigs located on land increased by five, while the number of offshore rigs dropped by one. The total number of inland water rigs remained unchanged.
The data also revealed that the number of oil-focused rigs increased by four, to 429.
DATA CENTER DEVELOPER CUTS 80% OF ARIZONA PROJECT: A proposal to build Arizona’s largest data center complex was dramatically scaled back this week after backlash from residents.
The details: Vermaland, LLC is the developer leading the $33 billion La Osa data center proposal in Pinal County, which would cover 3,300 acres near Eloy. The company announced yesterday that it would be cutting the project from 59 to 11 data center buildings. The developer is also capping the project’s energy demand to 1 gigawatt.
Vermaland’s legal team has promised La Osa would generate its own electricity to ease local concerns about power use and pledged it would avoid consuming excessive water by employing either air cooling or a closed-loop system. The project proposal had set plans for two on-site gas-fired power plants and battery energy storage systems, delivering up to 3 gigawatts of power capacity.
Read more from the Examiner’s Emily Hallas here.
UTAH GOVERNOR SETS HIGHER STANDARD FOR DATA CENTERS: Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed an executive order today that he said would set a “higher bar” for the development of data centers in the state.
What’s in the order: The order requires state agencies considering data center development to ensure that the projects will not increase water consumption and will protect utility ratepayers, among other provisions.
The background: There has been major controversy in Utah in recent weeks over the Stratos Project data center in the northwestern corner of the state.
The trend: In just the past few days, the governors of Pennsylvania and New Jersey have also announced efforts to ensure that data centers do not harm the grid or environment.
SOME GEORGIA RESIDENTS WILL SEE UTILITY BILL RELIEF NEXT MONTH: Georgia Power customers can expect to see their utility bills drop by a couple dollars next month, thanks to a new rate plan approved this week.
The Georgia Public Service Commission approved the plan to lower overall rates to offer “real savings” for families and businesses ahead of peak summer demand, according to CBS News.
Under the new plan, Georgia Power should see around $285 million in annual savings, roughly $50 per year, or just over $4 a month, for the average customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt-hours each month.
ICYMI – NEW YORK ASSEMBLY PASSES BALCONY SOLAR BILL: The New York Assembly passed legislation yesterday to permit “balcony solar,” or small, plug-in solar panels that any household can use to try to lower their electricity bills.
The bill, the SUNNY Act, would exempt plug-in solar panels from interconnection and net metering requirements. It has already cleared the Senate.
Proponents tout that Utah and Maine have legalized plug-in solar, and similar legislation has passed in Colorado, Virginia, and Maryland.
RUNDOWN
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