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WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Monday, readers! The cliché “news never stops” certainly rang true this weekend. We hope you were able to step away from the headlines a little bit to enjoy the sunny weather, which has somehow already disappeared! It’s snowing again in Washington, D.C., as we send out this newsletter. ❄️😢
We’re closely tracking the fallout of the United States and Israel’s strikes on Iran over the weekend, as the surprise attack has sent oil and gas prices soaring. 🛢️📈🇮🇷 We’ll be keeping an eye on this over the next few days, as analysts have warned prices could hit triple digits if disruptions in the markets continue.
In other news, today’s edition of Daily on Energy dives into a few things on solar, as major MAGA influencers are escalating their support for the renewable energy source. ☀️⚡
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 PRICES SOAR AFTER IRAN ATTACK: Major disruption in the oil market has followed President Donald Trump’s decision to authorize strikes against Iran over the weekend.
The strikes have led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key global route for transporting oil exports. Nearly 20 million barrels of crude oil and other oil products pass through the strait daily, which is about 20% of global oil demand.
Soaring crude: Just before 3 p.m. EST, domestic benchmark West Texas Intermediate rose 56.28% to $71.17 per barrel, while Brent Crude jumped 6.74% to $77.68 per barrel.
Analysts have warned that if global transport of oil is effectively blocked through the Strait of Hormuz for longer than three to four days, that will dramatically raise oil prices – and, as a result, gas prices.
Prices at the pump: The national average price of gasoline was $2.997 per gallon Monday morning, up by nearly $0.02 from yesterday and $0.06 from one week ago, according to AAA. GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan estimates that gas stations could see average increases of $0.10 to $0.30 per gallon, with a few select stations seeing jumps as high as $0.85 per gallon.
It’s important to note that the conflict in Iran isn’t the only thing contributing to rising gas prices, De Haan said, pointing to the ongoing transition to summer gasoline blends, higher seasonal demand, and expected maintenance at domestic refineries.
Read more from Callie on where prices could be headed here.
Energy infrastructure at risk: The Strait of Hormuz is widely considered to be the most crucial energy chokepoint facing disruptions this week. But there are severe risks across the Middle East.
Iran has begun to retaliate following Saturday’s attack, launching drones against Qatar state-owned energy giant QatarEnergy’s facilities at Ras Laffan and Mesaieed. QatarEnergy ended all liquefied natural gas production after drone strikes this morning.
Clayton Seigle, a senior fellow in the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Callie that there are several other major facilities to keep an eye on that are within striking distance from Iran.
One is the Ju'aymah Terminal, one of the largest LNG export facilities in the world, located in Saudi Arabia. Another is the Al Basrah Oil Terminal, a major crude oil terminal owned and operated by Iraq. Seigle also pointed to smaller offshore terminals with export capacity of several million barrels per day located off the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
“When you put that all together, you’re looking at 15 million barrels of crude,” he said.
Natural gas prices: Qatar is a significant global LNG supplier, sending more than 70% of its exports to Asia and 25% to Europe in 2022.
Domestic natural gas futures rose as much as 7.2% today. In the United Kingdom, natural gas prices soared about 50%. Dutch futures rose more than 45%, according to CNBC.
MARYLAND LEANS ON SOLAR WITH $50M INVESTMENT: The state of Maryland is reportedly spending around $50 million to deploy solar panels across the state, utilizing existing parking lots and brownfields operated by the state’s Department of Transportation (MDOT).
The details: The agency recently signed a deal with the Maryland Energy Administration to use the state’s Strategic Energy Investment Fund (SEIF), according to the Baltimore Sun. The $50 million from the fund was allocated by the General Assembly last year.
MDOT reportedly plans to use the funds to deploy solar panels at 25 sites, which will be revealed in a request for bids later this year. The project will likely involve installing solar panels above parking lots, on top of short-term parking garages, or on lands such as brownfields, which are often contaminated due to previous developments. It will not deploy solar panels on any natural lands, according to the Baltimore Sun.
The state estimates that the $50 million solar project will generate roughly 35 megawatts of energy, enough to power roughly 120,000 homes in the state each year.
MAGA INFLUENCER PROPS UP SOLAR: Katie Miller, a right-wing podcaster and wife to Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, is increasing her call on the U.S. to embrace solar energy – breaking with the Trump administration, which has left the renewable resource out of its own definition of energy.
Earlier this morning, Miller called solar power “increasingly indispensable” to the nation’s effort to rapidly build out and deploy artificial intelligence. She pointed to China’s own acceptance of solar power, saying the country produced 1.17 million gigawatt hours of electricity just from solar last year.
“Rapidly scaling solar energy is a national security issue,” Miller wrote.
Her post also re-shared an interview she recently gave to the Washington Post, in which she emphasized how solar can support the administration’s energy dominance agenda.
Influencing the executive: Publicly, the Trump administration has yet to fully support solar energy, instead putting its weight behind traditional fossil fuels and other baseload resources such as nuclear energy. But Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who repeatedly lambasted solar last year, acknowledged last week that the renewable energy resource has a "commercial role” to play.
The Interior Department is also weighing clearing the permitting pathway for some large solar projects to move forward. You can read more about the agency’s decisions from Maydeen here.
BLM NOMINEE UP FOR COMMITTEE VOTE: Stevan Pearce’s nomination to be director of the Bureau of Land Management will be up for a committee vote this week, following much pushback from Democrats over his past efforts to sell off public land.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee plans to vote on Pearce’s nomination on Wednesday.
Democrats pressed Pearce at last week's committee hearing over whether he would seek to sell public land in his role, in which he would oversee more than 244 million acres of federal land and over 700 million acres of sub-surface minerals.
Pearce was a former Republican representative from New Mexico. But, he has made statements in support of shifting public ownership of land to state or private entities.
At last week’s hearing, the top Democrat on the panel, Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, said it will be challenging for him to support Pearce’s tenure at the BLM because of his call to sell public lands.
Pearce, throughout the hearing, told Democrats that the Secretary of the Interior does not envision large sales of public lands and noted that the Federal Land Policy Management Act prohibits such sales.
The committee will also vote on Kyle Haustveit for undersecretary of energy and David LaCerte to remain on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
ICYMI – GREENPEACE HIT WITH $345 MILLION VERDICT: Greenpeace was dealt an adverse $345 million judgment over the environmental group’s role in organizing protests against the Dakota Access pipeline.
A federal judge on Friday finalized a $345 million verdict against Greenpeace in a lawsuit brought by Texas-based pipeline company Energy Transfer. The final ruling came after judge James Gion slashed close to half the $667 million the jury awarded Energy Transfer in March.
Greenpeace said it has decided to seek a new trial and, if necessary, appeal the decision with the North Dakota Supreme Court.
“Energy Transfer’s attempts to silence us are failing. Greenpeace International will continue to resist intimidation tactics,” Greenpeace International Executive Director Mads Christensen said in a statement.
“We will not be silenced. We will only get louder, joining our voices to those of our allies all around the world against the corporate polluters and billionaire oligarchs who prioritise profits over people and the planet,” Christensen added.
Between 2016 and 2017, protests erupted, joined by members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, opposing the 1,200-mile pipeline that carried oil from western North Dakota to Illinois and crossing under the Missouri River.
The protesters warned that the oil would pollute the reservation’s drinking water. Greenpeace’s lawyers said the environmental group assisted the tribe in organizing its protests. However, Energy Transfer accused the group of delaying the pipeline’s construction.
A LOOK AHEAD
March 3 The Electric Power Supply Association’s annual Competitive Power Summit is being held in Washington, D.C.
March 3 The Environmental and Energy Study Institute is holding a briefing on wildfire policy.
March 4 The Global CCS Institute is holding its 2026 European Forum on Carbon Capture and Storage in Brussels, Belgium.
March 4 The Atlantic Council is holding EXIM Bank chairman John Jovanovic for a discussion on the export-import bank’s role in supporting U.S. manufacturing, strengthening supply chains, and supporting trade.
March 4 The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is meeting to consider pending calendar business.
March 4 The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is meeting to consider the nomination of Douglas Weaver regarding his seat on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
March 5 Rystad Energy is holding its Washington D.C. Energy Forum.
March 8 Time to turn the clocks, it’s Daylight Saving Time.
RUNDOWN
Grist A regional network is racing to save the Midwest’s native seeds
Bloomberg As Iran Crisis Upends Oil and Gas, Clean Energy Gets Complicated
Electrek Here’s why Florida’s 10 MPH e-bike speed limit law actually makes sense
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