WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Friday, readers! Americans across the country are remembering those who lost their lives 25 years ago today during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. 🇺🇲

Washington Examiner photographer Graeme Jennings, who was in New York City at the time, captured the aftermath of the devastation. Check out his photos here. 📸

• ⛽🚚🚜🌽 Diesel prices have reached a new high this morning. We take a look at what food experts have to say about how diesel prices will impact costs at the grocery store. 

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: 

“Most Americans want us to win this race against China to be the AI capital of the world, but at the same time, Americans have important questions that are good questions and they deserve answers on,” Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said at the GOP Texas midterm convention this week. 

He added that, “The people building the data centers should be answering these questions and should be assuring not just leaders in government, but also people in the community that they aren’t going to have bills that go up.” 

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DIESEL PRICES HEADED TO GROCERIES:

Diesel prices at a record $6.02 per gallon could lead to higher costs at grocery stores, adding to cost-of-living woes and imperiling Republicans in the midterm elections. 

Joe Glauber, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, told Maydeen that diesel prices “absolutely” have a significant impact on food prices.

“So much of the cost is after it leaves the farm, so that's where diesel comes in,” Glauber said. 

Glauber noted that the price farmers receive for their crops makes up only about 25% of what consumers ultimately pay for food at the grocery store. 

A lot of the cost comes from “what happens after the farm, not what happens on the farm,” he said. 

For instance, Glauber said the additional costs for food comes from the transportation, distribution, processing, and packaging of the product. 

Still, some food economists noted that diesel is just one factor in food prices. 

“What's important to keep in mind is that when we look at food at the grocery store, transportation and energy are a small share of the overall cost of food,” David Ortega, professor in food economics at Michigan State University, told Maydeen.  

“For every dollar that we spend on food, the share that can be attributed to energy and transportation, on average, is just a few cents,” he added. 

Ortega noted that the impact of higher diesel prices on food will not show up overnight at the grocery store. He added that prices could increase quicker for products like dairy, meats, seafood, or products that have to travel longer distances. 

How are farmers feeling? Missouri Farm Bureau president Garrett Hawkins told Maydeen in a statement that farmers are headed into harvest season, when the demand for diesel is high and producers are dealing with elevated costs for fertilizer, seed, equipment and other inputs. 

“The reality is farmers are price takers,” Hawkins said. “We can’t simply add these higher fuel costs to the price of corn, soybeans, cattle or other commodities we sell. Every additional dollar at the pump comes directly out of the farm’s bottom line.” 

All the rest:

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION WEIGHS DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT TO HELP REFINERIES: Reuters reports that White House officials are exploring ways to use the Defense Production Act to boost oil refining. 

The effort came out of a recent meeting between administration officials and refiners, who said that federal funds would better be used to aid existing plants rather than building a new one, which could take years – and refiners are already running at full capacity now. 

Trump signed a memo in May finding that enhancing oil production and refining was critical to national defense.

FEDERAL COURT STRIKES DOWN DOE ORDER FORCING MICHIGAN COAL PLANT TO REMAIN OPEN: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit struck down the Energy Department emergency order that kept a Michigan coal plant running past its retirement date. 

In May 2025, the DOE issued an emergency order to keep Michigan’s J.H. Campbell plant operating past its retirement date, arguing that it was necessary to provide stable energy to the grid. The department has re-issued the emergency order six times and has ordered other plants across the country to remain open past their retirement dates. 

In the court’s opinion, Judge Cornelia Pillard wrote, “Our reading of the text, structure, and history leaves us unpersuaded by DOE’s sweeping conception of its ‘emergency’ authority.” 

The costs associated with maintaining these aging coal plants have been high. Consumers Energy spent about $254 million to maintain the operations at the Campbell plant from May to December. 

The court ruling marks a win for environmentalists, who are attempting to block other DOE emergency orders. 

“DOE’s order to keep the aging, uneconomic, and polluting Campbell plant running was a misuse of power, and the D.C. Circuit was right to strike it down,” Frank Sturges, senior attorney at Clean Air Task Force, said in a statement. 

BLM OFFICIALS GIVEN THREE DAYS TO IDENTIFY LOCATIONS FOR DATA CENTERS: State directors at the Bureau of Land Management have been given just three days to provide lists of locations where data centers could be placed on federal lands, the Washington Sun reports. 

The tight deadline is a reflection of the priority that the Trump administration is placing on facilitating the construction of data centers. But it won’t be easy, given that many of the lands managed by the BLM aren’t ideal in terms of water and electricity access, and the staff is not well positioned to determine which places are best. 

HOUSE TO VOTE ON DATA CENTER ENERGY BILL: House lawmakers plan to vote on the bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act next week. 

The bill, which was introduced by Colorado Republican Rep. Gabe Evans and co-sponsored by Florida Democrat Kathy Castor, is meant to ensure that large loads like data centers cover the costs related to upgrades to the grid and other energy systems. 

The legislation was voted out of the Energy and Commerce Committee in July. 

GULF FOREIGN MINISTERS TO MEET WITH IRAN OVER STRAIT OF HORMUZ: The foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council plan to meet with their Iranian counterpart Monday in Oman to discuss a deal to manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Financial Times. 

The deal under discussion so far would involve a temporary agreement to allow tankers to enter the strait in Iranian waters and exit close to Oman. But any such arrangement without the U.S. would fall far short of having the waterway fully open. 

“For Iran and Oman it is about getting the GCC on board to try and use that to get the US to lift its blockade on Iranian ports,” one of the people briefed on the meeting told the FT.

WEEKLY RIG COUNT UPDATE: The U.S. oil and gas rig count was up by three on the week, according to Baker Hughes. On the year, the count is up by 52 to 591.

All of the growth has been onshore. The number of offshore rigs is down by five on the year. 

SHOULD DEMOCRATS GIVE TRUMP A WIN ON PERMITTING? Jane Flegal, a senior director for industrial emissions at the Biden White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy, argues in a new Wall Street Journal op-ed that they should. 

Flegal, now a fellow at the Searchlight Institute, writes with her colleague Pavan Venkatakrishnan that Democrats need permitting reform enacted now in order to have courts and agencies ready for pro-clean-energy policies under the next Democratic president.

“If Democrats take control of Washington in 2029 and permitting reform hasn’t been accomplished this Congress, it will be too late,” they write. 

They note that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided tens of billions of dollars for clean energy projects, but that effectively no projects were underway three years after enactment. 

RUNDOWN 

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