More attacks in Iran
** The shaky ceasefire between the US and Iran has been tested further, with American forces targeting Iranian drones and radar sites, and Iran firing missiles at US bases in the Gulf. The US military said it had shot down four Iranian “one-way attack drones” launched towards the Strait of Hormuz, which it said “posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic”.
Oil warning
** The oil industry is warning the Trump administration that a Hormuz-sized hole in the world’s petroleum market is steadily draining inventories to levels that are likely to send global energy prices surging in the next several weeks, according to four executives. Industry executives have flagged the issue to senior White House officials and Cabinet members in recent weeks as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing dialogue with the U.S. energy industry, the people said.
Secret help
** The US military is secretly helping ships circumvent Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz along a new route hugging the Omani coast.
EV sales
** One in four new cars sold worldwide last year was electric, according to International Energy Agency (IEA) data cited by UBS, marking a landmark moment for the transition away from the internal combustion engine.
US Energy
** The Trump administration is unleashing $700 million to help the coal industry. President Trump announced that he’d use wartime powers under the Defense Production Act to funnel $425 million to boost 13 coal plants across the U.S. Another $75 million will go toward building an export terminal in Oakland, California, and $185 million is slated for the construction of two new coal plants in Alaska and West Virginia.
** A survey out this week from Heatmap shows that 71% of Americans say they’d somewhat oppose or strongly oppose a data center being built near where they live. Just 42% said the same last fall. The mounting blowback comes alongside a wave of data center project cancellations, according to Heatmap: At least 20 projects were called off in the first quarter of this year.
** A rumor swirling on social media and pushed by some state lawmakers claims Frito-Lay is refusing to buy potatoes grown on land that has hosted solar panels, but the company says that’s not true, and experts say the arrays don’t put the tubers at risk.
** The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission formally moves to rescind a Biden-era rule that would’ve required public companies to disclose their climate risks and emissions, after already vowing not to defend the rule against court challenges.