WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY:
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WHAT → happen → ?
While Callie and Maydeen won’t be in New York for this year’s Climate Week, please don’t hesitate to shoot us a note if you’d like to connect over the phone or share any tips.
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you → hesitate → tips
- ⛽📈 We’re following surging diesel prices, and the ongoing debate over whether the administration should pursue an export ban to lower prices at the pump.
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administration → follow → pump
Plus, we have an exclusive interview with Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania, a key figure behind President Donald Trump’s “rain tax” executive order signed last week.
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we → have → order
If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here.
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you → send → you
If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.
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we → sign → list
FUEL EXPERTS WARN AGAINST DIESEL EXPORT BAN:
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EXPERTS → warn → BAN
The effort to impose a ban on diesel exports is gaining momentum as prices reach record highs but some analysts caution that a ban would only offer a short-term solution.
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ban → impose → solution
Garret Golding, assistant vice president for energy programs at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, wrote on X that a diesel ban could place a downward pressure on wholesale prices in the U.S., especially in the Gulf Coast.
But he noted that removing U.S. diesel exports would reduce global supply, pushing diesel and distillate prices higher.
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removing → write → prices
Those prices would also backfire on portions of the U.S. that rely on imports, such as the East Coast.
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that → backfire → Coast
Golding noted that refineries that could no longer export diesel would quickly run out of storage space and be forced to reduce their run rates.
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that → note → rates
“[W]hen you reduce run rates because you can’t export distillate/diesel, you end up reducing how much gasoline, jet fuel and other refined products you’re producing – which means higher prices,” Golding wrote.
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Golding → reduce → prices
Bob McNally, founder and president at Rapidan Energy Group, also said on Bloomberg TV today that a ban would cause prices abroad to “skyrocket.”
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prices → say → TV
Similar to Golding, he noted that prices in coastal areas like the Northeast could go higher.
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prices → note → Northeast
“You would get a short-term abrupt collapse in pump prices for diesel in Texas, Louisiana, sort of the midcontinent area on the coasts.
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You → get → coasts
I don’t think they fall much; they probably go higher,” he said.
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he → think → ?
“And the U.S. would shatter its reputation as a safe place to invest for a generation.”
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U.S. → shatter → generation
Where do prices stand now?
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prices → stand → ?
The states with the highest diesel prices include California at $8.42, Washington at $7.44, and Hawaii at $7.18 per gallon.
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states → include → gallon
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa has called on President Donald Trump to place an embargo on diesel exports to help lower prices.
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Grassley → call → prices
Grassley noted that farmers and the agricultural sector would soon see prices soar because of the high cost of fuel.
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prices → note → fuel
Senate Majority Leader John Thune last week told reporters he would be willing to consider a ban.
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he → tell → ban
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has also asked the administration to impose a 90-day ban on U.S. diesel exports.
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Landry → ask → exports
The Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association today put out a statement responding to the governor’s request, arguing that halting exports would force refineries to reduce production both on diesel and gasoline.
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halting → put → gasoline
“This is a misguided proposal that would cause more harm and increase, not decrease, costs for American families and businesses,” LMOGA president Tommy Faucheux said.
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Faucheux → cause → families
What’s happening abroad?
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What → happen → ?
The conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine have crimped the global fuel supply chain and sent prices soaring.
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conflicts → crimp → prices
Russia’s current export ban on diesel is expected to be extended beyond the end of the month, Bloomberg reports.
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Bloomberg → expect → month
Before the ban, Russia accounted for nearly 10% of global seaborne diesel supplies.
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Russia → account → supplies
Some residents in northeastern Pennsylvania could see a controversial “rain tax” go down the drain, thanks to an executive order pushed by freshman Rep. Rob Bresnahan.
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tax → see → Bresnahan
Bresnahan spoke with Callie and the Examiner’s Zach Halaschak on Friday, saying that the order signed by Trump last week will provide tax relief in his district – specifically relief related to a levy on how much it rains.
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it → speak → much
This tax stems from an Obama executive order in 2009 that pressured states and local governments within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed to fund restoration and protection projects.
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that → stem → projects
The bill for these projects trickled down to homeowners.
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bill → trickle → homeowners
Since 2019, residents in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties have been paying an additional tax each quarter on rainwater that collects on their sidewalks, driveways, rooftops, stone pathways, and other surfaces on their property deemed impervious.
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that → pay → property
The larger those surfaces are, the higher that quarterly fee floats for each taxpayer.
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fee → float → taxpayer
“Instead of those dollars going to fix our roads or support local police or fire departments, all that money goes to meet pollution requirements aimed at cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay, which is more than 200 miles away from Pennsylvania’s Eighth Congressional District,” Bresnahan said.
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Bresnahan → go → District
The Republican said that one local official he spoke with said that the fines for noncompliance would have been as high as $10,000 per day.
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fines → say → day
And property owners in his district have been facing a rain tax bill ranging from $65 to $2,000 per year.
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owners → face → year
Last week’s order: Last Wednesday, Trump rescinded the Obama order, paving the way for such “rain taxes” to be lifted.
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taxes → rescind → way
Bresnahan told the Examiner that reversing the 2009 regulations has been a priority his entire first term in Congress, and that he began working with the Office of Legislative Affairs on “day one.”
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he → tell → day
…and 63 more, not listed.
The Aporia
