"I've been doing this work a long time but nothing prepared me for what I saw on a recent reporting trip in Somalia. I was there to look into rising food and fuel prices from the war in the Middle East landing atop dramatic cuts to the international humanitarian relief system" - Peter Goodman in NYT

Americans have paid an extra $42 billion for gas and diesel since the war began. This administration's energy policies has cost the average US household $1,508, according to calculations by @leahstokes.bsky.social. The bill for keeping aging coal plants running alone could customers $6 billion/yr.

Energy secretary Chris Wright today talking up nat gas: "More energy means more freedom and opportunity...if you don’t have energy your freedom to keep your house warm and lights on is constricted." Given what they're doing to Cuba, it almost sounds like a threat. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/w...

"By mid-May, higher prices for just two energy products — gasoline and diesel fuel — added nearly $40 billion in costs to American consumers. That’s more than the Pentagon’s cost estimate of its military operations, now approaching $29 billion."

This will also plunge Cuba deeper into humanitarian crisis, as @jayapal.house.gov and @jonathanjackson.house.gov warned in the NYT a few days ago: "During blackouts, doctors sometimes have to manually pump ventilators to keep babies alive." www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/o...

My guess is that the percentage of Americans who are aware that we are blockading and immiserating a neighboring country is in the single digits. Its not an invasion, but involves the use of American military force with the intent of collapsing the government.

We have clear line-of-sight to the full depletion of all the oil stockpiles except the Chinese strategic reserves in an amount of time measured in weeks, which is probably the point at which oil prices will double or even more.

While chatting with some friends, it occurred to me that other people could benefit from a summary understanding of what's going on in the oil and gas markets. Here are some little pictures to give you the big picture. 🧵

btw, regulators confirmed to us this morning that the 19 new turbines (and the 27 already on site) are not part of an air permit granted in March, meaning xAI has more than 1 GW of unpermitted gas power at Colossus 2 right now

Can't imagine why people are so mad at data centers, hmm... 🤔

BURGUM: When the sun goes down, solar produces zero electricity HUFFMAN: I want to enter into the record this amazing new technology that apparently the secretary is unaware of -- it's a battery

Gallup: 7 of 10 Americans hate data centers; most would rather live near *nuclear power plants.* NYT: Hating data centers is "most bipartisan issue since beer." I'm no political mastermind. But seems like something candidates might want to, uh, take note of. www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/...

Apparently Ford agrees. Goodbye F-150 Lightning, hello utility-scale battery business: www.fordenergy.com/newsroom/int...

JP Morgan underpants gnomes hard at work:

A supertanker docked in Long Beach just delivered California’s last incoming shipment of Middle Eastern oil, a milestone for drivers already paying the nation’s highest fuel prices. 🔗 on.wsj.com/4dfUEv9

The energy transition would easily pay for itself in avoided death and disease from air pollution *alone*... PM2.5 health damages cost $8 trillion or 6% of global GDP, according to World Bank. (And that's just one pollutant.) documents.worldbank.org/en/publicati...

Seems bad. But the most important thing is that, whatever happens, **Democrats must not talk at all about this**

This is something fundamental happening in both demand and supply side of energy: people can now just buy gear, absent policy support, at a scale that shifts the energy system! It’s gone well beyond rooftop solar panels for rich households getting FiTs.

"The managing director at Green Way Solar has noticed a sharp increase in interest. Last fall his company was receiving about 10 inquiries a week. Now it gets 20 a day. 'The general feeling we’re hearing from clients now is that they’re just getting fed up with the uncertainty of energy prices.'"

Dems in the southeast: why aren't you talking about the (climate-driven) home insurance affordability crisis? Smdh. Political malpractice.

Strange but true: Trump is doing more to realize the Green New Deal vision than Sunrise Movement could ever have dreamed of

"Energy abundance, energy affordability, all-of-the-above — they're the same look!"

Yet more evidence that Trump has (inadvertently, disastrously) done more to crush fossil fuel demand than any other 21st century leader. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/08/b...

Sure okay, candidates will tack into political winds, pivot messaging in ways that make sense in local races. It was ever thus. But I'm not sure where this idea that Democrats won't shut up about climate change came from. Kamala Harris barely mentioned those words! www.nytimes.com/2026/05/09/o...

This was over a year ago now. (Remember DOGE?) But the fallout of letting 19 yr old SpaceX interns rampage through federal agencies, armed with ChatGPT and a mandate from Project 2025 to storm NOAA and other bastions of "climate alarmism" continues to reverberate... www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/o...

NEW: "This is the pivot point in the energy transition folks. Fossil chaos drives people to electrotech, as this is the first oil shock with a superior alternative" said Ember analyst @kingsmillbond.bsky.social 2 months of data & policy shifts now in.Receipts: www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/daw...

wandering the Sonora desert in a carefree fashion like

SCOOP: A confidential new CIA analysis delivered to policymakers this week concludes that Iran can survive the U.S. naval blockade for at least 3 to 4 months before facing more severe economic hardship, a finding that contradicts those hailing an imminent collapse 🧵

Different grim climate indicator, similar shaped curve: reported tick bites are triple the average for this time of year

Worth noting: Justin Pearson cut his teeth fighting—successfully—an oil pipeline slated to cut through a key aquifer and Black neighborhoods in Memphis. His words close out the last chapter of my book GASLIGHT, about another pipeline fight: "Because we will never quit, we know we will win.”

In return for $4.50 gas, Americans are getting to watch US deterrence capabilities get degraded in real time

"The most fossil fuel-friendly government in recent U.S. history has shown us all just how risky reliance on oil and gas can be." I wrote that 5 weeks ago. 5 weeks later, Strait of Hormuz's still effectively closed. And the lesson's getting seared deeper by the day. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/01/o...

I very much appreciate @dwallacewells.bsky.social exploring how the coming Super El Niño might test society's fragile defenses—and the political economy of climate. There aren't that many contemporary writers engaging with these kinds of questions in this depth. 🔥 www.nytimes.com/2026/05/06/o...

"The amount of power consumed by US data centers is likely to more than double to 106 gigawatts in the decade through 2035, with natural gas set to play a key role" – @bloomberg.com

Ag secretary confirming 1 in 4 US farmers has no fertilizer secured, American Farm Bureau survey says up to 70% can’t afford enough fertilizer for the season under the spiked costs Honestly shocked this isn’t bigger news. 25% of farms are just not planting at all this season. Farm bankruptcy up 46%

"The amount of power consumed by US data centers is likely to more than double to 106 gigawatts in the decade through 2035, with natural gas set to play a key role" – @bloomberg.com

If you're looking for a tale of everyday people overcoming the fatalism @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social describes—and forging a coalition across partisan, racial, economic divides in conservative rural VA to stop a massive fossil fuel project—might I suggest GASLIGHT? press.princeton.edu/books/ebook/...

Wild time to be alive, watching all the pundits and think tanks and oil/gas CEOs scrambling to regain control of their "energy security" narrative like a horse that's bolted out the barn.

Prediction: there's a future Pulitzer waiting for the journalists who report out Musk/DOGE's destruction of USAID and its global consequences. The ultimate "true crime" story.

We've known this for a while, yes? New Orleans is most exposed. But sea's coming for Miami, Norfolk, Charleston too. What's wild is that *zero* people in positions of authority will say it out loud. Sure, not a great re-election message. But still. You'd think at least one would acknowledge reality.

fighting drought by harvesting energy. you love to see it

There are strong parallels btw/ politics of data centers and big gas pipelines. This backlash echoes what many ppl (liberal and conservative) told me while reporting GASLIGHT: they saw "all pain, no gain" for communities on pipeline route, near compressor stations and new gas plants it would feed.

Since the Middle East war began Europe's EV market has been accelerating sharply. Q1 2026 registrations hit 547,000 — up 32% on the same period last year. But the real story is March 2026 with almost 50% more than in March 2025. More in next newsletter sign up here janrosenow.substack.com

Is electricity demand growth AND fossil decline possible? Australia says YES 🇦🇺 Fossil generation is now down 23% since the peak in 2009, despite demand rising 14% over the same period. Solar and wind have grown 20x since then and now make up a third of Australia's electricity.

If you're looking for a tale of everyday people overcoming the fatalism @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social describes—and forging a coalition across partisan, racial, economic divides in conservative rural VA to stop a massive fossil fuel project—might I suggest GASLIGHT? press.princeton.edu/books/ebook/...

Taking a break from energy/climate/Hormuz-related posting for some Maple Dominance content: Vermont's 2026 maple syrup output (yet again) accounts for more than half of US production. You're welcome, America. #FreedomAndUnity vtdigger.org/2026/04/19/s...

Update one month later: IEA head has seen enough, says fossil demand has taken a permanent hit. "There will be a significant boost to renewables and nuclear power and a further shift towards a more electrified future. This will cut into main markets for oil.” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

I know there’s a lot going on, but people and the national media are sleeping on the absolute collapse of water reservoirs from the Colorado River to Texas

Something that's rare? Major fossil fuel producers - including Nigeria, Canada and Australia - getting together to find concrete ways to transition away from fossil fuels. That's what's happening with more than 50 countries gathered in Santa Marta Colombia right now. 📻🎧 only on @npr.org ⬇️ 🇨🇴🇳🇬🇨🇦🇦🇺+🌏

The Trump administration is downsizing US science by historic margins — but it's not just via funding or workforce cuts. Our new @nature.com analysis reveals the government has cut more than 100 scientific advisory panels across major agencies. w/ @alexwitze.bsky.social @dangaristo.bsky.social