week ending Aug 15

Markets eye Fed hold after retail sales, consumer confidence fall   --High prices appear to be weighing on economic activity, complicating the outlook for the Federal Reserve's upcoming monetary policy meeting. The advanced reading on retail sales, as tracked by the Census Bureau, showed activity declined by 0.6% in July, despite a World Cup boost. Also, the University of Michigan's latest survey of consumers results showed sentiment has declined for both individuals and businesses.

• Key insight: Reports on retail sales and consumer confidence paint a picture of an economy weakening under the pressure of high prices. 
• Expert quote: "The economy is highly dependent on consumer spending – close to 70% of GDP can be traced back to it – so it's a case of be careful what you wish for, because too big a slowdown, and especially too prolonged a slowdown, could end up hurting corporate profits and, in turn, the stock market." —Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer of Charlotte-based Northlight Asset Management
• Forward look: The Fed still has another month's worth of data to collect before convening its next monetary policy meeting. Until then, markets are split on the best path forward.

Fed's Goolsbee Says Inflation Is Biggest Problem As September Rate Decision Nears - Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee said inflation remains the biggest problem facing the U.S. economy, arguing that persistent price increases pose a greater threat than current weakness in employment. "The biggest problem facing our economy right now is not the collapse of industry and the collapse of jobs; it's that prices have been rising too fast," Goolsbee said in remarks published by Wired on Aug. 11. He added that "we got an inflation problem, and people hate inflation." His comments came less than two weeks after the Federal Open Market Committee voted 9-3 on July 29 to keep the federal funds target range at 3.5%-3.75%. Fed Governors Beth Hammack, Neel Kashkari and Lorie Logan dissented in favor of a 25-basis-point rate increase, according to the Fed's official statement. The Fed's July statement said inflation remained elevated relative to its 2% goal, citing supply shocks including higher energy prices. The committee said it would continue pursuing price stability while maintaining its dual mandate. The latest official consumer-price data available before Goolsbee's remarks showed headline CPI rising 3.5% over the 12 months through June, while core CPI increased 2.6%. Energy prices rose 15.7%, with gasoline up 26.7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That inflation backdrop remains materially above the Fed's 2% objective. The Bureau of Labor Statistics scheduled the July CPI release for Aug. 12 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, making the report the next major official test of the inflation trend. Goolsbee described the labor market as "stable, without being good," according to the remarks provided. His assessment places greater weight on persistent inflation than on evidence of a sharp deterioration in employment. That distinction matters because the Fed's July policy decision explicitly said job gains had kept pace with the workforce and that unemployment had changed little. The committee therefore did not identify labor-market deterioration as sufficient reason to reduce rates. The policy tension is visible in the July vote. Three FOMC members wanted higher rates, while six other voting members joined the decision to hold the target range at 3.5%-3.75%, according to the Fed. The next FOMC meeting is scheduled for Sept. 15-16, giving policymakers more than a month to assess the July CPI, July PPI and additional labor-market data. Goolsbee does not vote on the FOMC's policy decision in 2026, but his comments provide a public indication of how at least one regional Fed president is weighing the inflation-employment trade-off. The Fed has not committed to a predetermined September move. Its July statement said the committee would assess incoming information, the evolving economic outlook and the balance of risks when determining future policy. The July CPI report is particularly important because June's headline inflation rate was 3.5%, while core inflation stood at 2.6%. A further decline would provide evidence that price pressures are moving toward the Fed's target; renewed acceleration would reinforce the argument for maintaining or increasing policy restraint. Energy prices remain a significant variable. BLS data showed gasoline prices were 26.7% higher year-on-year in June, while electricity prices increased 4%, illustrating the extent to which energy was contributing to the headline inflation rate. The positive signal for policymakers is that the Fed still has a functioning labor market alongside inflation that, while elevated, is being measured through a clear set of official indicators. The July CPI and subsequent data will determine whether that balance is sufficient for the central bank to hold rates or whether the inflation problem Goolsbee identified pushes policy toward further tightening.

Inflation expectations fall in key Fed survey | American Banker   — Consumer inflation expectations for the year ahead have moderated but remain above the Federal Reserve's 2% target.

• Key insight: One of the Federal Reserve's preferred methods for gauging inflation expectations painted an improving — if not quite optimistic — outlook on inflation expectations. 
• Expert quote: "The ability to look through supply shocks depends, in part, on inflation expectations and underlying inflation. Expectations remain well-anchored." — Anna Paulson, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
• Forward look: Inflation expectations could influence the FOMC's next interest rate decision, but they will have to be factored in alongside additional information about observed inflation and the job market.

DOGE failed — America's budget deficit problem is getting worse - The U.S. budget deficit is swelling in 2026 on the back of increased outlays and tariff refunds, underscoring how last year’s efforts to slash government spending failed to halt the ongoing growth of the nation’s nearly $40-trillion debt. According to the Treasury’s latest monthly statement, the government brought in $334 billion while spending $766 billion in July. This resulted in a deficit of $432 billion for the month—equivalent to $14 billion per day—the highest month total since March 2021 and the highest July total ever recorded. When approached for comment, the Treasury noted that July is typically a “deficit month” because there are no major tax deadlines, and the fact that August 1 was a nonbusiness day, meaning spending on various kinds of benefits was pulled forward, resulting in an additional $99 billion hit in July. The deficit has now swollen to $1.8 trillion for the first 10 months of the government’s fiscal year, which ends on September 30. This is up from $1.6 trillion for the same period a year prior, and is more than the total for the whole of the last fiscal year, raising concern among fiscally hawkish voices on Capitol Hill. “We are already feeling the consequences of this extreme borrowing—high interest rates, trillion-dollar interest payments, and looming trust fund insolvency that threatens benefits for Social Security and Medicare,” Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said in a statement this week. And much of this furor has been directed at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), President Donald Trump’s now-dissolved cost-cutting agency, which faces ongoing criticism for its aggressive actions and for overstating what was achieved during its brief existence. Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, reacted to a post about the swelling deficit, writing on X: “The failure of DOGE in one sentence…” DOGE’s de facto leader, Elon Musk, originally outlined a goal of at least $2 trillion in savings, which was subsequently halved and further revised down to a $150 billion cut from the budget for the 2026 fiscal year. The advisory agency was officially wound up on July 4 but quietly dissolved late last year, at which point the White House told Newsweek President Trump would continue to “actively deliver” on his promise to “reduce waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government.” While in operation, DOGE published its findings and actions—such as canceled contracts—on its website’s “Wall of Receipts.” The website remains online and still shows the figure of $215 billion in “estimated savings.” Last week, however, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report that found that DOGE’s claim of $110 billion in taxpayer savings through canceled contracts, grants and leases was unreliable and lacked “supporting evidence.” The GAO, an independent congressional watchdog, said DOGE was not transparent in how it calculated savings, and often took credit for contract cancellations that either never occurred or occurred before the agency itself was established. “108 leases it reported that it cut were already being phased out when DOGE was established,” the GAO wrote in its report. “It’s official: DOGE LIED about how much money it saved our government,” Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren posted to X. “A government watchdog just uncovered that DOGE overstated savings by BILLIONS.” “DOGE fought the Swamp and the Swamp won,” wrote Governor DeSantis, while blaming Congress for not codifying the advisory body and its recommendations. “The goal was to reduce the budget…and reduce the deficit,” he said. “Of course Congress needed to enact it into law. It didn’t.”

Hegseth Says Congress Should Pay Tribute to Lindsey Graham by Approving $1.5 Trillion Military Budget -    US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth called on Congress to approve his request for a $1.5 trillion military budget for 2027 during remarks at a ceremony in South Carolina for the renaming of Joint Base Charleston to Joint Base Lindsey Graham in honor of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died unexpectedly last month.  Hegseth claimed that before he died, Graham told him that the $1.5 trillion request was the best military budget he’d ever seen. “As we gather here today, the War Department is seeking a historic generational investment of $1.5 trillion for American warriors. And Lindsey himself said, to me in his office, ‘this is the best military budget I’ve seen since I’ve been in Congress,'” Hegseth said, according to a transcript released by the Pentagon. “This department pays tribute to Lindsey Graham in the naming of this base, but there could be no greater tribute than Congress could give than to invest in our warriors for the full $1.5 trillion,” he added. Hegseth said that he had known Graham for nearly 20 years, going back to when he was a member of a veterans group pushing for the US to escalate the war in Iraq. “Nineteen years ago, young lieutenant, uh, First Lieutenant Pete Hegseth came back from Iraq and was a part of a veterans’ organization called Vets for Freedom that believed in the surge in Iraq and advocated for the troops on the ground,” he said. “The first and only senator willing to meet with First Lieutenant Pete Hegseth and nowheresville Vets for Freedom was Sen. Lindsey Graham.” The event came as Hegseth has been struggling to get support from Congress for the full $1.5 trillion military budget, a nearly 50% increase from this year’s budget. The Trump administration seeks to reach that figure through a $1.15 trillion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) plus a supplemental funding bill worth about $350 billion. Hegseth said that he and Graham discussed the plan just a week before the senator’s death.  “He looked at me and said, how’s $355 billion sound? He wanted to give even more than $350 billion. He wanted to ensure our military was as equipped as humanly possible, because he was thinking of places like this one right here,” Hegseth said.  Lindsey Graham was notorious for his hawkishness, and following his death, footage came out of him laughing and celebrating days after the start of the US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran, a war he had been pushing for years.

GOP senators criticize Trump administration’s handling of Iran funding request -- Republican senators are criticizing the Trump administration’s handling of an emergency request for $70 billion in defense spending to cover the costs of the Iran conflict and warning that the Pentagon will need to do a better job explaining its war plan to get the money. GOP senators emerged from a briefing with Vice President Vance last week, underwhelmed by the insights they got into the conflict and complaining that the status of U.S. missile reserves remains murky at best. The Republican senators, who requested anonymity to discuss Vance’s briefing in the Senate’s Mansfield Room, said the administration has sent “mixed messages” about whether it’s facing a critical shortage of long-range missiles and missile interceptors. Vance told senators last week that claims of a severe missile and munitions shortage are a “misdirection” and an inaccurate description of the strength of U.S. reserves. But some Republican senators are not buying that claim, according to multiple GOP lawmakers who attended the meeting. One GOP senator who attended the meeting with Vance said the vice president assured lawmakers that the Pentagon has the weapons it needs to sustain an intense military offensive against Iran, despite reports that weapons shortages have persuaded President Trump to hold back on escalating attacks. “He was very bold that there was a misdirection and an unfortunate misdirection that emboldens the enemy,” said the lawmaker. “It emboldens the enemy if they think we’re out of ammunition.” But other senators say that Pentagon officials have told lawmakers in briefings that they’re facing a shortage of Tomahawk, Patriot and other long-range missiles that could take years to replenish, given the cost and complexity of those weapons. “There’s a mixed message there,” a second GOP senator said, referring to the conflicting accounts of U.S. missile reserves. Vance’s claims behind closed doors conflicted with a bombshell Reuters report that revealed the U.S. Army has used up much of its global stockpile of accurate long-range missiles during the war with Iran.NBC News reported last week that Trump vented his frustration over the shortage of missiles in an angry call to Steve Feinberg, the deputy Defense secretary, which prompted Feinberg to convene an emergency meeting with senior officials to address the issue. Trump later denied that report, posting on Truth Social: “The U.S. has massive amounts of ‘munitions,’ especially of certain types.” The president said that “large amounts are being manufactured and shipped to the U.S. as needed.” GOP lawmakers also say they have not yet received from the administration a clear plan for ending the war — something they hoped would give more momentum to the emergency defense funding request that has stalled in the Senate. “I need to know what the strategy is. Congress needs to be involved in the strategy,” said a Republican senator after meeting with Vance. More broadly, GOP lawmakers are frustrated that a war that Trump said would last “four to five weeks” has instead dragged on for more than five months. “I don’t think anybody is satisfied with where things stand with Iran,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).

Iran sees an opportunity to kick the US military out of the Gulf — Iran is seeking to bar US Navy warships from the Strait of Hormuz as part of any agreement to reopen the strategic waterway, using negotiations over commercial shipping to press a broader effort to curb America’s decades-old military presence in the Persian Gulf. The push gained fresh momentum on Sunday when the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission approved a legislative framework that would give the government and armed forces responsibility for security and navigation through the strait. The proposed legislation would prohibit vessels owned by or flying the flags of the United States and Israel, along with ships linked to countries Tehran considers hostile. It marks the clearest attempt yet by Iran to turn restrictions imposed during the war into a lasting system governing passage through one of the world’s most important shipping routes. “Under no circumstances will we retreat, and the Strait of Hormuz will not return to its previous conditions,” Expediency Council chairman Sadegh Amoli Larijani said on Sunday. Iran has separately told mediators that US Navy warships would not be allowed through the strait under any agreement, according to The Wall Street Journal. The demand strikes directly at Washington’s long-standing military position in the Gulf, where Bahrain hosts the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet. Iran and Oman are meanwhile nearing an agreement on temporary shipping lanes through Hormuz. However, Tehran says such an arrangement would not by itself mean a full reopening of the waterway. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that negotiations with Muscat were in their “final stages”, with specialists working on maps for the new maritime routes. “This does not mean the opening of the Strait of Hormuz,” Araghchi said, adding that Washington would have to meet further Iranian conditions before normal traffic could resume. Under proposals discussed in recent days, ships entering the Gulf would use a lane closer to Iran while outbound vessels would sail closer to Oman. The arrangement could give Tehran greater oversight of inbound shipping, while major disagreements remain over fees, inspections and Iran’s authority over vessels leaving the Gulf. Washington has rejected that broader interpretation. A US official said Washington would lift its blockade of Iranian ports once commercial shipping resumed without impediments, while making clear that American measures would depend on Tehran fulfilling its commitments. The Trump administration has also rejected Iranian tolls or restrictions on access, particularly any attempt to exclude American military vessels. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has taken a harder line. “The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz is subject to the specific mechanisms and conditions of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Guard spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said on Saturday. The confrontation over Hormuz comes as veteran Revolutionary Guard figures gain greater influence inside Iran’s national security establishment. President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday appointed Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guard, as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. Rezaei replaced Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who had laid out sweeping conditions a day earlier for reopening the strait. Zolghadr demanded that Washington end military operations, remove sanctions, lift its blockade of Iranian ports, withdraw naval and air forces from around Iran, release frozen Iranian assets and compensate Tehran for war damage. “The Strait of Hormuz will not open until America corrects its behaviour,” he said. Rezaei, who commanded the Revolutionary Guard from 1981 to 1997, now moves to the centre of decision-making over the waterway as Tehran seeks to turn military leverage into political concessions. Jonathan Panikoff, a former senior US intelligence officer now at the Atlantic Council, told the Wall Street Journal that whatever Washington decides, the likely outcome would be “significant Iranian de facto control over the strait”. Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, said Tehran’s proposed system was designed to give it the ability to deny passage to vessels it considers hostile. “Iran’s control is designed to provide tools to deny access to hostile vessels,” Vaez said. The dispute carries consequences far beyond the military confrontation. Around 20 million barrels of oil a day passed through Hormuz in 2024, equivalent to roughly one-fifth of global petroleum consumption, according to the US Energy Information Administration. About a fifth of global liquefied natural gas trade also moved through the strait, most of it from Qatar. Traffic has fallen sharply during the conflict as shipping companies remain reluctant to risk vessels without guarantees against Iranian attacks or mines. On one day in July, only three commodity vessels crossed Hormuz, compared with an average of about 125 ships a day before the conflict. An earlier US-Iran agreement briefly raised hopes that normal traffic could resume. In June, Trump announced an Iran deal and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, but the arrangement later unravelled as hostilities resumed and Tehran pressed for greater authority over shipping. For Gulf energy exporters, the latest proposal could restore access to their main commercial lifeline. But it also carries a strategic price: accepting a permanent Iranian role in deciding how ships move through the region’s most important waterway. For Tehran, that increasingly appears to be the objective.

Trump Says US Is Only 'Semi-Negotiating' With Iran -   President Trump said on Sunday that the US was “low-keying it” with Iran and only “semi-negotiating” with the country, comments that come after a senior Iranian official laid out multiple conditions for the opening of the Strait of Hormuz.“We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” Trump told Axios reporter Barak Ravid, comments that were taken as a signal that the US will continue the blockade and economic pressure against Iran but won’t launch a major military escalation.A day earlier, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said that the conditions for the opening of the Strait of Hormuz include the US ending its threats against Iran, permanently ending the war and the other wars against Iran’s allies in Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, and Yemen, lifting the naval blockade on Iranian ports, and pulling back US forces from the region.Zolghadr also laid out economic conditions, including the lifting of all sanctions, the unfreezing of Iranian assets, and compensation for the war damages. “The Supreme National Security Council will not retreat from these demands, whether in war or in negotiations,” he said, according to Iran’s Mehr news agency. Zolghadr’s demands are similar to the conditions Iran has laid out throughout the war for a broader deal with the US. But now Iran is demanding those conditions just to open the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting that Tehran sees the US as weakened in the region amid reports of depleting US military stockpiles and after Iran’s military was able to inflict significant damage and casualties in its strikes during the last round of attacks. Iranian officials have previously said that a deal with Oman on the Strait of Hormuz was close but that it wouldn’t mean the waterway would be fully opened as long as the US continued its aggression against the Islamic Republic, referring to the blockade. The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that Trump was laying the groundwork to declare victory if the Strait of Hormuz was fully opened and suggested to aides that he would be willing to walk away without a nuclear deal. The report said Iran’s demands have complicated that idea, and the plan now seems to be to continue the status quo for the time being.

Iran’s steep demands for US over Strait of Hormuz threaten to derail reopening - A deal between Iran and Oman to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is teetering over steep demands from Tehran for the United States and vice versa. Iran on Sunday said the agreement to set up new shipping lanes was in its final stages but repeated ​that the vital waterway would only reopen once Washington met certain conditions. Those stipulations include that the U.S. withdraw its naval blockade, pay Tehran compensation for damages from the war, unfreeze the country’s assets, lift sanctions and permanently end the conflict against the regime and its regional allies. President Trump, in turn, on Monday demanded compensation from Iran for “all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts,” as well as to the families of protestors the Iranian government has killed over the past 50 years. He later amended his demand to insist Iran also be responsible for “the damages and death caused to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza!” “I have instructed my representatives to put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. The tit for tat is threatening to upend progress made in the Iran-Oman talks as the Trump administration presses the regime for its own concessions, even as Tehran’s demands largely fall within the framework of the initial deal it signed with Washington in June. “Today’s response sounded to me like frustration kind of seeping out, understandably, because he’s in a pretty difficult position right now,” said Jason Campbell, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. Campbell added that in Iran reconstituting some of their demands made in the memorandum of understanding signed between the two sides earlier this summer, it’s putting Trump in a politically sensitive place. “It’s going to be very difficult for him to claim any kind of a victory if, after all of this, the strait is reopened, but Iran now has more leverage over the strait, is now able to support itself better from the economic benefits of the strait,” he told The Hill. “It’s so close to the midterms, it’s going to, in essence, look like a loss” for Trump. Rosemary Kelanic, the director of the Middle East program at Defense Priorities, likewise saw Trump’s lash out as “an expression of frustration” rather than a real bargaining position from the United States. “Trump’s position is weakening, but then, as a result of that, [Iran is] pushing for more concessions from Trump,” Kelanic told The Hill. “But more concessions is harder for Trump to give, so he’s going to be less willing to give them. So, it’s quite possible that no agreement comes out of this, and we don’t get much further.”

Trump Responds To Iran's Calls for Compensation for War Damages To Open Strait of Hormuz -- President Trump on Monday responded to an Iranian official calling for the US to provide compensation for damage caused by the war as a condition for the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, saying that instead, Iran should pay the US.  “I see that Representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran are asking for compensation for the damage done to them during the last five months Military Conflict (started because, THEY WILL NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON), even though it was never mentioned in any of our negotiations or meetings!” the president wrote on Truth Social.  Trump added that he was now “likewise demanding compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts” and falsely linked Iran to the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen, an attack that, according to the FBI, was carried out by al-Qaeda. Trump said that Iran should also pay compensation to the families of “thousands of innocent protestors” and repeated the claim that Iranian security forces killed 52,000 people during the unrest in January, a number that has no basis.  The Iranian government has acknowledged that more than 3,000 people, including over 200 Iranian security personnel, were killed. The HRANA, a US-based and US-funded NGO, put the number at more than 7,000 people, including Iranian security personnel, and has said it is investigating more reported deaths, but nowhere near the number Trump claims.  In a follow-up post, Trump said that Iran should also be “responsible for the damages and death caused to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza.”  Notably missing from Trump’s post was any threat to launch strikes against Iran, as the president has signaled that, for the time being, he’s content with the status quo, which involves the US enforcing a blockade on Iranian ports and maintaining economic pressure on Iran.

Trump demands compensation for US from Iran - President Trump on Monday demanded reparations from Iran for those who have died amid the conflict, after Tehran called for compensation for damages. “I see that Representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran are asking for compensation for the damage done to them during the last five month Military Conflict (started because, THEY WILL NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON), even though it was never mentioned in any of our negotiations or meetings!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. The president called it an “interesting idea” and said he would start “demanding compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts.” He said the compensation would cover those killed in the USS Cole attack in October 2000, among others. Trump also said compensation should be given to the families of the protesters who were killed in Iran “over the last 50 years, not to mention the 52,000 that have been killed in the last five months.” The president said that, moving forward, the compensation requirement will be added to negotiations. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said over the weekend that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the U.S. “corrects its behavior,” CBS News reported. New demands were issued in the statement by the council’s secretary, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr. The reported statement said that the U.S. must never threaten Iran again, and must permanently end the war, lift the naval blockade and withdraw its military. The U.S. must also “completely compensate” Iran for damages from the five-monthlong war, lift sanctions and “unconditionally” release frozen assets. Trump said Sunday that the U.S. is “only semi-negotiating” with Iran. “We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” he told Axios in a phone interview. Trump maintained that Iran “is in very bad shape” There was an agreement negotiated last week between Iran and Oman about who would govern traffic through the strait but not much has come from it. The deal said Iran would get partial control over incoming traffic — a point people view as a concession to Iran.

Iran Says the US Has an 'Addiction' to Economic Sanctions - - Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Monday that the US has an “addiction” to sanctions and vowed that Iran wouldn’t be “strangled” by the economic pressure.“The US Secretary of the Treasury has boasted of ‘suffocating’ Iran through economic sanctions,” Baghaei wrote on X, appearing to reference comments made by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent back in May. “Beyond its sheer pathos, the claim is a stark testament to America’s compulsive addiction to sanctions. Whenever Washington proves itself incapable of pursuing diplomacy, it retreats into sanctions; and whenever those sanctions fail to produce results, it simply increases the dose,” Baghaei added.His post came a day after President Trump said that the US was only “semi-negotiating” with Iran and “watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money,” suggesting he planned to continue attempts to crush the Iranian economy after weeks of military strikes failed to force Tehran’s capitulation.Baghaei noted that Iran has been facing US economic pressure for many years. “Iran has demonstrated over decades that it will not be strangled by these exhausted refrains,” he said. “The real risk is that American politicians, clinging to this bad habit, will instead strangle their own remaining chances of a less humiliating exit from a crisis of their own making.”Today, the US economic pressure includes the continued blockade of Iranian ports, which US Central Command has claimed involved the “re-directing” of 55 ships since it was re-imposed last month. Iranian officials have said the blockade must be lifted for the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened. Iran has laid out other conditions, including the lifting of economic sanctions, the release of frozen Iranian funds, and compensation for war damages.

BofA: Hormuz Needs 10 Times More Ships to Stabilize Oil Markets - Bank of America (BoFA) is warning that oil prices could continue climbing into the winter if the U.S. and Iran fail to reach an agreement reopening the Strait of Hormuz, with severe shortages already emerging in diesel, gasoline and global natural gas markets. “We’ve been expecting oil to be in the $70 to $80 a barrel range for Brent on the assumption that we were going to see some resolution,” Francisco Blanch, Bank of America’s head of commodities and derivatives research, told CNBC on Monday. “But if we don’t, we’re going to keep creeping higher into the winter.”The warning comes as negotiations over reopening Hormuz remain unresolved and tanker traffic through the world’s most important oil chokepoint remains a fraction of pre-war levels.Blanch said only around 5 to 10 ships per day are currently passing through Hormuz, compared with roughly 140 before the war. With some crude now being rerouted through Saudi Arabia and the UAE, traffic would need to recover to around 80 to 100 ships per day just to stabilize energy markets.“We have enough crude oil for now, but we have true shortages in diesel markets, gasoline markets and also global gas,” Blanch said. “We have some serious shortfalls in end products in the energy markets right now.”Those shortages are showing up most dramatically in refining margins. Blanch said diesel crack spreads–the difference between diesel and crude prices–have surged to roughly $80-$85 per barrel, meaning the diesel differential alone is now higher than the price of WTI crude. “That’s kind of never happened before except for a few occasions,” he said, adding that gasoline differentials are also extremely high and refining margins have reached record levels.Inventories offer considerably less protection than during previous supply disruptions. “We don’t have the inventories that we used to have,” Blanch said, warning that failure to secure an agreement could bring another escalation.Brent crude was trading at $86.12 per barrel Monday morning, up 3.08%, while WTI was near $80.72, up 3.25%.Bank of America is also urging investors to become more defensive as its bull-and-bear indicator climbs to 9.7, its highest since 2021. Chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett has recommended reducing exposure to risk assets rather than adding to positions, writing that the bank remains in a “Retreat/Rotate not Reload” camp. U.S. equities remain near record highs, leaving investors heavily exposed if another surge in oil and fuel prices spills into inflation and the wider economy.

Suddenly the Strait of Hormuz is 'irrelevant' to the US (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over the weekend claimed the strait would become "irrelevant" as oil would eventually be redirected through pipelines, giving analysts the impression the White House was trying to wash its hands of the whole affair. Best Grounding Sheets For The Money Best Grounding Sheets For The Money Bare Earth Grounding · Sponsored call to action icon Iran said on Sunday that a deal with Oman defining new shipping lanes in the Strait was in its final stages but reiterated that the waterway would only reopen once the United States met other conditions, which seems unlikely. Meanwhile the Houthis say they have resumed attacks on the Red Sea port city of Mocha, which will be making shippers through the Bab el-Mandeb strait nervous. The soft U.S. payrolls number has markets pricing in a 44% chance of a Federal Reserve hike in September, but that could change depending on what the consumer price data shows on Wednesday. Median forecasts are for an increase of 0.1% in the headline and 0.2% for the core. July retail sales are out on Friday and forecasts favour a modest rise of 0.2%, though there is some downside risk given Amazon moved their Prime Day sale to June from July this year. Wall Street futures were a shade lower after a record closes on Friday, with upbeat earnings reports giving the Nasdaq a 5% gain for the week. Earnings are lighter this week but include semiconductor company Applied Materials, networking equipment maker Cisco and cloud infrastructure technology company CoreWeave.

Iranian Official Denies There Have Been Talks Between the US and Iran on Extending MoU Ceasefire - An Iranian source speaking to Reuters has denied that the US and Iran had agreed to extend a 60-day ceasefire under the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding, since the deal fell apart shortly after it was signed.The official was responding to a report from Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, which cited Pakistani government sources who claimed that the US and Iran had agreed to extend the ceasefire for another 60 days before it expired on August 17.“There is no ​talk of an extension because … the United States violated the interim agreement 48 hours after it was reached ​and withdrew from it a few days later,” the Iranian source told Reuters.The source said there had been some talks about reviving the MoU but that they haven’t gotten anywhere. “One of the issues that is being discussed ⁠via mediators is the US returning to the interim agreement and defining a timeframe for implementing its ​commitments. There has been absolutely no progress on this issue,” the official said. Publicly, Iranian officials have been calling on the US to honor the commitments it made when it signed the MoU, which Tehran says is required to open the Strait of Hormuz.“IRAN’s message is clear: the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until the US ends the war and blockade, releases Iran’s frozen assets, and agrees to a region-wide ceasefire, including in Lebanon and Gaza. Until all conditions are met, the Strait will remain closed,” Mohsen Rezaee, the new head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, wrote on X on Tuesday night.

Why Is Iran Acting Like It Is Holding All the Cards in Strait of Hormuz Talks? – WSJ - On Tuesday morning, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went on CNBC to say that a deal could be announced later that day to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The stock market jumped markedly. Alas, there was no deal. Far from it. And on Saturday, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, laid out the conditions for reopening the Strait. They include the U.S. permanently ending the war, lifting its naval blockade, withdrawing forces, ending all sanctions, freeing Iran’s frozen assets, the payment of war reparations and ending threats and insults, among other things.“It shows that they believe they have the upper hand, they believe they’re winning, and they are emboldened,” former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” program.President Trump in February 2025 famously told Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, that he didn’t “have the cards” in talks with Russia.Trump often looks at negotiations in the frame of a power dynamic: Who has the cards? Who has the leverage?The U.S. and Israeli militaries have pounded Iran hard for more than five months, destroying much of its military and killing numerous top leaders. Iran is using the Strait of Hormuz as its final point of leverage.This is somehow proving effective, because there isn’t an easy way to replace this waterway in terms of global trade in the Middle East. Just a few missiles and drones can create a lot of havoc in that waterway. And Iran knows the U.S. has been reticent to send in ground troops to clear out the Strait of Hormuz (not to mention the continuing questions about how many missiles the U.S. military has available).Trump must decide whether to relaunch military strikes, wait them out or try to negotiate.

Trump leans on naval blockade, sanctions to force Iran's hand - President Trump’s efforts to bring the Iran war to an end have faltered several times. The U.S. military’s limited airstrike campaign did not move the needle. Trump’s threats to wipe Iran off the face of the earth didn’t either. Every time there appears to be a breakthrough in diplomatic talks, a wrench gets thrown in the mix, halting progress. Now the president is turning his focus on economic warfare, leaning on crippling sanctions and a U.S. naval blockade to force Iranians to the table in hopes of reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Regional experts who spoke with The Hill said the Trump administration might not get what it wants out of the efforts, some panning the strategy, while others argued it is the only hand Washington has left to play. William Wechsler, former deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Combating Terrorism, said the U.S. going back to war with Iran would have “significant risks” but added that doing another deal along the lines of the memorandum of understanding the two sides signed back in June would be a “disaster.” “The only option that the president has now is to do the option that he’s done, which is just to try to buy time on this,” Wechsler said Wednesday. Wechsler, who is now a senior director of the Rafik Hariri Center and Middle East Programs at the Atlantic Council, said despite the U.S. naval blockade, Iranians are asserting their control over the Strait of Hormuz to eventually start charging tolls to generate revenue, believing they can outlast the U.S. since they are fundamentally not a democracy and Trump is under more pressure because of upcoming elections. Still, the White House believes that Iran’s economy is severely damaged with rising inflation, reduced energy revenues, an uptick in poverty and limited access to foreign currencies. The naval blockade has produced results. During its first iteration, which lasted from April 13 to June 18, the U.S. blockade has cost Iran around $4.8 billion in oil revenue, according to an assessment made by the Pentagon, The Hill reported in May. Wechsler said his concern about the administration’s strategy is that Trump succeeds if he can win domestic battles with the “art of persuasion,” while the regime led by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has another tool in the tool shed apart from “persuasion.” “They have guns that they can use against their people, and typically, people who have guns and are willing to use them against their people, it takes a longer time for them to lose,” he said. Janatan Sayeh, a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), said the administration is being “reactive,” while earlier in the war it was being “proactive.” “Now, the mindset here is one way or another, building leverage or pressure is going to get behavior change, and that in itself I think might be a miscalculation, given that we’ve seen how the Islamic Republic works. They would sabotage the entire country before compromising,” Sayeh said. But Sayeh noted that additional pressure from the U.S. creates avenues that could allow openings for a two-track strategy: one targeting Iranian regime insiders who are unhappy with leadership and another spurring massive protests inside the country. “If there’s going to be uprisings again, what is the strategy to one way or another support this momentum that would be as a direct consequence of the maximum pressure campaign and the economy building up? So if you’re really pushing the country towards that avenue, how are you going to react to it would be two pillars, and I currently don’t see an avenue for him to capitalize on each,” he said in an interview with The Hill on Wednesday. Jonathan Ruhe, a Jewish Institute for National Security of America’s (JINSA) fellow for American Strategy, argued the U.S. is going with the strategy to strangle the Iranian economy, depriving it of funds to pay soldiers and keeping the repressive apparatus of the regime alive, because the administration has “run out of other options” and it marks “an admission of failure” that does not have “any real prospects for success.” “The Iranian regime is more than happy for Trump to focus just on sanctions and blockade. They certainly feel they can ride that out, and their clock in that sense, has more time on it than Trump’s own clock,” Ruhe said in an interview. Sayeh, an FDD analyst who was born in Iran, said blockades and sanctions take time to set in, and it will be up to the administration to outlast the economic impact that Tehran is going to impose on the president politically. “It’s more so the Islamic Republic retaliating by throttling the Strait of Hormuz in response to the blockade, and therefore raising oil prices once again,” he said. Trump claimed on Wednesday that the U.S. has “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz, adding, “I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!” “Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, ‘A WALL OF STEEL,’ and there is nothing Iran can do about it. They have no Navy, they have no Air Force, their remaining soldiers are unpaid, the IRGC is decimated and fleeing, and their ‘Leadership’ is uncertain, at best,” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social. “They have No Money – Their country is ‘shot.’ All they have is FAKE NEWS and 300 percent INFLATION, and getting worse! Iran is all talk and no action, the Bully of the Middle East No Longer,” Trump said. “Praise be to Allah!”  Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority fired back on Wednesday, saying claims and posts by U.S. officials that the waterway is “no longer blocked do not change the reality: the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked and will not be reopened until Iran’s conditions are accepted.” The maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has increased slightly this week, with 14 successful crossings on Tuesday, according to maritime trafficking firm Kpler. Eleven of the 14 ships used the route closer to Iran’s coast. But the figures are far below the prewar numbers, which average north of 100 ship crossings a day. Iran is choking off traffic in the waterway, through which around one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas flow during peacetime, through occasional use of missiles and one-way attack drones to hit transiting ships in the strait, making captains and shipping companies second-guess their decisions to transit through.

US Helicopter Bombs Cargo Ship in the Gulf of Oman - US Central Command on Tuesday announced that a US military helicopter bombed a civilian cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman that it accused of attempting to break the US blockade of Iranian ports.CENTCOM said a US Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles into the engine room of the Panama-flagged Vela Nova after “the ship’s civilian crew ignored repeated warnings from American forces.”“The ship is no longer transiting to Iran in violation of the U.S. blockade, which remains in full effect,” CENTCOM wrote on X, adding that since it re-imposed the blockade last month, it has “redirected 55 commercial vessels attempting to run the blockade, disabled 3 non-compliant vessels, and boarded 2.”According to The Wall Street Journal, the maritime security firm Vanguard reported that the Vela Nova was struck while transiting westbound through the Gulf of Oman about 71 nautical miles from the coast of Pakistan. Vanguard said a fire caused by the strike was extinguished and that all 17 crew members were accounted for.The US also bombed several civilian ships while it was enforcing the blockade earlier in the war, and one strike on a vessel in early June killed three Indian mariners.   Tuesday’s incident highlights the fact that the US is still very much at war with Iran as it continues enforcing a blockade on the country, a blockade that Iranian officials maintain must be lifted in order for the Strait of Hormuz to be opened.

Trump Claims the US Has 'Total Control' Over the Strait of Hormuz and May 'Keep It' -- President Trump claimed on Wednesday that the US has “total control” over the Strait of Hormuz and may “keep it” despite Iran continuing to demonstrate its control of the waterway and engaging in negotiations with Oman on its future.“The USA has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT! Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, ‘A WALL OF STEEL,’ and there is nothing Iran can do about it,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, one day after US forces bombed a ship allegedly attempting to get past the US blockade of Iranian ports.“They have no Navy, they have no Air Force, their remaining soldiers are unpaid, the IRGC is decimated and fleeing, and their ‘Leadership’ is uncertain, at best! They have No Money – Their country is ‘shot.’ All they have is FAKE NEWS and 300% INFLATION, and getting worse! Iran is all talk and no action, the Bully of the Middle East No Longer. Praise be to Allah!” he added.Trump’s post came as Reuters reported that traffic through the strait fell to a one-week low on Tuesday, with just eight ships transiting the waterway that day, below the recent average of 12 ships per day. Before the war, somewhere between 130 and 140 would cross the strait each day. The report said that seven of the eight vessels entered the Persian Gulf through the strait on the side closer to Iran’s coast, suggesting they received Tehran’s permission to pass. According to media reports, the potential deal on the table between Iran and Oman would involve inbound vessels crossing the strait near Iran while outbound ships would transit near the Omani coast.Iranian officials have said that a deal with Oman wouldn’t automatically open the strait to all traffic and have laid out several conditions for the US, which are essentially the same as those the US initially agreed to under the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding signed in June. Those conditions include the lifting of the US blockade on Iran, lifting sanctions, and an end to Israel’s war in Lebanon.

Ex-diplomat disputes Trump's claim of 'total control' over Strait of Hormuz - Former U.S. diplomat Richard Haass said Wednesday that no country is in control of the Strait of Hormuz, contradicting President Trump’s claim that the U.S. is in “total control” of the crucial waterway. “No one’s in total control of the Strait of Hormuz,” Haass told host Willie Geist on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe.”  But Trump said otherwise on Tuesday, as the U.S. war with Iran approaches the six-month mark. “We have total control over the Hormuz strait right now, they don’t have control,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews, referring to Iran. “We have total control, we own it and at some point, maybe they’ll do something and then they get blown away.” The president doubled down on those remarks Wednesday morning, after Haass pushed back against his Tuesday comments. “The U.S.A. has total control over the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!” Trump also called the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports a “WALL OF STEEL,” and he argued “there is nothing Iran can do about it.” On Tuesday, the U.S. military disabled a Panama-flagged cargo tanker attempting to transit the Gulf of Oman in violation of the blockade. But Haass, the U.S. special envoy for Northern Ireland under former President George W. Bush, noted it is easier to “deny use of the Strait of Hormuz than it is to guarantee” it. “So, we can deny use to the extent we want to Iran,” Haass said on MS NOW. “Iran can deny use to others; insurers won’t insure cargo ships or tankers. So, denial’s relatively easy.” “Guaranteeing use, relatively hard. So that’s where the strait is, [there’s] very little traffic going through, much less than went through before the war… began,” he continued. Officials in Iran and Oman are negotiating a deal to reopen the waterway, through which nearly 34 percent of the world’s crude oil passed in 2025, according to the International Energy Agency. But in recent days, officials from the Islamic Republic and Trump have traded demands — with each side pushing back on the other. Iranian officials have called for the U.S. to withdraw its naval blockade, pay damages for the war, unfreeze the country’s assets and permanently end the conflict, but the president on Monday demanded compensation for those the Iranian regime has “killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts,” along with the families of protesters Iranian authorities have killed over the past five decades. Trump also said Iran “should be responsible” for damages the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Gaza have weathered amid the war.

Iran just raised the price of Trump’s waiting game -- A week ago, U.S. officials say President Trump was on the verge of ordering a return to major combat operations against Iran. This weekend, he described a different posture entirely. “We are low keying it,” he told Axios in an interview Sunday, describing an approach built on economic pressure rather than new strikes. “We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money.” Asked about the standoff, he added: “It will work out. It always works out. It’s like a chess game.” That is not a fifth declaration of victory. It is something more evasive: a retreat from measurable claims to an open-ended assertion that patience will eventually work — a proposition that cannot be disproved on any timetable the White House has identified. A claim of total victory, a predicted reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, an announced military deadline — those can be tested against events, and have been, four times, and failed. “It always works out” cannot. It defers judgment indefinitely. Tehran did not wait to test it.On Saturday, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, then still secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, laid out six conditions the U.S. would have to meet before the Strait of Hormuz reopens: an end to American “threats” and “insults”; a permanent end to attacks on Iran-aligned groups in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Yemen and Iraq; the lifting of what Tehran calls a U.S. naval blockade and withdrawal of American forces from the region; compensation for what he called two “imposed wars”; the lifting of sanctions; and the unconditional release of Iran’s frozen assets abroad. Iran has turned a negotiation over passage through Hormuz into a negotiation over the political settlement of the war.The same day, the United Arab Emirates accused Iran of firing a missile that struck an ADNOC-owned tanker as it transited the strait. Oman, which has been brokering a narrower shipping arrangement with Tehran, condemned the attacks and warned they could jeopardize its own talks. By Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was denying that any U.S.-Iran negotiations were taking place at all, telling reporters the Oman talks were “a technical and legal matter” separate from reopening the strait — directly at odds with Trump’s own account, hours earlier, of “very good discussions” Iran “doesn’t like to admit.”Then Tehran changed who is in charge of saying any of this.The succession did not arrive cleanly. Reports that Mohsen Rezaei, a veteran Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander and military adviser to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, would replace Zolghadr first surfaced in Iranian domestic media on Aug. 6 — and were retracted within hours. The next day, Iranian outlets reported Zolghadr had offered to resign but that President Masoud Pezeshkian had refused the offer and asked him to stay. But on Sunday, the succession became official, in a reshuffle that gave Rezaei two jobs at once: Khamenei named Rezaei his representative to the Supreme National Security Council while appointing Zolghadr his political adviser, and Pezeshkian’s own spokesperson separately announced Rezaei as the new secretary general of the Supreme National Security Council.  The visible disorder matters — and it cuts both ways. It is consistent with a hard-line faction moving to consolidate control over the negotiating file. It is equally consistent with an untested new leader and his inner circle still working out, in public view, who has the authority to speak for the state, while finding a face-saving perch for the man being replaced. A one-day proximity between Zolghadr’s maximalist list and his own reassignment is suggestive; it is not proof that the question of who is in charge has been settled in the hard-liners’ favor.This is not a new problem. Iran has lacked a figure with uncontested authority since an Israeli strike killed Ali Larijani, then the Supreme National Security Council’s secretary and widely seen as the regime’s de facto leader, on March 17 — a killing that removed the last credible link between Iran’s clerics, its military establishment and Pezeshkian’s government. Five months later, the post Larijani once held has now changed hands twice more.Rezaei is not a random pick. He co-founded the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and commanded it for 16 years, including through the Iran-Iraq War, and has been a close Mojtaba Khamenei ally since being named his military adviser in March — the same month Mojtaba became supreme leader. Iran International has separately reported that Araghchi, the foreign minister who helped bring the earlier Oman framework close to agreement, was told he has no right to intervene in the talks; if accurate, that would indicate the diplomatic track is being subordinated to the security establishment, not merely outcompeted by it. None of this proves every dispute inside the Iranian government has been resolved, or that Rezaei alone now controls Iran’s negotiating position. But installing a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander atop the body that sets Iran’s security and foreign policy, one day after that body’s outgoing secretary issued the war’s most maximalist public demands, is a hard fact to read as an olive branch.Washington is betting that time and economic pain will bring Iran back to the table on manageable terms. Tehran’s response has been to raise the price of a deal and place a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander at the head of its top security council. The question is no longer whether Iran wants concessions. It is who in Tehran is authorized to accept less than a settlement Washington cannot give.

Hormuz Ship Attacks Mount as US Vows to Cripple Iran Economy - More ships have come under attack in the Strait of Hormuz as talks to end the war in the Middle East remain stalled and the US readies new economic measures to force Iran to capitulate. The UK Maritime Trade Operations on Saturday said it had been notified of a projectile striking the hull of a bulk carrier. Two Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. vessels were struck while transiting Hormuz on Thursday and another was hit on Friday evening, according to reports from the United Arab Emirates’ state-run WAM news agency. There were no reports of injuries.

Iran rebuffs Trump’s claim over Strait of Hormuz amid report of another ship being struck - Iran rebuffed U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that the Strait of Hormuz would soon become U.S. territory, as a ship in the crucial waterway was reportedly struck and negotiations with Tehran appeared no nearer to resuming. “The Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian; this strait will only be closed and opened under Iran’s command,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said in a post on X late Friday. “The Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by tweet, nor by aircraft carrier, nor by issuing an order, nor by an election speech.” Earlier, Trump claimed that after the U.S. defeats Iran, “pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States.” Trump, known to cite the phrase “to the victor belong the spoils,” has floated the possibility that the U.S. could impose tolls in the strait once the conflict ends, though he later dropped the idea. The strait was an open, un-tolled international waterway before the U.S. and Israel started the war on Feb. 28 by launching strikes against Iran. Iran’s foreign minister was quoted as saying the two sides do “not have anything like a ceasefire.” “No negotiations have been held between us and the United States at this time,” Iranian news outlet Shahrara News quoted Seyed Abbas Araghchi as saying early Saturday. “Qatar and Pakistan are exchanging messages between the parties and are in contact with us, but this does not mean negotiations.” Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) — an organization backed by the British Navy — said Saturday it received a verified report of a bulk carrier “being struck by an unknown projectile which has hit the hull.” Following the breakdown of an interim ceasefire in June, shipping in the strait has repeatedly come under fire from Iranian projectiles and the U.S. has struck Iranian targets as part of its blockade of Iranian ports. Amid the military and diplomatic stalemate, energy prices remain elevated compared to pre-war levels. Trump said Friday that Americans would need to tolerate slightly higher fuel prices while the U.S. punishes Iran. “So for you to pay a tiny little bit more for your gasoline, just remember you’re doing it so that a very evil country cannot have, a country that really is the number one state sponsor of terror in the world,” Trump said in his speech. “We don’t want to have them have a nuclear weapon. So remember that, when you have to pay a little bit more, you’re at four dollars,” Trump said.

Araghchi: No One Thought Iran Could Resist the US Like This -  Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday that he heard from diplomats from other countries that no one expected Iran to be able to “resist” the US in the way Iran has done in the war the US and Israel launched on February 28. “I have heard this many times from foreign ministers and officials from other countries: ‘You Iranians created a miracle; you surprised the whole world,” Araghchi said at a press conference, according to Middle East Eye, which cited Iran’s Tasnim news agency. “No one thought that Iran could resist America like this.”Araghchi went on to discuss how President Trump’s messaging changed drastically throughout the war. “The US president wrote two words [on social media] at the beginning of the war: ‘Unconditional surrender.’ That was what they wanted from us and, 20 days later, the same enemy was begging for negotiations,” he added.The Iranian diplomat’s comments come as Trump appears to be settling into the current status quo and is reverting back to focusing on economic pressure against the Islamic Republic. Trump said on Sunday that the US was only “semi-negotiating” with Iran and just “watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money.”Missing from Trump’s recent comments have been threats of further attacks, as, according to media reports, he decided not to escalate strikes against Iran due to the depletion of advanced air defenses and the fact that Iran would escalate its attacks across the region. Though the threat of escalation remains on the table as long as the US maintains its military deployments in the region and its blockade of Iranian ports, which has involved US forces bombing commercial ships.For their part, Iranian officials have maintained that the Strait of Hormuz will remain largely closed until the US meets several conditions that are essentially the same as those agreed upon under the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding signed in June. Those conditions include an end to the blockade, the lifting of sanctions on Iran, and a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel has continued its war and occupation.

Navy meets with USS Abraham Lincoln families over mental health worries -- Navy leadership has reportedly met with the family members of sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier over worries that the ongoing Middle East deployment will lead to worsening mental health and the risk of self-harm aboard the vessel. At an in-person meeting with an estimated 200 attendees on Thursday in San Diego, family members spoke to Hung Cao, acting Navy secretary; Vice Adm. Douglas Verissimo, head of the Naval Air Forces; and Vice Adm. Joseph Cahill, commander of the Naval Surface Forces; among other officials. All but Cao also attended an online video call, Stars and Stripes reported. The family members told heart-wrenching stories to the Navy leaders, with one spouse accusing them of “broken trust between us and the leadership,” two individuals who attended told the outlet. Another spouse tearfully told officials that her husband had messaged her that same day saying “he hopes he doesn’t wake up tomorrow.” While officials at the meeting did not directly respond to that or similar statements, they assured family members that sailors aboard the aircraft carrier had access to mental health workers, chaplains and doctors, and that the Navy was working to send more mental health professionals to the ship, according to Stars and Stripes. “Leadership is continuously conducting assessments to monitor and sustain the psychological readiness of every sailor,” the Navy said in a statement to the outlet on Monday. Morale is waning aboard the Abraham Lincoln due to an exhausting deployment which so far has included 40 days of continuous combat operations in support of the Iran war and 250 consecutive days at sea. At least one crew member was prevented from jumping overboard, and there are reports of suicidal thoughts. The unusually grueling timeline is due to the aircraft carrier being redirected to the Middle East in January after leaving San Diego in November for a Pacific deployment. Originally scheduled to return in May, the ship has now been deployed for more than eight months with no publicly announced return date. The roughly 5,000 service members aboard also have dealt with food and water shortages and little time off, with the typical port calls every 30 to 45 days falling by the wayside, according to family members and sailors. “Nothing to really look forward to at this point,” one sailor told Stars and Stripes, noting that morale is currently so low that service members on the vessel are willing to skip any upcoming stops to return home as soon as possible. “My son is currently on that ship and listening to him say that he and his shipmates constantly think about jumping off the ship just for relief is so hard to listen to,” one parent told Stars and Stripes in July. Navy leadership, meanwhile, said it was committed to “listening to our families, supporting our servicemembers, and ensuring the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group has the resources needed to safely and successfully accomplish its mission.”

US aircraft carrier on way to relieve USS Abraham Lincoln after issues reported on board --A US aircraft carrier is headed to the Middle East to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln, on which thousands of sailors have reportedly faced food shortages and difficult conditions on an extended, nine-month deployment. The USS George Washington, which was near Malaysia on Thursday, could arrive in the region in about nine days, BBC analysis shows. Family members of sailors onboard the Lincoln have expressed concern about their mental health deteriorating due to the conditions, with some sailors having reportedly attempted to jump overboard. While the US Navy has acknowledged supply challenges, it has denied that a mental health crisis is taking place on the Lincoln, which has 5,000 onboard. Speaking to reporters on Friday, President Donald Trump denied that family members were concerned about the welfare of their relatives and dismissed the possibility that the deployment had been too long. "Not nearly long enough," he said. Trump also confirmed that another ship will replace the Lincoln, although he did not identify it by name. Citing a US official, CBS News - the BBC's US partner - reported that the George Washington left a naval facility in Yokosuka, Japan in May to patrol the Pacific region and is now headed to replace the Lincoln. Tracking data compiled by BBC Verify shows that at its last recorded speed, the vessel would reach Duqm port in Oman, about 500 miles off the coast of Iran, around 22 August. Once it arrives in the Middle East, it will be the third aircraft carrier in the area. The USS George HW Bush is also there. No US aircraft carrier will remain in the Pacific. The Lincoln has been at sea since 11 December on a deployment that was initially slated to end in May, tracking data compiled by BBC Verify shows. Earlier this week, the Military Times and Stars & Stripes reported that the families of multiple sailors reported that their loved ones considered jumping overboard due to conditions on the vessel. The conditions have reportedly included poor sanitation, infrequent ports-of-call, broken plumbing, exhaustion and shortages of fresh food. In an interview with the BBC, a relative of a sailor on the Lincoln claimed that their family member had lost 65lbs (29kg) since the ship headed out to sea and had been suffering from exhaustion because of the constant noise of aircraft and the ship's vibrations. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to concerns about retaliation, said that their relative confirmed sailors had attempted to jump from the ship. Jefferson Kelly, whose son Jackson is on the Lincoln, told CBS that he has grown concerned for his son after nearly nine months at sea. Deployments typically last about six months. "They should not be deployed this long," he said. "These are old ships. It's not like they're even state-of-the-art. And they take a lot of maintenance, a lot of work. It's around the clock." "I would get on a plane or helicopter tonight if it meant bringing him home to his mom and his siblings and his family," he added. The US Navy has denied any increase in suicidal behaviour on the Lincoln, but has acknowledged that supplies had been "disrupted by combat actions" during the war with Iran. Democratic lawmakers have expressed concern over the conditions on the ship. In a letter to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao on Wednesday, Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said that reports of shortages and poor conditions "warrant immediate attention". "But they also raise a broader question: whether the Navy can sustain the operational tempo now being demanded of its carrier force," he added. Hegseth has said that some of the media reports have been "completely misrepresented". He told reporters on Thursday that the US government was was making sure "every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment".

US Sending Fresh Aircraft Carrier to the Middle East Amid Reports of Multiple Sailors Attempting to Jump Overboard - -The aircraft carrier USS George Washington is preparing to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln as part of a scheduled Middle East deployment, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, news that comes as families of military personnel aboard the Lincoln have reported that sailors have attempted to jump overboard.The Lincoln has been deployed for more than 250 days and hasn’t made a port call in over 200 days, as part of a deployment initially scheduled to end in May but extended due to the Iran war, straining the crew. For months, the ship has been deployed in the Arabian Sea, where it has been involved in bombing Iran and is currently part of the armada enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports.   Military Times and Stars and Stripes both reported this week that family members are extremely concerned about the strain on sailors and Marines aboard the carrier, and there have been multiple accounts of sailors attempting to jump overboard. On Thursday, CNN reported that one sailor did go overboard earlier this month. US officials told the outlet that the sailor was rescued after an hour and was then medically evacuated off the vessel.Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) has said that he wrote a letter to US War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao about the conditions on the Lincoln. “There have been widespread reports of shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns, and disruptions in the mail system, which have caused many care packages in route to the ship to be lost in transit for months,” Blumenthal wrote.“These reports warrant immediate attention, but they also raise a broader question: whether the Navy can sustain the operational tempo now being demanded of its carrier force, particularly as this Administration repeatedly commits U.S. forces to conflicts of its own choosing and increasingly relies on aircraft carriers to sustain those operations,” the senator added.

US Lost 25% of Its Reaper Drones During Iran War - The US lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones in its war with Iran, or roughly 25% of its entire fleet, The Washington Post reported on Thursday, one of the many examples of the conflict creating a staggering depletion of US military stockpiles.  MQ-9s are used to conduct surveillance and launch airstrikes and were deployed extensively over the decades for drone strikes in the US War on Terror, which continues today in Somalia, but when used against an enemy with air defenses, the MQ-9 is extremely vulnerable. The US also lost more than 20 MQ-9s during bombing campaigns against Ansar Allah, or the Houthis, in Yemen in 2024 and 2025.The Post report said that the MQ-9s cost between $30 billion and $50 billion to manufacture, meaning the 45 lost in the Iran war could cost up to $2.25 billion to replace. Throughout the war, MQ-9s have been shot down by Iran, struck by Iranian missiles and drones at US bases in the region, and some have crashed due to communications errors.Despite the heavy loss of the MQ-9s, Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach, the chief of the US Air Force, previously dubbed the drones the “most valuable player” of the US-Israeli bombing campaign, which killed more than 3,400 Iranians, around half of whom were civilians. “No other platform is even close to the MQ-9” in terms of the number of strikes launched in Iran, Wilsbach told Congress on Wednesday. “It’s an unmanned platform, so we get a lot of utility out of them, and don’t put our folks at risk,” he said. US MQ-9s continue to fly over the Strait of Hormuz, and on August 3, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that it shot down another one. The threat of the US restarting strikes in Iran is also on the table as long as the US continues enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports and continues its ramped-up deployment in the region.

Pentagon Drafting New Nuclear Strategy To Expand Options for Tactical Nuclear Weapons Use -  The Pentagon is reportedly drafting a new nuclear strategy that’s expected to emphasize the use of tactical nuclear weapons to give the president more “options” in a potential nuclear conflict.The strategy, first reported by NBC News, is being drafted by the Pentagon’s policy chief, Elbridge Colby, who has for more than a decade called for the US to develop additional capabilities to fight a “limited nuclear war.” The idea would be to shift the US nuclear strategy away from the focus on using strategic nuclear weapons to wipe out an adversary’s nuclear capabilities and focus more on the possibility of using smaller, tactical nuclear weapons in a “regional” conflict. “If you actually want extended deterrence to be credible, you have to provide the nation’s political leadership with nuclear capabilities that common sense indicates you could actually use,” a source told NBC. “Otherwise you’re reducing our leadership’s options to extreme choices that the adversary won’t find credible.”While the potential strategy would be carried out in the name of deterrence and preventing war, arms control advocates have strongly warned against the idea of developing more tactical nuclear weapons to prepare for a potential limited nuclear conflict over concerns that it would make nuclear war much more likely and that any nuclear exchange would likely lead to a global catastrophe. “Without a firm rejection of the option to use nuclear weapons first in a conflict, by building and fielding more tactical nuclear weapons the administration is signaling its intention to use them against enemy forces and industrial infrastructure in a conflict,” the Arms Control Association said in response to the NBC report.  The ACA said that it “strongly opposes the administration’s decision to build more tactical nuclear weapons to supplement the options that exist” and pointed to the fact that the US already has at least two types of tactical nuclear weapons, including B61-12 gravity bombs, which are deployed in Europe, and the W76-2 low-yield warhead for the Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missile.The ACA said the US Navy is also “acquiring a new nuclear-capable sea-launched cruise missile (SLCM-N) that may be available at the end of the decade for possible use in conflict with China.”Breaking Defense reported that Colby announced on August 5 that the Pentagon was reviewing the US nuclear posture and repeatedly emphasized the term “options” in a speech he delivered that has not been made public.Colby has been one of the leading voices in Washington’s policy circles advocating for the US to prepare for limited nuclear war. In a 2015 paper for the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) titled “A Nuclear Strategy and Posture for 2030,” Colby said the US “should make a special effort to develop the platforms and weapons, doctrine, planning capacity, and other capabilities needed to fight a limited nuclear war more effectively than plausible adversaries.”He said that the ideal US nuclear force is “one that is not only highly survivable and able to issue a devastating blow against any adversary under any scenario but that is also capable of conducting effective limited nuclear operations in a controlled fashion while maintaining the ability to escalate to full-scale war if necessary.”Colby made a similar argument in a 2018 piece written in Foreign Affairs titled “If You Want Peace, Prepare for Nuclear War,” published just a few months after he left the first Trump administration, where he led the development of the 2018 National Defense Strategy.“Washington’s task is clear. It must demonstrate to Moscow and Beijing that any attempt to use force against US friends and allies would likely fail and would certainly result in costs and risks well out of proportion to whatever they might gain,” Colby wrote. “This requires conventional military power, but it also means having the right strategy and weapons to fight a limited nuclear war and come out on top.”

Pentagon Admits To Committing Major Civilian Massacres in Yemen Last Year - --The Pentagon has admitted in its annual report on civilian casualties to Congress that it committed two large-scale massacres of civilians in Yemen during its bombing campaign against the Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, last year, which War Secretary Pete Hegseth dubbed “Operation Rough Rider.”In the report, the Pentagon acknowledged that the bombing campaign killed at least 153 civilians and injured 243, numbers that are a significant undercount. According to the Yemen Data Project, at least 238 civilians, including 24 children, were killed, and 467 civilians were injured.The Pentagon acknowledged that civilians were killed in three strikes, including two that were among the deadliest US attacks on civilians in recent decades: the April 16, 2025, bombing of the Ras Isa fuel port in Hodeidah, and the April 25, 2025, strike on a migrant detention facility in the northern Saada province. At the time of the bombing on Ras Isa, Yemeni media reported that it involved a double-tap strike that killed rescue workers, and it was clear that a large number of civilians were killed, though the strike received virtually no media coverage in the US. The Pentagon report acknowledged the strike killed 80 civilians, though the Yemen Data Project and Airwars put the number at 84. The Pentagon also said 171 civilians were wounded in the strike, which aligns with Airwars’ numbers.Airwars identified the 84 Yemenis who were killed and said they were all civilians. The majority were workers at the port, though two rescue workers and three children were among the dead. At the time of the strike, the US military didn’t even claim it was hitting a military target and justified the strike by saying the fuel that came into the port was a source of revenue for the Houthis. Regarding the April 25 strike in Saada, the Pentagon admitted 68 civilians were killed, the same number reported by local media in Yemen and rights groups that have investigated the strike. All of those killed were African migrants being detained in the facility, and Amnesty International said in a report on the attack that it found no evidence of any military targets at the facility.The same detention facility was targeted by Saudi Arabia in a January 2022 airstrike, which killed 91 civilians, according to the Yemen Data Project. The US provided intelligence support for Saudi Arabia’s bombing campaign in Yemen, meaning the Pentagon should have been aware that any strike on the facility would result in major civilian casualties.The Pentagon also assessed that five civilians were killed and 25 were wounded by a strike in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on April 6, 2026. According to Airwars, a US strike in Sanaa that day hit a residential area and killed at least three people, including one woman and one child.There were multiple other instances of the US killing civilians during the bombing campaign, and the Pentagon said it’s still assessing 15 other incidents. The report didn’t provide any kind of explanation for why the places were targeted, and there’s no sign of any accountability. Hegseth’s Pentagon has continued to carry out large-scale massacres of civilians, most notably the February 28 bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, Iran, which killed at least 156 people, including 120 schoolchildren.Operation Rough Rider was launched without congressional authorization and against a group that Congress has never provided an Authorization for the Use of Military Force against, making it illegal under the Constitution. The official justification was that it was to secure shipping, but the Houthis weren’t attacking US ships at the time, and Hegseth admitted in a Signal chat the day the bombing campaign started, which was published by The Atlantic, that he could “easily pause” plans to launch the strikes, demonstrating there was no imminent threat facing US forces.

Netanyahu Says Israel Is 'Ruling Out' the Hamas Disarmament Plan Announced by Trump -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected for the second time a 15-point disarmament plan for Hamas that was announced by President Trump and the so-called “Board of Peace” on July 30. “Israel does not accept the 15-point document,” Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting, according to Reuters. Last week, the Israeli leader said that the US had sent a draft, and that Israel “did not agree to it.”  In his comments on Sunday, Netanyahu added that the IDF “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is disarmed … it means heavy weaponry, lighter weaponry, all weaponry. And we are talking about genuine disarmament, not fictitious disarmament.”Under the initial framework announced by Trump and the BoP, Israel was supposed to start withdrawing from Gaza as the process of disarming, called “decommissioning,” began to take place. But after BoP officials met with Netanyahu, the US-led body walked back that part of the deal, saying that the IDF won’t begin a withdrawal “beyond the yellow line” until Hamas was disarmed.  But even with the BoP adopting his talking points, Netanyahu has still rejected the deal. “They (the US) have ideas, some of which are acceptable to ​us and some of which are unacceptable to us,” he said on Sunday. Following Netanyahu’s comments, a US official told Israel’s Channel 12 that the US wasn’t concerned, framing his public position as purely political since elections are coming up in Israel. “We understand his political needs [in this election period]. We have no problem with that, as long as he continues to do what we ask — especially as regards reining in the strikes in Gaza,” the US official said.  Israeli attacks in Gaza have slowed since Monday, August 3, but they haven’t stopped, as the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Sunday that the IDF had launched attacks across the Strip involving gunfire, artillery shelling, fire from naval vessels, and drones. Gaza’s Health Ministry said that over the previous 24-hour period, Israeli attacks killed at least one Palestinian and wounded eight. Hamas has maintained it won’t go through with the plan unless Israel lives up to its commitments, which include ending its attacks in Gaza and withdrawing back to the original yellow line created after the ceasefire deal was signed more than nine months ago. At the time, Israel was left with 53% of Gaza under its control, but it has increased to about 70% as the IDF has been conducting ground incursions.  Senior Hamas official Basem Naim told Reuters that Hamas was still committed to the plan and called on the US to pressure Israel. “We expect the mediators and the US guarantor to press Netanyahu and his government to adhere to the roadmap and not obstruct the process for internal political and electoral reasons, while continuing to jeopardize the region’s security and stability,” he said.

Huckabee Calls Israeli Settler Siege of Palestinian Homes 'an Act of Terror' but Defends the Broader Settler Movement --US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has called an ongoing settler siege of Palestinian homes in the Israeli-occupied West Bank village of Qusra an “act of terror,” though he defended the broader settler movement and the IDF despite its failure to end the siege after five days.Starting on Sunday, Jewish settlers set up camps surrounding three homes in the village, including one owned by a Palestinian American, Loui Ridi, who lives in Ohio, from where he has been watching security camera footage of the home in Qusra that his brother and 18-year-old nephew have been trapped in.The IDF has released statements condemning the siege and claimed its forces dismantled some of the outposts and attempted to clear the settlers out of the area, but Ridi detailed what his brother saw when Israeli soldiers first arrived at the scene.“My brother calls the police and asks for help, and some time later a white pickup truck arrives with IDF soldiers. Instead of helping, the soldiers hug the settlers,” Ridi said. “Instead of protecting my brother, the soldiers become part of the danger. It looks as though they have backing, as though this is part of Israeli government policy. I don’t understand it.”IDF troops were also seen praying with the settlers, and the IDF insisted on Sunday that there would be disciplinary action for those soldiers.Huckabee condemned the siege in a post on X on Wednesday, in response to a post from Ihab Hassan, a Palestinian Christian activist, who said the White House had intervened and was seeking clarification on why the siege had been allowed to continue. Hassan also condemned Huckabee and the US Embassy in Jerusalem for not condemning the siege.“This is another lie. [The US Embassy in Jerusalem] has been VERY involved & the IDF & Israel Police have gone at our request to remove the Israeli terrorists doing this. The actions of those doing this to this family’s home is criminal,” Huckabee said. “The WH hasn’t ‘intervened’ because we have kept DC apprised of the situation already. Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting. No excuse for such thuggish behavior,” he added.The post marked strong language for Huckabee, who is a strong supporter of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the expansion of Jewish settlements, which are illegal under international law. He is a staunch Christian Zionist, a theological view that is not held by the Catholic and Orthodox churches and many Protestant denominations, and he believes Israel has a biblical right to huge swathes of the Middle East.

Trump Says Lebanon Ceasefire ‘Working,’ Locals Would Beg to Differ - -- Seven rounds of US-brokered talks and six Israel-Lebanon deals later, President Trump maintains that the ceasefire is “working.” What exactly that means and who exactly it’s meant to be working for is unclear, but the residents of southern Lebanon are telling a very different story. Some 24 villages within southern Lebanon have been totally destroyed, according to Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz. That’s just the start of the matter, as locals have overwhelmingly been expelled from the area, no timetable has been given for them ever being allowed to return, and Katz is openly talking about a “long-term presence” in Lebanon, along with the various other territories Israel has occupied in the region.To the extent the ceasefire can be said to be working at all, it’s fair to say it’s doing what it was designed to do. None of the six deals Israel and Lebanon agreed to ever required Israel to withdraw from occupied Lebanon, nor indeed to even stop attacking Lebanese territory. The obligations were almost entirely on Hezbollah to stop resisting, and since they were never a party to the deal in the first place, they’re understandably loathe to comply.Even the “pilot zones,” mostly-destroyed villages Israel agreed to withdraw from on condition that the Lebanese Army occupy them instead. The army managed to get into a single village, Israel has been hassling them non-stop, and Israeli officials now say the Lebanese are “not doing enough” in that village.The “pilot zones” were only meant to be symbolic in the first place, but the LAF has persistently found themselves blocked from moving into the areas, and IDF troops even snuck into one of the zones to construct an earthen barrier, around the same time Lebanese troops were wounded when unexploded ordinance was found in the same area.Katz continues to brag about the “exceptional skill” of the IDF and how many Lebanese villages he’s destroyed outright, and President Trump may be able to insist that the ceasefire is “working” because, from their perspective, it may well be. But from the perspective of the southern Lebanese, working looks an awful lot like forced population transfers and deliberate attacks on civilian targets, illegal under international law.

US Faults Israeli Defense Minister Over Plans for Long-Term Lebanon Occupation - Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz was laying out plans for the open-ended Israeli occupation of parts of Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip. Those statements weren’t in any way out of the ordinary, and very much in keeping with Israel’s stated policy, which is to continue the wars and to continue to occupy territories.That didn’t sit well with US officials, apparently, and the State Department issued an unusual rebuke of the Israeli policy, reiterating US support for Lebanon’s sovereignty and that Katz’s occupation would violate the understandings reached in various US-brokered Israel-Lebanon deals.To be clear, none of those agreements ever actually mandated a timeline for the Israeli withdrawal, but just presented a vague sense that at some point in the future the occupation might conceivably come to an end. In that sense, Katz will doubtless argue that Israel isn’t violating anything, and Katz simply ordered preparing for a “long-term” presence. Lebanese officials, for their part, are accusing the Israeli government of violating international law with their ongoing attacks on southern Lebanon, and the systemic demolition of civilian infrastructure across the occupied area.Meanwhile, US involvement in the invasion and occupation of Lebanon hasn’t exactly been pro-peaceful resolution, which is the subject of a new lawsuit filed in a Michigan court against Secretary of State Marco Rubio and multiple US military contractors.The lawsuit was filed by the Arab-American Civil Rights League and seeks class-action status for tens of thousands of Lebanese Americans who lived in or owned property within Lebanon that was destroyed by the US-backed Israeli invasion.The lawsuit cites the Leahy Law, which prohibits the State and Defense Departments from providing aid to foreign forces amid evidence of gross violations of human rights, and argues that Israeli war crimes in Lebanon, which have been repeatedly documented, have failed to produce any tangible change in US support for the IDF.

Report: CIA Had 'Low Confidence' in Israeli Intel About Alleged Iranian Assassination Plot Against Trump - US intelligence officials were skeptical of Israeli intelligence that claimed there was a threat of an Iranian assassination plot against President Trump at the NATO summit in Ankara last month, which prompted the Secret Service to secretly move him to a military aircraft, The Washington Post has reported. A US official speaking to the Post described the intelligence, which was conveyed by Israel to the CIA, as “Israeli-derived, not US-generated, and viewed as low confidence.” Middle East Eye first reported that the intelligence came from Israel, and cited Turkish sources who said that Turkey suspected Israel had fabricated the intelligence to derail diplomacy between the US and Iran, and also potentially strain the relationship between Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. According to the Post report, US intelligence officials reached a conclusion similar to that of officials in Ankara. “Some US intelligence officials saw Israel’s sharing of the warning about threats to Trump’s life as designed less to inform than to influence the president’s decision-making and US policy in the region,” the Post report said, conveying what current and former US officials told the outlet. Apparently responding to the incident, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi warned the US to be wary of “fake intelligence.” “The US has long miscalculated due to intelligence failures. Case in point: The war on Iran. Now, an even bigger miscalculation on the Strait of Hormuz. Worse than fake news is fake intelligence. Be careful. Allah is Great, Greater than ANY power on Earth. In Allah we trust,” the Iranian diplomat wrote on X. President Trump confirmed the plane swap, saying he did so because he followed the Secret Service’s direction. One of the US officials speaking to the Post said that the Secret Service went ahead with the swap despite the lack of confidence in the intelligence due to the previous attempts against Trump’s life. “The Secret Service has had three near misses with this president, so they’re not taking any chances,” the official said. “They did what they had to do.”

Turkey Thinks Israel Fabricated Trump Air Force One Assassination Plot  - Turkish officials suspect that an Israeli intelligence report about an Iranian plot to assassinate President Trump at the NATO summit in Ankara last month was a ruse designed to derail diplomacy between the US and Iran, Middle East Eye reported on Tuesday. The Washington Post first reported on Monday that the US thought there was a credible enough threat against Trump that he secretly swapped planes when he departed Turkey. The president flew into Ankara on a new version of Air Force One donated by Qatar, but made a public show of departing on the older Air Force One, saying he was doing so for "old time’s sake." Due to the alleged threat, the Secret Service moved the departure point from Ankara Airport to Esenboga Airport and wanted to switch from the new Air Force One to the old one. "Of course, we took the report very seriously and tried to assist our American counterparts as much as possible," a source, described as a person familiar with the matter, told MEE. "Yet it was very clear to us that there was no way this report was true." The report said Turkish officials believe that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu devised the plot to make it appear that Israel was protecting Trump, further derail diplomacy between the US and Iran, and also strain relations between Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom the US president repeatedly praised during the summit. Israel has strongly opposed the idea of the US selling F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, something Trump has said he’s strongly considering. Another source, described as an Ankara insider, told MEE that it was ironic that the Secret Service's decision to move Trump has been leaked just one month after it happened. "I guess they need heroes for an attack that never happened and, most likely, was never planned," the insider said.

Joe Biden Should Be Dying Of Cancer In The Hague -- Caitlin Johnstone -    Joe Biden’s cancer is moving into the advanced stages, according to the former president’s son Hunter.AP reports: “Former U.S. President Joe Biden’s prostate cancer has spread to other parts of his body and is causing him pain, even as he continues to speak out on public issues, his son Hunter said in an interview. In a wide-ranging interview with the BBC broadcast late on Friday, Hunter Biden grew emotional as he discussed his father’s condition, describing it as very sad to watch.  “The cancer has spread, metastasized into his bones and further,’ he said. ‘It’s very painful and it’s very debilitating in many respects.’” I’ve seen a lot of people on social media expressing sadness and grief at the news of Biden’s situation, and I agree it is very sad that this is happening. Joe Biden shouldn’t be sitting at home dying of cancer, he should be sitting in a cell at The Hague dying of cancer. The world is a mess because men like Joe Biden get to die peacefully in their homes of cancer.They live long lives free from consequences for their monstrous actions.They don’t spend their final days rotting in a cage for war crimes.Nobody makes them pay for what they did.The worst people on the planet are elevated by the capitalist empire to the highest echelons of power across every field, and they make life worse for everyone, and then they die comfortably of old age, surrounded by loved ones. That is the real source of our problems. Not immigrants. Not “woke”. Not elections going to the wrong political party. The source of our problems is that we are ruled by murderous psychopaths and do not use the power of our numbers to forcibly cast them from their thrones. That we let tyrants get away with genocide. Dave DeCamp @DecampDave Your dad helped that guy collapse entire apartment buildings full of women and children    Clash Report @clashreport: Hunter Biden: If it’s anti-semitic to point out that Bibi Netanyahu is evil incarnate, then I don’t know what to say to people anymore. I mean, literally open your eyes. Open your heart for one minute. Joe Biden backed a live-streamed holocaust in full view of the entire world, and now he shuffles off this mortal coil with nary a slap on the wrist. We all watched him do it. We all watched him circulate lies about seeing beheaded babies murdered on October 7 and about the Gaza death toll being fake in order to justify his genocidal atrocities. And there are so many of us. But we didn’t stop him. We didn’t make him pay. We aren’t making an example of him showing everyone else why no one should ever do what he did.This is happening everywhere. We’re watching powerful people wage wars and genocides, destroy our ecosystem, shove AI down our throats and surround us with tyrannical surveillance technology, and they’re doing it right out in the open, and we’re all basically just going along with it.As Utah Phillips said, “The earth is not dying, it is being killed. And the people who are killing it have names and addresses.” It’s not just that the revolution hasn’t materialized, it’s that it hasn’t come anywhere remotely close to materializing. We’re given just enough bread and circuses to mollify us, and then we sit there munching doritos and watching Netflix while the world burns. Nature isn’t going to let this continue for much longer. We will awaken the natural ferociousness within ourselves, or nature’s ferociousness is going to make this planet a lot less habitable fairly soon. We will either pass this test or we will fail it. And as long as the Joe Bidens of the world are living long lives free from consequences, we are failing.

US Bombs Somalia for 78th Time This Year -    The US launched an airstrike in Somalia on August 7, according to a press release from US Africa Command, as the Trump administration continues its record-shattering bombing campaign in the country. AFRICOM said in a press release that the strike targeted al-Shabaab near Jilib, a village in southern Somalia that’s about 200 miles southwest of Mogadishu. As usual, the command offered no other details about the strike, and there were no comments from the US-backed Somali Defense Ministry about military operations that day. “Specific details about units and assets will not be released to ensure continued operations security,” AFRICOM said. The command has stopped releasing casualty estimates and assessments on potential civilian harm since last year.  The bombing marks at least the 78th airstrike the US has launched in Somalia this year, according to AFRICOM’s numbers. The Trump administration massively escalated the war in Somalia last year and shattered the record for annual airstrikes, launching 124 in 2025, more than 12 times more than were conducted in 2024, yet the conflict receives virtually no coverage in US media. Besides bombing al-Shabaab in southern Somalia, the US has also been conducting an air campaign against an ISIS affiliate based in caves in a remote mountain region in Somalia’s northeastern Puntland region. Last week, a visiting US military delegation signed a deal with the Puntland government to expand a US military base in Bosaso, a port city on the Gulf of Aden, signaling a further escalation of the US war in Somalia. The base could also be used for operations against Yemen’s Ansar Allah, known as the Houthis. The US backs both the Mogadishu-based federal government and the local Puntland government, though both sides have been clashing in recent weeks amid a political crisis in the country. Just over the past week, Puntland forces have seized three military bases from federal-backed troops in northeast Somalia.  The US has been involved in Somalia for decades and has been fighting al-Shabaab since the George W. Bush administration backed an Ethiopian invasion in 2006 that ousted the Islamic Courts Union, a Muslim coalition that briefly held power in Mogadishu after taking the city from CIA-backed warlords.

"They wage war and profit from death" — in Brazil, vandals covered the wall of the U.S. Embassy with graffiti over Trump's tariffs | УНН -  On Thursday, vandals covered the wall of the U.S. Embassy in Brazil with messages protesting the U.S. government. Police detained one suspect, but he has already been released. "They wage war and profit from death" — in Brazil, vandals covered the wall of the U.S. Embassy with graffiti over Trump's tariffs On Thursday, one of the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Brazil was vandalized amid ongoing tensions between the countries. Police reported that one person had been detained in connection with the incident, but they have since been released, UNN reports, citing the AP. The slogans directed against the U.S. government, which appeared on the embassy wall in Brazil, came amid President Donald Trump's imposition of high tariffs on some Brazilian goods and the revocation of the visa of Brazil's ambassador to Washington. Brazilians rarely carry out acts of vandalism against the embassies and consulates of any country. The inscription, in Portuguese and English, was made on the outside of the embassy: "The U.S. wages war and profits from death." The U.S. Embassy in Brazil said in a statement that it is committed to the safety of Brazilians and its employees. The Brazilian government did not comment on the incident

White House accuses over 40 countries of helping China avoid US tariffs --The White House accused China of routing billions of dollars of goods through other countries to avoid President Trump’s 2018 tariffs, costing the U.S. billions of dollars in lost revenue, according to a new report released Thursday. The report, titled “The Great Transshipment Scam,” found more than 40 countries, ranging from Mexico to Israel, involved with what the report described as a “global Shadow Transshipment Network through which China’s tariff evasion now moves.” The White House estimated between $19 billion to $26 billion in lost tax revenue per year from the practice, which routes goods through a third country to receive a lower U.S. tariff rate. Exporters were able to disguise where a product came from by repackaging or relabeling the goods and performing limited assembly in another country before sending the product to the U.S., the White House found in its report. “For years, the great transshipment scam has let communist China launder its exports,” White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told reporters Thursday. The report also named Canada, countries in the European Union, Japan and South Korea among countries the White House viewed as an elevated risk of having Chinese goods be rerouted. It acknowledged that those countries, which are major U.S. trading partners, also conduct large amounts of legitimate trade. The report cited several estimates of the scale of the practice. A separate analysis from the Commerce Department estimated that about $67 billion in goods were transshipped from China through Mexico, India and Vietnam last year, resulting in roughly $28 billion in lost tariff revenue. The Trump administration is also developing an artificial intelligence system, dubbed the “Detective Border,” to help U.S. Customs and Border Protection identify suspicious shipments. The proposed system would examine shipping routes, product information, ownership and other data to help officials distinguish legitimate trade from attempts to evade tariffs. “The message to the world is simple. The age of untraceable illegal transshipment is over,” the report reads. “What once seemed like quiet paperwork maneuvers—relabeling, repackaging, re-invoicing—has become a matter of economic sovereignty and national will.”

New ICE controversy as officer filmed pointing gun at woman in Virginia A federal immigration officer drew his gun on a Virginia woman during a tense confrontation in a Falls Church parking lot Monday after officers accused her of trying to hit them with her car. Videos of the encounter shared on social media show several masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers surrounding the vehicle of Carolina Molina, 36, as she sits behind the wheel. One officer can be seen pulling out his hand gun and pointing it toward Molina’s window as the two argue. “You almost ran us over,” the officer says in the video recorded by Molina before warning her, “I will arrest you. Keep it up.” Molina denied trying to strike the officers with her car and told them she was recording the confrontation. “I was looking down a barrel, and he could have shot me, and he could have gotten away with it,” Molina told CNN affiliate WUSA9. The officers eventually walked away without taking her into custody, and she has not been charged, according to Molina. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) offered a different account Tuesday, accusing an unnamed woman of interfering with an immigration enforcement operation and attempting to endanger the officers with her vehicle. A DHS spokesperson referred to the woman as “an anti-ICE agitator” in a statement, saying she drove her vehicle “in circles around our ICE officers and then attempted to harm officers by weaponizing her vehicle against them—all in an attempt to help illegal aliens get away.” The videos captured by Molina show the confrontation after officers surrounded her vehicle but do not show what occurred beforehand. During the portion captured on video, her car appears stationary as officers approach it. Molina, a licensed mental health counselor who works with people navigating the immigration system, said in an interview that she wanted the agency to be held accountable. “I know my laws. I’m an American citizen. I have the right. I have my First Amendment rights. I can say what I want, and I don’t feel like I should have a gun pointed to my head because you didn’t like being called a h–,” she said. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), who represents Falls Church, slammed the officers’ conduct and said his office had been in touch with Molina. He said he “will be demanding answers and consequences,” arguing the episode reflected what he described as a pattern of unnecessary escalation by immigration officers.

Third detainee dies after medical emergency at New Jersey ICE facility – A third migrant detained at Delaney Hall, New Jersey’s largest immigrant detention facility located in Newark, has died following a medical emergency. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told The Hill in a statement Thursday that, on July 19, a nurse was responding to another emergency when she noticed Guatemalan immigrant Jose Chajon-Raxon “experiencing seizure-like activity.” Chajon Raxon, who had been detained the day before, was hospitalized shortly after the nurse spotted him. The man later died in the hospital, but because he was no longer in custody, the DHS spokesperson said Immigration Custom Enforcement (ICE) was not informed. “While waiting for first responders to arrive, Chajon-Raxon was provided proper medical care from the nurse who reassured him he was safe,” the DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “The nurse gave a comprehensive report to first responders and Chajon-Raxon was taken to the hospital and released from ICE custody on July 22. ICE was not notified of his death.” The spokesperson did not elaborate on when Chajon-Raxon died. They added that “when an individual is no longer in ICE custody then ICE will no longer be responsible for monitoring or reviewing deaths that may occur.” “This is common sense,” the spokesperson continued. “ICE is not responsible when an individual passes away weeks after leaving their custody.” Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), an outspoken critic of Delaney Hall who has called for its closure, questioned the circumstances surrounding Chajon-Raxon’s death in a Thursday post to the social platform X. The lawmaker said his death “exposes how ICE tries to avoid responsibility.” “ICE cannot simply send a detainee out for medical care and pretend they aren’t still on the hook, especially when GEO Group has repeatedly failed to provide care at Delaney Hall,” he wrote. “I will keep fighting to shut this place down and shine a light on the poor conditions.”

Homan defends ICE electric shock gloves as alternative to lethal force --  White House border czar Tom Homan on Thursday defended plans to give Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks, arguing the devices would prevent agents from needing to resort to deadly force. “It’s another device to help someone get compliant when they are not,” Homan said in Thursday appearance on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” morning talk program. “You can’t just go from 0 to 100, right, and the first thing you go for is lethal force,” he added. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a notice on Monday outlining plans to spend up to $20 million on the devices for ICE agents’ use during immigration enforcement operations. They’re known as “Generated Low Output Voltage Emitters,” or G.L.O.V.E.s. The gloves, manufactured by Compliant Technologies, can deliver an electrical charge of up to 380 volts when they come into contact with exposed skin. Unlike a traditional taser, the device is not designed to incapacitate someone and cannot deliver a shock through clothing. The tool been used previously in correctional facilities and police departments. They do not deliver the same voltage as a normal taser, Oklahoma News 4 reported in a story about a local jail’s use of the gloves.A Kentucky jailer, Justin Hall, told the Associated Press Thursday that his agency began using the gloves four years ago to help control inmates that were difficult to manage. While training officers to use the devices, Hall said he had been shocked more than 10 times, describing the feeling as an intense pain that went away when glove users lost contact with him. He said that, while his jail has rarely used the method, it serves as a great deterrent when other de-escalation options are unsuccessful.

Trump administration revokes more than 175,000 visas -The Trump administration on Monday announced it has revoked more than 175,000 visas from foreign nationals, claiming violations of the terms of the documents related to criminal activity and calls for violence against U.S. citizens, among other allegations. The State Department said the majority of the canceled visas were the result of “law enforcement encounters,” which has raised concern among some immigration lawyers that the Trump administration is revoking visas for minor encounters or for charges that did not go through the judicial process. The announcement marked an increase in visa revocations compared with the previous year, representing more than 10,000 visa cancellations per month in 2026, compared with more than 8,000 visa cancellations over the course of 2025. The Trump administration announced in January it had revoked more than 100,000 visas over the course of the previous year. The administration is framing its visa revocations “as a result of the State Department’s continuous vetting operations, which ensure that visa recipients abide by the terms of their visa and do not endanger Americans.” “The majority of these visas were revoked due to law enforcement encounters for a range of criminal activity, with assault, driving under the influence, theft, and drug crimes being the leading causes. A significant share of visas were revoked for reckless driving, sexual assault, child abuse, fraud and embezzlement, and other crimes,” the State Department said in a statement. “Under President Trump and Secretary Rubio’s leadership, the State Department will continue to identify, investigate, and revoke the visas of foreign nationals who threaten the safety of the American people.” Among the examples provided by the State Department were “multiple foreign nationals who celebrated the assassination of Charlie Kirk,” a prominent right-wing political activist who was killed in September 2025. The State Department said visas were revoked for individuals who stated “when fascists die, democrats don’t complain,” and another who said Kirk “died too late.” Other high-profile visa revocations include 42-year-old Tou Lue Vang, a father of six who was deported to Laos last month by the Department of Homeland Security. Vang was pardoned by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz a few weeks earlier over a 2005 conviction of sexually abusing a child. The State Department said Vang was deported on “foreign policy grounds.”

Disaster tax relief bill clears Senate --  The Senate passed a bill extending tax relief for victims of natural disasters before leaving for their August recess. The Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act, H.R. 5366, passed by unanimous consent in the final hours of Senate legislative activity Friday. It was led by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). The bill extends the time frame for victims of natural disasters to claim personal losses on their taxes and also includes provisions specifically providing tax relief for victims of wildfires. The legislation was renamed for a California GOP lawmaker who died in January.  “When you lose your home in a wildfire, the last thing you ought to be worried about is being hit by a massive tax bill. The bipartisan disaster relief bill that we just passed would give Oregonians and Westerners affected by these blazes some real peace of mind,” Wyden said on the Senate floor.

Energy Department cancels 3 national transmission corridors selected under Biden - The Trump administration said Wednesday it would cancel three proposed federal corridors designed to speed the development of multi-state electric transmission lines that were selected during the Biden administration. The decision lands as the Trump administration battles broader affordability concerns ahead of the November midterm election amid rising electricity prices and growing energy demand. The corridors program — which dates back to 2005 and was amended under the bipartisan infrastructure law — is meant to help expand much-needed electric transmission by designating geographic areas of particular congestion. A designation helps unlock federal financing and permitting tools for projects located within the corridors. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement that after “extensive review” that included public and stakeholder feedback, the Energy Department would not move forward with designating the three proposed so-called National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors by the Biden Energy Department to advance in a review process.

Trump Administration Extends Jones Act Waiver Another 90 Days -   On Monday, August 10, the Trump Administration extended its temporary Jones Act waiver for another 90 days, keeping the exemption in place through mid-November as the War in Iran continues to disrupt global crude and refined-product flows and pressure U.S. energy costs. The administration first issued a 60-day waiver on March 17 (see Me and Mrs. Jones), followed by a 90-day extension in mid-May (see Let It Go, Let It Flow). Unlike those broader waivers, however, the latest extension comes with additional guardrails: qualifying voyages will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, with the Pentagon required to consult the U.S. Maritime Administration on the availability of U.S.-flagged, -owned and -operated vessels. Eligible commodities have also been narrowed, primarily to energy products including crude oil, gasoline, jet fuel, naphtha and LNG.Even with those restrictions, foreign-flagged tankers can continue to move U.S. crude between domestic ports when approved, providing valuable flexibility as disruptions to Strait of Hormuz flows reshape global trade patterns and increase competition for alternative barrels. As discussed in this week’s Crude Voyager, the waiver has already enabled otherwise uncommon Gulf Coast-to-West Coast movements and increased Gulf Coast-to-East Coast shipments, allowing domestic crude to compete with imports without the substantially higher transportation costs and limited vessel availability associated with Jones Act-compliant shipping. Voyage-by-voyage approval may temper that flexibility, but extending the waiver through mid-November gives Gulf Coast producers, refiners and traders another outlet for balancing regional supply and demand while Middle East disruptions continue to scramble traditional crude flows.Because of the added costs, the Jones Act shapes the movement of crude and products between U.S. coasts and refineries (green-shaded areas in map above). The dark- and light-blue dashed lines on the map show the routes Jones Act-qualified barges and tankers take to move barrels between ports such as Corpus Christi, Houston, New York Harbor and the West Coast. The pink dashed line illustrates foreign-flagged tankers that transport barrels of Gulf Coast crude through international waters to destinations like Eastern Canada, as this route is less costly than complying with Jones Act restrictions (these barrels could be refined and re-exported to the U.S.).The bigger question is what happens when the waiver expires. The current stretch of relief, now the longest and broadest waiver of the Jones Act since at least 1950, has effectively provided a real-world test of how access to lower-cost foreign-flagged vessels can affect U.S. coastal crude and product flows. If domestic movements remain economically attractive over the next three months, pressure for additional relief could build, intensifying the longstanding tug-of-war between energy-market participants seeking greater transportation flexibility and the U.S. maritime industry seeking to preserve Jones Act protections.

Dems push GAO to investigate Trump mineral deals - -- Top Democrats asked federal watchdogs Wednesday to investigate what safeguards have been baked into the Trump administration’s financial stakes in private mining companies. Sen. Martin Heinrich, ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, called on the Government Accountability Office to probe the deals and potential conflicts of interest.The lawmakers in the letter raised specific concern about the agencies invoking an executive order President Donald Trump inked last year to boost mineral production and processing in the U.S. and among allied countries. The directive includes language that allows agencies to waive specific requirements to boost domestic mineral production given the administration has declared national energy emergency.Huffman and Heinrich expressed concern in the letter to Orice Williams Brown, acting comptroller general, that agencies are waiving rules to assess financial risk and protect taxpayers, as well as manage potential conflict of interest.

EPA moves to rescind Biden-era tribal water quality rule - -The Trump administration plans to rescind an EPA rule requiring states to consider tribes’ rights to fish, hunt and gather wild plants when establishing water quality protections — a policy the administration argues went beyond the agency’s authority.Finalized under the Biden administration, the rule provided an avenue for tribes to compel state and federal regulators to account for their consumption of traditional plants and animals when setting water quality standards. Those standards form the basis for protecting rivers, lakes and other water bodies from pollution. Under works for months, the agency is now close to moving forward with a proposal to rescind the rule, according to a notice Friday by the Office of Management and Budget.The rule, “Water Quality Standards Regulatory Revisions To Protect Tribal Reserved Rights,” was a key part of the Biden administration’s strategy to address water pollution and infrastructure challenges on tribal lands.

National Academies backtracks on disputed climate science chapter, will review process  -  One of the nation’s most respected scientific institutions said Friday it will conduct a review of a disputed climate education chapter in a judicial manual, weeks after President Donald Trump ordered his administration to investigate the matter. In a post, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said it will review the process involved in producing the climate science chapter for the fourth edition of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence. That review should conclude by the fall, a spokesperson for the academies said. The Federal Judicial Center, which published the manual, removed the climate science section in January following complaints from Republican attorneys general who accused the authors of siding with efforts to hold oil and gas companies financially responsible for climate change. The academies at the time declined to also remove the chapter from its website but said Friday the chapter will not appear on its website during the review. Trump had amplified complaints about the chapter last month, writing in a Truth Social post that he was ordering federal officials with authority over contracts and grants to look at funding for the National Academies. The National Academies noted that the chapter has “received considerable scrutiny” and has found that “questions about the processes used to develop the chapter warrant an independent review.”  It did not say who will conduct the review but added that the assessment “is about the process used to produce the chapter and not about the validity of climate science.” The National Academies said the focus of the review will be the group’s “own procedures and whether they were adequate to ensure the highest standard of objectivity that this institution requires and our nation deserves.” It had said last month after Trump’s order that the academies “remain committed to our mission to provide independent, objective scientific advice. Our activities are conducted to ensure scientific rigor, transparency and independence. Those enduring values remain our commitment.” The Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence was issued in December and included new guidelines on topics such as eyewitness identification, computer science, artificial intelligence and climate science. After the education arm of the federal judiciary agreed in January to remove the climate science section, another group of Republican attorneys general escalated the assault in March, asking the Trump administration to revoke federal grants received by both groups, saying they had “violated their public commitments” by engaging in a “biased process.” House Republicans sent a similar letter to the administration in May, saying the climate chapter violated “Gold Standard Science” by not including a “fully independent, meaningful peer review from scientists with differing views on climate science.” They asked the White House’s budget director, Russ Vought, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to “investigate” whether the academies should be “suspended or debarred from all federal funding.”  Efforts to discredit the climate science chapter have emerged as part of a broader campaign by the Trump administration and Republicans across the country to scuttle the nearly two dozen climate lawsuits that could put the fossil fuel industry on the hook for potentially billions of dollars.  The Supreme Court will hear a case challenging those lawsuits in October and conservative groups have called for a probe of whether Justice Elena Kagan — a member of the high court’s liberal wing — violated ethics rules by writing the forward to the judicial reference manual. Kagan testified last month that she hadn’t read the chapter in question. Republicans have asserted that the authors of the manual’s climate chapter, Jessica Wentz and Radley Horton, who are affiliated with climate studies programs at Columbia University, had “applauded litigation as a tool to advance their preferred political objectives.” Wentz and Horton have refuted that characterization. Democratic attorneys general and members of Congress have called on the Federal Judicial Center to restore the climate chapter, saying “partisan actors should have no input into the substantive determination of what constitutes accurate and reliable information.” Democrats say the peer-reviewed chapter drew from a variety of expert climate sources and provided context to help courts assess the “credibility, weight, and admissibility of those different sources.” Justice Samuel Alito, who was appointed by a President George W. Bush and holds stock in oil companies, has also faced calls to step back from the Suncor climate case. A court spokesperson has said the justice is not required to recuse himself because he does not have financial interests in the companies directly named in the case. Alito has declined to participate in earlier versions of the climate case that have come before the Supreme Court.

Republican senators reveal Fauci's private texts on COVID-19 vaccines -- Republican Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Ron Johnson (Wis.) on Monday released text messages Dr. Anthony Fauci sent and received in 2021 regarding the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant women. Obtained from Fauci’s government cellphone, the text messages are among more than 34,000 on the device, according to Johnson’s office. The lawmakers also obtained 522 voicemails from the phone. The Hill has reached out to Fauci’s legal representatives for comment. In a January 2021 text chain Fauci was on with Drs. Vivek Murthy and Rochelle Walensky — the surgeon general and director, respectively, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during the Biden administration — the trio discussed when pregnant women should get the COVID-19 vaccine. Murthy asked on Jan. 25, “For pregnant women considering getting the vaccine, are you aware of any data or theoretical reason why vaccinating early vs late in pregnancy would be preferred? And any sense of when there will be more robust data on vaccine risk in pregnant women?” After Walensky noted that 15,000-plus pregnant women were enrolled in the CDC’s V-safe vaccine safety monitoring system, Fauci wrote there “are no data or theoretical reason to believe that vaccinating early versus later in pregnancy would be preferred.” Fauci added, “Yet, some people (even female health care professionals) feel concerned about injecting a ‘genetic’ vaccine very early in pregnancy.” The then-director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) also wrote there “is this misperception” the mRNA vaccine impacts recipients’ genes. Nearly two hours later, Fauci wrote, “I asked around a bit more and another issue came up that you need to be aware of. Since many people have significant cytokines storm and fever after the 2nd dose, this theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester.” Cytokines are a broad category of proteins that function as chemical messengers in one’s immune system. Walensky and Murthy agreed with Fauci, writing he made a “good point.” Then on Jan. 26, amid a discussion on the World Health Organization advising against pregnant women taking the Moderna vaccine, Fauci wrote pregnant women “must weigh the potential risks against the benefits” of getting immunized. “COVID-19 can be a serious disease especially in pregnancy,” Fauci noted, adding that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists permitted pregnant women to choose whether to get the vaccine. A week after his text conversation with Murthy and Walensky, Fauci said the FDA had so far found “no red flags” among the 10,000-plus pregnant women who participated in COVID vaccine trials to that point. “I would rather take my chances with the vaccine than getting infected while I’m pregnant, because of the adverse effect and adverse outcome on pregnancy [of getting COVID],” Fauci told Dr. Howard Bauchner, then the editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Johnson, who along with Paul has long criticized Fauci for his handling of the pandemic, said Monday his investigation into the former federal health official “has only just begun.” The Wisconsin Republican also said Friday the obtained texts are from roughly 2014 up to “a few days before” Fauci left the NIAID in December 2022.  “My staff can’t guarantee that everything was preserved,” Johnson told Catherine Herridge on NewsNation’s “Katie Pavlich Tonight.” “What is odd is most of those text messages are associated with a phone number. He only had three contacts, which is pretty odd.”Johnson also said the investigation will “take some time,” noting the need to protect individuals’ privacy.  The move from Paul and Johnson comes less than a week after Republicans on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs panel approved a resolution holding Fauci in contempt of Congress. Last month, Fauci pleaded the Fifth Amendment 111 times during testimony before the committee.

Trump order calls for fewer childhood vaccines  - An executive order signed by President Trump Monday would upend the childhood vaccine schedule by recommending splitting up the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot across three separate visits. The order builds on other efforts by Trump and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reshape and whittle down the number of childhood vaccines — shoving controversial vaccination policy back into the mainstream just a few months ahead of the midterm elections.   “Effective immediately, my administration is recognizing gold standard childhood vaccine recommendations for only 11 core vaccinations against the most serious and dangerous diseases, along with the MMR, which hopefully will be split up,” Trump said in the Oval Office. With a heavy emphasis on autism, the president also directed the HHS to improve vaccine safety research.Trump suggested multiple times that rising rates of childhood shots have led to an increase in autism diagnoses. “Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today. In those times, people were much healthy, and of course, the high rates of autism now observed did not exist” Trump said. “So there’s a reason for such epidemic rates of autism, and we’re going to bring it back to where it was.Medical experts have decried the idea and said splitting up the MMR vaccine could leave children vulnerable to infectious diseases for longer. Separate measles, mumps and rubella vaccines for children are not currently available in the U.S.  “Parents can still choose to give their children all of the vaccinations if they wish. It’s up to the parents,” Trump added. “However, this updated recommendation finally aligns the United States nations around the world. More importantly, aligns us with common sense and knowledge.” The MMR shot is recommended for children at 12 to 15 months and 4 to 6 years. The combined version has been available since 1971, in part to reduce the number of injections that children receive.But Trump insisted children are being harmed by getting injected with more vaccines than their bodies can handle. “Very simply: Large amounts of vaccine, large amounts of — like vats — of vaccine are currently pumped into your child’s body,” Trump said. According to Trump, spacing out vaccines is the right move. “Nothing bad can happen from what we’re doing,” Trump told reporters. He also said he broke up his own children’s vaccinations over several visits, with no ill effects.Trump’s order largely mimics an attempt to limit the number of childhood vaccines made by the HHS in January, which was blocked by a judge in March.

What to know about Trump's executive order to reduce childhood vaccine schedule - President Trump signed an executive order Monday advancing “Make America Healthy Again” vaccine priorities, issuing recommendations to split up combined vaccines and to reduce the number of childhood immunizations.  “Effective immediately, my administration is recognizing gold standard childhood vaccine recommendations for only 11 core vaccinations against the most serious and dangerous diseases, along with the MMR, which hopefully will be split up,” Trump said from the Oval Office. He reiterated the common criticism made by vaccine opponents that the U.S.’s vaccine schedule is too expansive when compared with other developed nations and repeated claims that vaccines could be linked to autism. “We do not know exactly what the cause is with respect to autism. It is essential to our research efforts that we have the very best vaccine recommendations in the entire world. So we’re reducing them,” Trump said. The order comes as the U.S. faces the highest number of measles infections it has seen in more than 30 years. As with the preexisting childhood immunization schedule, Trump’s executive order on Monday appears to solely provide recommendations and does not include any binding policy changes.  The executive order recommends reducing the U.S. childhood immunization schedule to 11 vaccines against measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type B, pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus and varicella.   It also calls for splitting up the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three separate doses administered at three different clinic visits, with Trump claiming the combined shot could be “quite lethal.” The order recommends additional vaccines for diseases like RSV and hepatitis A and B for “certain high-risk groups” as well as “shared clinical decision-making” for other diseases like COVID-19 and influenza.  For many years, the U.S. has recommended a childhood immunization schedule that vaccinates against 17 diseases, though Trump and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed Monday that children have been required to receive “72 jabs.”  The 72-injection figure refers to the number of immunization injections a child could receive between birth and 18 years of age — and is a recommendation, not a requirement. This figure includes individual seasonal vaccinations they may receive, such as those for the flu.  One complication to Trump’s order is that manufacturers don’t currently sell standalone monovalent vaccines for measles, mumps or rubella, with the combined vaccine having long been the norm.  In a press call following the signing of the executive order, a White House official acknowledged this reality and said the HHS would “get back to” Trump on this question within the next 90 days. Officials did not directly answer when asked what incentive drugmakers had to split up an existing product.  Another issue brought up during the signing was how families could expect manage more co-pays if they listen to Trump’s recommendation to split up routine vaccinations across multiple doctors’ visits. Trump said his administration would “work with families.” When asked for more details following the signing, a White House official said they were waiting on the HHS to come back with recommendations on the issue.  Trump’s order Monday closely resembles what the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sought to accomplish through committee votes earlier this year.  The ACIP voted in favor of a recommendation to slim down the U.S. childhood immunization schedule. In March, however, a federal court ruled that the committee members selected by Kennedy lacked the expertise necessary to be on the panel and blocked the schedule changes.  Trump referenced this litigation in his order Monday, writing, “implementation of my Administration’s prior directives regarding childhood vaccines has been delayed due to litigation over the composition of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and separate updates to the Federal vaccine schedule.”  While directly referencing the committee’s actions, a White House official insisted on Monday that Trump’s order was an entirely separate action.  “This executive order complies fully with the existing court orders and injunctions. What this particular executive order does is, on behalf of the president, recognizes the gold standard science for the United States government,” they said. “This is separate from any other committee processes that have been in place and that have involved litigation.”  Vaccine supporters and physicians’ groups were quick to condemn the executive order Monday.   Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician and chair of the Senate Health Committee, lambasted the move as “so wrong.”  “I’m a doctor. This executive order is wrong. The President does not have the expertise to make these changes. Vaccines are overwhelmingly safe. Vaccines are effective. Vaccines DO NOT cause autism,” Cassidy said on the social platform X.  “Breaking up vaccines will mean children have to get more shots to get the same protection, not fewer shots. It will increase hesitancy and make children less safe,” he added. “Parents should listen to their child’s pediatrician about vaccines rather than listening to an inaccurate executive order. This is so wrong.”  The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), a plaintiff in the lawsuit that blocked the ACIP’s vaccine schedule changes, pushed back on Trump’s claims that the longstanding recommended childhood immunization schedule was excessive.  “There is robust evidence to support the safety, effectiveness and necessity of U.S. vaccine recommendations. Some public figures have falsely implied that the number of recommended vaccines for children in the United States could be linked to chronic health conditions or autism and have called for re-testing proven immunizations,” the AAP said in a statement.  PhRMA, the trade group representing the pharmaceutical industry, cast doubt on the administration’s claims of advancing “gold standard science” through the order.   “America’s childhood immunization schedule is built on decades of rigorous scientific research and public health expertise designed for the U.S. population,” PhRMA said in a statement.   “Simply imposing a narrower schedule by importing recommendations from foreign countries wouldn’t reflect gold standard science – it would mean accepting a lower bar of protection against diseases that remain serious and, in some cases, life-threatening for children in the United States,” the organization added.

American Academy of Pediatrics calls Trump vaccine order ‘dangerous’ - The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics blasted President Trump’s Monday executive order calling for fewer childhood vaccines. “As measles cases reach a 35-year high in the U.S. and with cold and flu season quickly approaching, today’s executive order on vaccines is not only disheartening but dangerous,” Dr. Andrew Racine said in a release. “Instead of ensuring every family can access life-saving vaccines for measles, influenza, RSV and more, federal leaders are once again spreading misleading claims,” he added.Earlier Monday, Trump signed an executive order recommending pediatricians split up the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot across three separate visits for children. The “Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations” order divides vaccines into three categories: those recommended for all children, recommended for children at high risk of infection or recommended after consultation with a physician.  Under Trump’s guidelines, all children should receive separate vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Hib, pneumococcal disease, HPV and varicella, commonly known as chicken pox. But only high-risk children should receive respiratory syncytial virus monoclonal antibodies, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcal B, meningococcal ACWY and dengue vaccines, according to the president’s order. While states set their own childhood vaccination schedules, federal policy typically guides them. Echoing the name of his executive order, Trump said in the Oval Office his recommendations recognize “gold standard vaccine recommendations.” The president added, “Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today. In those times, people were much [healthier], and of course, the high rates of autism now observed did not exist. “So there’s a reason for such epidemic rates of autism, and we’re going to bring it back to where it was.” But Racine pushed back against Trump’s claims, noting there is no scientifically proven link between childhood vaccines and autism. “There is no new evidence to justify significant changes to childhood immunization guidance,” he said. “Dozens of studies involving millions of people show there is no link between vaccines and autism, and yet federal leaders continue to promote this outdated, disproven idea to scare families.” Racine argued the executive order “will do nothing to support families of children with autism or advance understanding” of the condition. Instead, he said the new recommendations are intended to “sow confusion so that more people doubt the importance of vaccines.” Racine later added, “On-time immunization keeps our kids and our communities healthy and thriving. If parents have questions about vaccines, I encourage them to talk with their child’s pediatrician or clinician.”

American Medical Association criticizes Trump executive order on childhood vaccine schedule -  The president of the American Medical Association on Monday said President Trump’s new recommendations on childhood immunizations put “children’s health at risk,” joining the chorus of medical experts criticizing the executive order. “Vaccines are among the most thoroughly studied, effective tools we have to protect children from serious vaccine-preventable diseases,” Dr. Willie Underwood III said in a release. “Decisions about how and when vaccines are used should be driven by rigorous scientific evidence, patient safety, and independent medical and public health expertise.  “Altering a proven vaccination schedule without credible evidence risks weakening public confidence and putting children’s health at risk.” Trump on Monday signed an executive order recommending pediatricians split up the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) across three separate visits for children. His order also split vaccines into categories: those recommended for children, recommended for children at high risk of infection or recommended after consultation with a physician. All children should receive separate vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Hib, pneumococcal disease, HPV and varicella, commonly known as chicken pox, under Trump’s order. But in a change from prior federal guidance, the order recommends only high-risk children should receive respiratory syncytial virus monoclonal antibodies, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcal B, meningococcal ACWY and dengue vaccines. While states set their own childhood vaccination schedules, the federal government provides recommendations as a guideline. While signing the order in the Oval Office, the president argued the move would contribute to declining rates of autism in children — despite there being no scientifically-proven evidence of a link between vaccinations and autism. “Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today. In those times, people were much [healthier], and of course, the high rates of autism now observed did not exist,” Trump said, flanked by Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has claimed that vaccines cause autism. “So there’s a reason for such epidemic rates of autism, and we’re going to bring it back to where it was,” the president added. The order also directed HHS to improve vaccine safety monitoring, transparency and research. Underwood contrasted Trump’s guidelines with the childhood immunization schedule from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which he said recommends vaccines “based on specific disease risks and healthcare delivery in the U.S.” He added, “Extensive evidence from decades of scientific studies shows no link between vaccines and autism. If you have questions about vaccines, talk to your child’s physician. Putting our children’s health at risk is not an option.” Underwood is one of multiple critics in the medical community of the order. Dr. Andrew Racine, the president of the AAP, said Monday the president’s recommendations were “not only disheartening but dangerous.”  Outgoing Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a medical doctor who voted to confirm Kennedy last year despite expressing reservations about the then-nominee’s prior rhetoric on vaccines, also said Trump had “no expertise” to issue the new guidelines, which he called “so wrong.”

CIDRAP Op-Ed: What the vaccine executive order gets wrong, and what it will cost us | CIDRAP - Yesterday, in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump described what he believed happens to an American infant at a routine well visit. He said he had seen proof of a vaccination the size of a bottle of soda poured into a little child's body.   A few minutes later he described vats of vaccine being pumped in and explained that, under his new policy, children would receive 20% of that at each of five separate visits, with time allowed to elapse between them so the body could handle the massive amount of fluid. In the question period afterward, he returned to it again, describing the single visit as one where they pump in what seemingly looks like gallons. Nearly every injectable childhood vaccine comes in a half-milliliter dose. Give a 2-month-old five separate injections at one visit and the total is two and a half milliliters, about half a teaspoon. In practice it is less, because combination products deliver several components in a single injection. A 20-ounce bottle of soda holds about 590 milliliters.  He said he had seen proof of a vaccination the size of a bottle of soda poured into a little child's body. That is a gap of more than 200-fold, and an executive order was signed on the strength of it. The volume error would be a footnote if the document rested on something sturdier. It does not. The only evidentiary document the order cites is a January 2026 assessment by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) comparing the American immunization schedule to those of other countries. No trial, no safety signal, no dataset, as I noted in a CIDRAP op-ed then. And the central number in that assessment cannot be lowered by the policy it was written to justify. The White House fact sheet issued that afternoon states that the 2024 childhood schedule reached at least 84 vaccine doses in at least 57 shots. At the signing, the President said 72. Secretary Kennedy, standing a few feet away, said it could run as high as 94. The 72 is at least traceable, as the assessment's ceiling for injections rather than doses. The 94 matches nothing in the document, which caps doses at 88 and injections at 72.  The legend to Table 2 on page 15 states it plainly: the MMR shot contains three vaccine doses, one each for measles, mumps, and rubella. So the two MMR injections a child receives become six doses on the ledger, and the five DTaP shots plus one Tdap booster become 18. (DTaP and Tdap vaccines protect against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis, or whooping cough.) The assessment assigns influenza and COVID-19 18 to 19 doses apiece, up until a child's 18th birthday. At the lower bound, which is where the 84 and the 57 come from, those two supply 36 of the doses and administrations.   18 of the 84 doses are projected COVID shots that no schedule ever called for, and this administration went on to end the COVID recommendation for healthy children entirely.  Officials inflated the number with a vaccine they removed, and then they cited the inflated number as grounds for removing more.  If one MMR injection is already counted as three doses, then splitting MMR into three single-disease products removes nothing from the total. The tally stays at six. The number of shots goes from two to six.  The order's signature intervention, the one the president spent most of his remarks describing, does not move the statistic it was written to correct. It only triples the injections. The order sorts childhood immunizations into three categories and puts hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and meningococcal disease in two of them at once, both as recommendations for high-risk groups and as subjects for shared clinical decision-making. It never says who counts as high risk. The document that does, the January schedule memo, has been blocked since March, when a federal judge in Massachusetts stayed it, along with the reconstituted advisory committee's votes in American Academy of Pediatrics v. Kennedy. The categories arrive with nothing behind them. Section 2(b) says MMR should be given as three separate shots at separate visits, once such products are domestically available and to the maximum extent feasible. Section 3(a) tells HHS to make single-disease MMR available while guaranteeing that combination vaccines remain available. A defender will call that a recommendation alongside preserved choice. The order never says which one a pediatrician is supposed to follow. On everything medical, the order asks only for paperwork. Agencies are told to review the recommendations. The HHS secretary is told to deliver plans within 90 days. Both instructions come wrapped in qualifiers, to be carried out as appropriate and only to the extent the law allows.  States, which are the ones that actually set school vaccine requirements, are not told to do anything at all. They are advised to consider changing their requirements. Section 4 is written differently. There the attorney general is directed to bring lawsuits against states over religious and medical exemptions, and three departments are directed to press their contractors and grantees on the same question. That is the only place the order reaches past the executive branch, and it has nothing to do with medicine. It is also where the administration expects the work to happen. At the signing, Heidi Overton, MD, PhD, said the administration would work directly with states so that they would not be relying on the court case to resolve.Set aside the arithmetic and consider what the order asks American parents to do. It asks them to obtain three products that cannot be obtained. There is no measles-only vaccine available in the United States. There is no mumps-only vaccine and no rubella-only vaccine, either. Three measles-containing products are licensed here: M-M-R II, PRIORIX, and ProQuad, all combinations. Merck told the CDC's vaccine advisory committee in October 2009 that it would not resume making the single-disease versions, a decision it reached after requests from that committee and the American Academy of Pediatrics, on the grounds that separate shots would delay protection, leave children susceptible longer, and increase both injections and visits.  The World Health Organization (WHO) has prequalified a standalone measles vaccine and a standalone rubella vaccine. It has never prequalified a standalone mumps vaccine anywhere in the world. Bringing them back would mean three new products. Each would need its own biologics license under section 351 of the Public Health Service Act, and approval turns on inspection of the manufacturing establishment as well as evaluation of the product. Merck said in a statement to PolitiFact that splitting MMR would essentially create three new separately licensed vaccines requiring full clinical testing and regulatory review. It estimated more than 10 years to approval and commercialization. The order concedes the difficulty in its own text, calling for the split to happen once such products are domestically available. Until then, the instruction to a parent who takes the order seriously is to wait. It arrives during the highest annual measles total since 1991, 2,465 confirmed cases as of August 6, as schools reopen in the hardest-hit states, and three months before the regional commission decides in November whether the United States has lost its measles elimination status, a review the United States asked to postpone from April. Standing beside the president, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller said that parents are pressured into five, six, or seven shots when their children are weeks out of the hospital, and that "nobody has studied it, nobody has looked at it, nobody has thought about it." Nothing could be more detached from reality.Vaccines on the childhood schedule are licensed on the basis of controlled clinical trials of the product or its components, and combination shots are tested as combinations. Guidance on combination vaccines from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) directs that immunogenicity and safety data supporting simultaneous administration with already licensed vaccines should be obtained before licensure. The FDA also says that combinations should be compared against their components given separately at the same visit. Once a vaccine is in use, the surveillance continues. When reports of intussusception (a telescoping of the intestine) after the first rotavirus vaccine accumulated in the national reporting system in 1999, the recommendation was suspended in July, emergency case-control and cohort investigations followed, and the product was off the market by October. The schedule as a whole has been examined, too. The Institute of Medicine reviewed it in 2013 and uncovered no evidence of major safety concerns associated with adherence to the childhood immunization schedule, while calling for further study of specific questions the literature had not settled.What that work shows is a schedule that has grown in injections while shrinking in what it asks of the immune system. The relevant measure is antigens, the pieces of a germ the immune system learns to recognize. The whooping cough vaccine used into the 1980s was made from the whole killed bacterium and carried on the order of 3,000 distinct proteins, more than everything else on that era's schedule combined. Today's schedule covers 16 to 18 diseases and contains between roughly 165 and 315 antigens, depending on the counting rules, a reduction of roughly 90% to 95%. We got there by working out which few pieces actually generate protection and making only those.Offit and colleagues calculated that an infant could theoretically respond to about 10,000 vaccines at once, and that 11 given simultaneously would engage roughly a tenth of one percent of the immune system. The empirical answer came later. A 2018 study in JAMA compared children who developed infections unrelated to any vaccine against children who did not and found no meaningful difference in cumulative antigen exposure from vaccination, 240.6 against 242.9.The executive order tells HHS to develop alternatives to the aluminum salts added to some vaccines to strengthen the immune response. The assessment behind it does identify a signal: a 2023 analysis of Vaccine Safety Datalink records reporting a hazard ratio of 1.19 (a 19% increased risk) for persistent asthma per milligram of aluminum. That is the kind of finding that warrants a larger and better-designed test, and one was published a year ago. Andersson and colleagues followed about 1.2 million Danish children in a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, examining aluminum exposure from vaccines against 50 chronic conditions. Nothing came back. The hazard ratios sat at or below 1 across autoimmune, allergic, and neurodevelopmental outcomes, asthma included. The authors concluded that the data rule out moderate or large increases in risk, while noting that very small ones cannot be statistically excluded. That is the answer to the question the assessment raised, from the registry of the country this administration selected as its model.MMR has nothing to do with any of it. Its package insert lists no adjuvant, and no live attenuated vaccine on the American schedule carries one, because a weakened virus that replicates briefly supplies its own immune stimulus.Meanwhile, the intervention the executive order prescribes has never been tested. No trial has compared the recommended schedule against an alternative one, a gap the Institute of Medicine noted in 2013 and that nobody has since filled. The one element of this prescription that has been studied is delay, and it points the wrong way.  Two Vaccine Safety Datalink studies covering hundreds of thousands of children found that a first measles-containing dose given at 16 to 23 months carried roughly twice the risk of a post-vaccination fever-related seizure as the same dose given at 12 to 15 months, for MMR alone as well as for MMRV (MMR plus varicella, or chickenpox).   Those seizures are frightening to witness but carry no lasting harm. What the studies establish is narrower. The only measured effect of pushing measles vaccination later is increased cost, and the order proposes to push vaccination laterBefore he signed, President Trump said that nothing bad can happen from what the administration is doing, and then said it again.  Something bad had already happened. Earlier in the same event he said of the combined MMR that there could be a possibility they are quite lethal, and that separately they are not lethal at all. When a reporter asked him for the evidence, he attributed it to other people, allowed that there might be a 5% chance of it, and repeated the claim. That is the president of the United States telling parents, twice, on camera, that the shot their pediatrician recommends may kill their child.  If the schedule changes take hold, the rest follows on a delay:

• Fewer children will be vaccinated, because turning one appointment into three will lower vaccine uptake. 
• Children will be hospitalized who would not have been. Some will die. 
• Up to 90% of infants who acquire hepatitis B at birth become chronically infected, and roughly a quarter of those infected in childhood die prematurely of cirrhosis or liver cancer. 
• The infections will not stay among children: Measles, whooping cough, and hepatitis B move through households and workplaces and hospital waiting rooms, to infants too young for their first dose, to pregnant women, to people on chemotherapy, to grandparents.

None of that is a prediction about something unknowable. It is what happened in Japan, in the United Kingdom after Andrew Wakefield sowed misinformation, and in every community where coverage has slipped since. We know how this goes, because we have watched it go. President Trump said nothing bad can happen. Bad things have already happened, and more are coming, and every one of them was avoidable.

New CDC director faces first major test before she even begins work - All leaders of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) face tough challenges. But the biggest test for the CDC’s new director, Erica Schwartz, MD, MPH, JD, has arrived before her first day on the job. Schwartz, who has been confirmed but not sworn in, will have to decide how to respond to President Donald Trump’s executive order, issued August 10, calling for children to receive fewer life-saving immunizations.  The executive order is the Trump administration’s second attempt this year to slash the number of vaccines children receive. An earlier policy change announced by the acting CDC director in January, which would have slashed the number of recommended immunizations, has been blocked by a federal judge.The CDC director typically signs off on vaccine recommendations, which are usually written by an independent panel of experts after reviewing medical evidence.The CDC’s first Senate-confirmed director, Susan Monarez, PhD, was fired after less than one month on the job for refusing to rubber-stamp vaccine policies from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.The agency has since been without a permanent director.Public health advocates say they’re waiting to see whether Schwartz will defend the current immunization schedule, which protects children against 18 potentially life-threatening diseases, or if she will agree to recommend only the 11 vaccines endorsed by Trump’s order.“Now that she’s confirmed, what is she going to do about this executive order that is politically motivated and not science-based?” asked Bruce Gellin, MD, MPH, who led the Department of Health and Human Services National Vaccine Program Office from 2002 to 2017.“How she handles this will be a litmus test for how her tenure goes as a CDC director,” Gellin said. At Schwartz’s confirmation hearing, she testified that she supports vaccines and “will never betray the science.”  Schwartz told the Senate committee that her “first priority will be restoring trust in public health through radical transparency and unwavering scientific integrity. As CDC director, my sacred responsibility is to provide the American people with public health guidance that is clear, honest, and evidence-based.”  At the hearing, Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent, asked Schwartz if she would be willing to defy orders from Kennedy that went against science or could harm public health.When Schwartz replied, “I do not believe that the president or the secretary would ever do what you just mentioned,” several senators accused her of being evasive.Trump’s executive order gives Schwartz a chance to answer Sanders’ question. Executive orders from the president are akin to an all-staff memo from a company CEO. While they are binding for administration employees, they carry no legal weight for those outside the federal government, including doctors and medical organizations.“If she signs on to change the vaccine schedule based on an executive order, then you know her path,” said Demetre Daskalakis, MD, MPH, who led the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases until resigning almost a year ago. “She will reveal herself.”    Addressing Schwartz, Gellin added, “Here's your chance to prove what your priorities are.”If Schwartz refuses to comply with Trump’s executive order, “she could set the record for the shortest tenure of a Senate-confirmed CDC director.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Francesca Hong positions: 'Woke 1 was crazy' - Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Sunday quoted a New York City Council member in describing Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong’s (D) past positions, saying “Woke 1 was crazy.” ABC News’s “This Week” host Jonathan Karl asked Ocasio-Cortez in an interview about her opinion on Hong’s past stances and statements, including urging Americans to “cancel Thanksgiving.” The New York lawmaker said Hong has “moved away from it.” “And I have a local city councilman that has this saying that ‘Woke 1 was crazy,'” she added, causing her and Karl to laugh. “And I think that what’s important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now.” Ocasio-Cortez referred to New York City Council member Chi Ossé, a progressive elected official. Ossé shared a clip of Ocasio-Cortez’s response and wrote on the social platform X, “Woke 1 was crazyyyy, Madame President.” Karl pressed Ocasio-Cortez about Hong’s past positions, asking if the movement went “too far” with some of its views and pointing out the New York Democrat’s own past stance of abolishing the police. “Well, you know, I think that during this time and during, especially during COVID, there was a huge opening of the Overton window,” she said. “We were shut down. There was some of the highest unemployment rates that we have seen because of those shutdowns. And I think that the doors were really open in trying to entertain any and every policy that was going to get us to a better place.” Ocasio-Cortez said these discussions were “quite fruitful” but noted that “during lockdown, of course, rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today.” “And I’m grateful that these candidates have the opportunity to present who they are to their electorate and what they’re campaigning on in this moment,” she added.

GOP senator calls Max Miller allegations 'deeply troubling' - Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) on Sunday said allegations against GOP Rep. Max Miller (Ohio) are “deeply troubling” and said the lawmaker should ultimately resign if the accusations of abuse raised against him are true.“I live in Indiana. This is a race in northern Ohio and the other part of the state. I don’t know enough about the political dynamics, but I’ve watched the allegations,” Banks said during a Sunday appearance on NBC News’s “Meet the Press.”“They’re deeply troubling. And I pray for all involved, especially the kid, and hope that justice prevails in this case,” he added.   Domestic abuse allegations came from his ex-wife and daughter of Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno (R), Emily Moreno. Miller has denied wrongdoing and requested a House Ethics Committee probe to clear his name. He said refuses to withdraw from his reelection campaign.His colleagues in the legislature — including GOP Sens. Jon Husted (Ohio) and Tim Sheehy (Mont.) as well as Bernie Moreno — have urged Miller to resign and forgo his reelection bid. “I know everyone involved. And it’s heartbreaking to see all of this pay out publicly. The allegations against him are terrible. And if he’s endangering his seat in Congress as we’re trying to keep the majority in the House … he should drop out if he’s endangering that seat,” Banks told moderator Kristen Welker. “He should drop out because of the allegations against him. But at the end of the day, it’s heartbreaking to see when kids are involved something like this happen,” he added. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has stated that domestic abuse allegations against Miller are “serious,” but declined to force him out or prejudge the case, maintaining that leadership withholds judgment until the House Ethics Committee investigation runs its course.When asked about President Trump’s damp outlook on Miller’s political future looks, Johnson said things “don’t look good right now, of course.”“But again, what should a Speaker do in this case? I mean, I call out alarming behavior. I try to work every day on decorum and on the ethics of the House,” he told host Dasha Burns during an appearance on Politico’s “The Conversation” last week. Johnson added, “We have a very active and engaged Ethics Committee. They’ve done more work than they need to. I wish it wasn’t necessary.”

Federal civil-rights suit: Congressman Max Miller and attorney published nude photo of two-year-old daughter online – Today, Emily Moreno on behalf of her two-year-old daughter, filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio against U.S. Representative Max L. Miller, his attorney Aaron Minc, and the law firm Minc LLC, alleging that they recklessly published and distributed on the internet an unredacted nude photograph of Miller and Moreno’s daughter displaying her uncovered genitalia.The lawsuit asserts federal claims under 15 U.S.C. § 6851 (civil action relating to disclosure of intimate images), state-law claims for civil liability for criminal acts under R.C. 2307.60, wrongful-intrusion invasion of privacy, negligence, and civil conspiracy.The federal statute makes it illegal for anyone to disclose intimate visual depictions without consent. The term “disclose” means, the statute says, “to transfer, publish, distribute, or make accessible.” 15 U.S.C. § 6851(b)(1). Intimate visual depictions are defined to include uncovered genitals and the pubic area. 15 U.S.C. § 6851(b)(2).According to the complaint, seeking to salvage his political reputation amid public attention regarding allegations of abusive behavior toward three women and his daughter, Congressman Miller provided a large collection of documents and media files to his attorney, Aaron Minc. On Sunday, August 2, 2026, during a live video broadcast on X (formerly Twitter) targeting Ms. Moreno, Miller distributed a link to a public Dropbox folder created and owned by Minc and his firm. The folder contained an unredacted PDF document, the suit alleges, featuring an intimate visual depiction of the two-year-old girl, displaying her uncovered genitalia. A veteran pediatrician reviewed the photo and confirmed it depicts the child’s genitalia, contradicting Minc’s claims to the media that the child is partly clothedThe complaint details allegations about the defendants’ reckless actions and how they enabled international public access to the intimate image:

• Urged public to view electronic folder: According to the complaint, Miller repeatedly urged his broadcast viewers to “take a look at the documents” in the Dropbox folder, actively encouraging the public to review and download the contents.
• Massive public distribution: According to the filing, Miller’s two social-media posts linking the public Dropbox folder generated more than 400,000 total views. Minc acknowledged in email correspondence that the intimate photo remained available online for about 23 hours before being removed.
• Editor permissions enabled: The lawsuit alleges that Minc initially set the public Dropbox folder permissions to grant editing privileges to any member of the public. And, it claims, when initial viewers deleted the files, Minc restored the folder to an earlier state—republishing the unredacted nude image—and Miller broadcast the updated link for a second time, telling followers, “Dropbox back online. Take a look.”
• Identifiable information exposed: The filing highlights that the child’s name appeared unredacted more than 70 times within the same document containing the intimate image.
• Admitted pressure and reckless haste: According to the filing, Minc admitted in correspondence regarding the unredacted release that he “was under an enormous amount of pressure to get the files and link live again as quickly as possible.” The complaint alleges that, in his reckless haste to assist Miller’s public-relations assault—and pressured by a furious Miller intent on maligning his ex-wife—Minc failed to properly redact the files containing the toddler’s nude image.
• False media denials: According to the complaint, Minc later admitted responsibility for failing to redact the document but then lied to media outlets by claiming the child was partially clothed.
• Refusing to account for the damage: Minc refused repeated requests from Ms. Moreno’s counsel to provide download logs or reveal how many times the image was accessed and transferred. He also failed to respond to repeated requests for a plan to undo the damage.

A lawyer for Rep. Max Miller took responsibility Tuesday for inadvertently releasing sensitive photos of the Ohio Republican’s daughter in a trove of material Miller published Sunday in a bid to defend himself against domestic abuse claims.The attorney, Aaron Minc, took responsibility for the photo being released and called it “completely unintentional and a mistake” after a lawyer for Miller’s ex-wife, Emily Moreno, accused Miller of disseminating the daughter’s name and one image that “could be considered Child Sexual Abuse Material.”“I am solely responsible for what happened,” Minc said in a statement. “I was the only person responsible for assembling, creating, reviewing, adding, deleting, redacting, or making any changes to the information and files that were in this folder.” Minc apologized to Miller, Moreno and their families but also decried Moreno for creating “a media spectacle regarding this unfortunate mistake … as a means to try to gain leverage in court and distract from the underlying evidence that exonerates Mr. Miller from the false allegations he is accused of.” Miller posted the documents online Sunday after delivering a livestreamed defense against the claims leveled by his former wife, Emily Moreno. He has declined all allegations of wrongdoing, which include pouring hot water on his ex-wife, holding a gun to her head and breaking his daughter’s collarbone. Moreno’s lawyer Subodh Chandra claimed that some documents published to Dropbox left the daughter’s name unredacted and contained “private images,” including one where “the daughter’s genitals appear to be visible,” according to a letter to Minc obtained by POLITICO. Chandra noted that the photo was later removed.“The post with the link to the folder — published under your name — garnered over 204,000 views from the time it was posted until this afternoon,” Chandra wrote.The letter from Chandra asks Minc, “Whose idea was it to share this intimate image of the child?” among other questions, giving a Wednesday close-of-business deadline. Minc disputed Chandra’s characterization of the photo: “There were no images of ‘genitals,’” he told POLITICO. “A two-year-old girl had her shirt off. That is a deliberately false, sensationalized, and disgusting characterization.”The Dropbox dispute marks the latest escalation in the legal battle between Miller and Moreno, who is the daughter of Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno. After Miller delivered his livestreamed defense Sunday, the GOP senator denounced his former son-in-law, saying he should not serve in the House and needs to seek professional help.Bernie Moreno rekindled his attacks on Miller Monday after the photo revelations. “When he went out and did what he did — including releasing photos of my granddaughter completely naked, that now you have hundreds of thousands of psychotic human beings that have that — and to say ‘oops’ is grotesque,” the senator told reporters. “My personal opinion is that this is a felony, and that every single human being that touched that photo and transmitted it electronically should go to jail because it is illegal to do that.” Miller is running for reelection in a competitive Cleveland-area seat. He has until Wednesday to withdraw from the ballot and allow for a crash primary to replace him.

Donald Trump suffers legal blow in case over Epstein picture - A judge has blocked Donald Trump’s latest attempt to force Rupert Murdoch to sit for a deposition as part of the president’s defamation lawsuit against the owner of The Wall Street Journal and several of its journalists. Judge Darrin P. Gayles granted a request from lawyers representing Murdoch and other defendants to pause discovery in the case, meaning Trump’s efforts to gather evidence, including a deposition from Murdoch, will be put on hold while the court considers the defendants’ motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Trump’s lawyers have argued that Murdoch should be asked to depose swiftly, on account of his age, he is 95 years old, and because he “is believed to have suffered recent significant health scares”. The order was issued after a hearing on Wednesday, August 5, where lawyers returned to court over Trump’s legal battle with The Wall Street Journal and Murdoch. “Defendants’ Motion to Stay Discovery” was granted, according to the judge’s order, which stated: “All discovery in this matter is stayed pending the Court’s ruling on Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the First Amended Complaint.” The ruling marks the third time discovery has been paused during the course of the case. Newsweek reached out to representatives for Murdoch via email and Trump via online form on Friday for comment. In a filing by Murdoch’s legal team, his lawyers said: “Allowing an invalid claim to proceed to discovery “does nothing but waste the resources of the litigants in the action before the court, delay resolution of disputes between other litigants, squander scarce judicial resources, and damage the integrity and the public’s perception of the federal judicial system.” The filing also stated that: “More broadly, because this case centers around Defendants’ First Amendment protected speech, Defendants would suffer significant prejudice if forced to commence discovery prematurely. Indeed, both Florida’s and New York’s anti-SLAPP laws recognize that ‘the very filing and continuation’ of lawsuits—like this one—concerning ‘speech in connection with public issues’ has a ‘chilling effect on constitutional rights.'”

Trump sued over paid access to his posts | УНН --The media organization The Intercept Media and the Freedom of the Press Foundation have filed a lawsuit against Trump over the sale of early access to his posts. The scheme was called corrupt and unconstitutional. U.S. President Donald Trump has been sued over the controversial sale of advance notifications about his posts on Truth Social. CNBC reports, writes UNN. This scheme is extraordinary, corrupt, and unconstitutional, and the plaintiffs are bringing this lawsuit to stop it - the lawsuit filed in federal court in New York states. Truth Social’s parent company, Trump Media, announced in July that it would provide Truth API subscribers who pay up to $100,000 per month with early access to posts by Trump and other platform users capable of "influencing the market". The lawsuit was filed by the media organization The Intercept Media and the nonprofit organization Freedom of the Press Foundation.

Reed bill seeks clearer federal insider trading rules  - A group of lawmakers led by Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., introduced a bill aimed at cracking down on securities fraud by establishing a clearer definition of insider trading.

• Key takeaway: The bill, dubbed the Insider Trading Prohibition Act, would clearly define insider trading.
• Expert quote: "This legislation provides a clear definition of insider trading, with appropriate safety valves, that will help protect the investing public." — Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.
• What's at stake: There is no standalone federal statute specifically banning insider trading. Instead, courts have filled in the gaps by interpreting what constitutes insider trading.

The bill, dubbed the Insider Trading Prohibition Act, sponsored by Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., would amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to prohibit certain securities trading and related communications by people who possess material, nonpublic information.

Trump Mulls Capital Gains Relief As Midterm Sweetener - President Donald Trump is looking for new policy pledges to put before voters ahead of November, and two of them involve cutting capital gains taxes, according to National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and former NEC chief Larry Kudlow, who discussed the proposals on Fox Business Tuesday. Kudlow, who ran the council during Trump's first term and remains close to the president, said he had raised two ideas with Trump directly. The first is indexing capital gains to inflation, so investors would be taxed only on real gains rather than on the portion of an increase that simply reflects the dollar losing value. The second is exempting home sales of $2 million or less from capital gains taxes entirely. "I spoke to him, he liked the idea of the indexing, he liked the idea of a bigger exemption," Kudlow said, adding that "the boss is very interested." Hassett confirmed the broader effort and was unusually direct about the political strategy behind it. "He wants to hit people with the things that are promises that we're going to do if the Republicans have power in the future," he said. "So you can expect a lot more policy between now and the midterms." Neither idea can happen without Congress, which means neither is likely to take effect before November. These are campaign commitments contingent on Republicans retaining power, a point Hassett effectively made explicit. There is a potential workaround, and it has been tried before. Trump's first administration considered indexing capital gains through executive action, without legislation, but ultimately abandoned the effort. The obstacle is that the tax code's definition of an asset's "cost" has long been interpreted to mean the nominal price paid, making any change a matter for Congress rather than Treasury. Kudlow was pushing the unilateral approach as far back as 2018. It didn't happen then, either. The legislative route isn't dead, but it is expensive. Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Tim Scott introduced an indexing bill earlier this year that was estimated to reduce federal revenue by roughly $200 billion. Indexing has never commanded unanimous Republican support, and versions of the idea have repeatedly failed since the Reagan years. Congress passed one in 1995, only for Bill Clinton to veto it as a tax cut for the rich.

Bipartisan Senate duo targets utility executives’ bonuses - Two senators are wading into the energy affordability messaging wars, unveiling legislation Wednesday that would hold utility executives accountable when consumers’ electricity bills spike. The No Bonuses for Utility Executives Act, S. 5353, from Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), would prohibit state-regulated utilities from giving their C-suite leaders a bonus in years when electricity rates increase faster than inflation. Utilities would have to run bonuses by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or risk financial penalties. Those forfeitures would be redistributed to customers in the form of a rebate. The proposal is the latest attempt by members of Congress to rein in utility prices, which are rising due to the proliferation of data centers, extreme weather events and overdue updates to the electric grid, among other factors. While many of the bills making their way through Congress take aim at data center operators, this one puts a target on utilities.

Trump signed a memorandum on U.S. cyber operations against foreign criminal groups | УНН -U.S. President Donald Trump signed a memorandum expanding federal agencies’ ability to use cyber tools against transnational criminal organizations. The document involves private companies in cyber operations under government oversight. U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum that, according to the White House, is intended to expand the ability of federal law enforcement agencies to use cyber tools against transnational criminal organizations operating in other countries and carrying out attacks against Americans. Reuters reports, UNN writes. Trump signed a presidential national security memorandum directing his administration to "leverage the capabilities and innovations of the private sector to facilitate the conduct of these cyber operations under the direction, control, and authorities of the U.S. government," the White House said. In a fact sheet on the memorandum, the White House mentioned ransomware attacks, financial fraud, and other crimes committed by criminal organizations based abroad. The memorandum refers to them as "transnational criminal organizations." The memorandum establishes a mechanism encouraging private companies to enter into agreements with other private entities, as well as federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial authorities, to gather information about threats from transnational criminal organizations and propose cyber operations to counter those threats, the White House added. The document directs the Department of Homeland Security, through the Homeland Security Task Force's National Coordination Center, to establish a program "to conduct specific cyber operations aimed at disrupting the activities of foreign transnational criminal organizations." The program will be overseen by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. According to the memorandum, under the supervision of the federal government, vetted participating companies will conduct "cyber surveillance operations" and "cyber influence operations" against designated targets. Cyber influence includes the potential manipulation, disruption, denial, degradation, or destruction of information systems, networks, physical or virtual infrastructure controlled by information systems, or information stored in them - the memorandum states. Participating companies will be required to have a surety bond or funds in an escrow account worth at least $1 million, according to the document. The idea of involving private companies in cyber operations against criminal and other targets is not new and has been controversial in the past because of concerns about escalation, unintended consequences, and coordination problems among government agencies. The Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for additional details about the program.

‘I was not briefed’: Andy Beshear says Trump sidelined him on Kentucky data center plan - Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says the Trump administration kept him out of the loop last month as it rolled out plans for a $100 billion data center campus on federal land in his state — sidelining the red-state Democrat as he weighs a presidential run. In an interview with POLITICO, Beshear said he has some “complaints” about the project. Namely, nobody from the White House, Department of Energy or NextEra Energy or Brookfield Asset Management — the energy and financial powerhouses funding the project — briefed him on the massive investment before making it public at the end of July. Beshear’s claim of a communications kerfuffle — if it wasn’t a sharp-elbowed attempt by the White House to box out an ambitious Democratic governor, who said he could decide on a presidential run as soon as December — underscores the jockeying in Rust Belt states to take credit for local investment stemming from the U.S. tech industry’s spending spree. At the same time, it could also distance Beshear from a project that would dwarf most U.S. data centers today at a moment of growing public unease over the infrastructure build-out to advance artificial intelligence. The proposed Paducah American Energy Hub would be on a 3,500-acre Department of Energy site that enriched uranium during the Cold War. The private-sector consortium aims to build enough on-site natural gas generation and large-scale battery capacity to power one of the largest data center campuses in the United States — roughly enough power for 3 million homes. In the interview Friday, Beshear acknowledged that the Department of Energy had notified the governor’s office: A project would be announced on July 29. “I was not briefed on it. I had gotten notice that there would be an announcement and that it was a data center announcement,” Beshear said. “But at no point did the companies come and talk about the scope, the power demands, how they were going to be met, designs that could reduce or eliminate — hopefully — environmental issues.” “Those are the types of things that we want to talk through with any data center project,” Beshear added. In a statement, a DOE spokesperson said: “The Energy Department provided notifications to members of the Governor’s office the week prior to the announcement and again the week of the announcement. This is standard practice.” When asked for comment, the White House referred POLITICO to DOE. The company consortium told POLITICO it’s committed to working with “all stakeholders.”“We are confident that the project, which builds on Paducah’s energy legacy, will benefit the local community and Kentucky,” the project group said. “We have reached out to the governor’s office to schedule time and look forward to engaging constructively with him and the community as a whole.”Still, the snub comes at a delicate time. Beshear signed an executive order last Thursday that set basic standards for data centers and directed utility regulators to ensure Kentuckians don’t pay more for electricity.Beshear’s order comes after a suite of policy proposals and political maneuvers that Democratic governors and the party’s statewide candidates are rolling out to address public concern about data centers.In the Ohio Senate race, Democrat Sherrod Brown, the former three-term senator running to unseat Republican Sen. Jon Husted, launched an ad campaign labeling Husted the “face of data centers in Ohio.” It accused him of “cutting sweetheart tax deals” for tech companies during his time as lieutenant governor.Democratic governors are being buffeted by opposing forces: pressure to attract deep-pocketed technology companies that can pay for infrastructure and create jobs versus a voting public anxious about AI, the scale of data center development and its effect on power prices, communities, and the environment. That’s reflected in polling and populist candidates on the left and right calling for moratoriums and regulations.In Pennsylvania, developers are planning 74 new data centers — which, if built, would consume the energy equivalent of 22 large nuclear power plants. Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, also considering a presidential run in 2028, has sought a middle ground: championing data center investment while pressing power companies and the regional grid operators, PJM Interconnection, to cap the rise of electricity prices. In July, Shapiro signed a budget deal directing data centers to report their energy and water use.Meanwhile, in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul went even further in July by declaring the nation’s first state-level moratorium on the construction of large data centers.

Ohio General Assembly members propose sweeping bill to regulate data center development - Last week, a group of legislators in the Ohio House of Representatives introduced a far-reaching bill to regulate data center development across the state of Ohio.  In the face of concerns about the environmental, aesthetic, and public finance ramifications of Ohio’s rapid growth in data center development, Ohio House Bill 983 introduces a range of interventions designed to insert the public into data center development decisions.   The bill will require voter approval for every new construction or expansion of a data center with peak electric load over one megawatt for every municipality and township within five miles of the project.Permits issued without voter approval would be considered void.It would also impose new air emission and water discharge standards on a range of substances including PFAS, glycols, metals, and other organic compounds. These standards would apply to existing data centers after eighteen months.Owners of data centers would also be held financially responsible for water supply and water pressure impacts associated with their centers.    On the fiscal side, the legislation would ban local governments from offering property tax incentives for data centers and power plants associated with them. It would also require public disclosure of all data center agreements associated with development and supply.This legislation would significantly slow down the development of data centers in Ohio, if not stop it altogether.The voter approval requirement in particular could lead to dozens of required communitywide votes across the country to authorize data center developments. This would have a substantial impact on Ohio’s economy.Developers are set to invest $40 billion in data centers across the state of Ohio over the next four years. While this legislation would prevent some wasteful incentive spending, it would also likely cost the state economy tens of billions of dollars in investment.m One of the major concerns people have with data center development in Ohio is strain on public utilities, particularly electricity and water.If data center development drives up demand for each of these, it could drive prices for electricity and water up for local residents.This could fall more heavily on low-income residents because they spend more of their income on utilities than high-income residents. This bill’s proposed interventions could mitigate some of these cost concerns.There are other spillover effects people worry about with data center developments.Will incentives leave less money available for schools? Will data centers lead to wastewater, air emissions, and noise pollution?These are concerns that could be bluntly dealt with through bans on incentives and community votes, which are likely to torpedo most projects. Overall, though, it seems like this bill is a hammer for an issue that likely needs a scalpel.Communitywide votes to authorize new developments would likely be tantamount to a total ban of data center development across the state. This could slow Ohio’s economy to the tune of tens of billions of dollars over the next few years.Making sure that Ohio’s electricity and water systems keep up with new development could probably be achieved with less economic pain than a de facto permanent ban on development would create.

Banning data centers would blow up the U.S. economy -  My last post mentioned some of the more extreme cultural stances of Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong. Hong’s defenders complained that the cultural issues were getting far too much exposure, and that pundits should instead be focusing on her main issue: a pause on data center construction.  huh? Francesca Hong dropped out of college and ran a failing restaurant lol. She's running on data centers, not woke. The establishment's derangement on her is pretty pretty telling. Also, riddle me this: If she sucks so much why is she running away with this primary?David Axelrod @davidaxelrod     It’s pretty amazing that a pause on data center construction has become such a consensus, middle-of-the-road issue stance that it’s the thing Hong’s supporters would rather talk about! But it’s true. Poll after poll shows that Americans are decisively opposed to data center construction in their area, and the issue is becoming more lopsided by the day: An August 2025 survey conducted by Embold Research for Heatmap News…found that 43% of Americans said they would support the construction of a data center near them, while 42% were opposed…The latest survey, conducted last month, found a complete collapse among supporters: Today, just 21% said they support data center construction near them, while 71% are opposed — including 55% who say they are strongly opposed…A Gallup poll released in May showed the share of Americans who oppose the construction of data centers in their area, 71%, was higher than the zenith of the opposition to the construction of nuclear power plants, which topped out at 63% in 2001…A survey from Marquette Law School found 71% of voters nationwide said the costs of data centers outweigh the benefits, while 29% said the reverse. Voters said the development of AI is a bad thing for society, rather than a good thing, by a 65%-35% margin…A YouGov poll taken for The Economist found just 23% of voters who said the construction of data centers are good for the country, while 48% said they are bad for the country. That same poll found 60% opposed to building a new data center in their community. The opposition is incredibly bipartisan, with both Republicans and Democrats lining up to block data center construction. New York put a moratorium on data center construction in July, while Texas followed suit earlier this month. So far, there has been no strong move toward a federal data center pause, and the bills that have been introduced in Congress are pretty mild stuff. That’s why as long as the movement to stop data centers stayed confined to blue states, it didn’t really matter much. It was just another instance of a very traditional story that we’ve all come to expect — states like New York basically ban new physical industries, so those industries go to places like Texas. The red states get the economic activity they want, the blue states get the stasis they want, and everyone is happy.Nor would a few state-level bans affect the progress of AI. AI is a creature of bits and bytes; it lives in the cloud, and it doesn’t care about the physical location of the data centers that represent the lobes of its vast, alien brain. Data centers in Texas would sustain AI progress and AI applications just as well as data centers in New York.Except now Texas is pausing data centers too. If almost all states ban data centers — or if the federal government gets involved in a major way — there could be major consequences for the U.S. economy. In the long run, I think limiting the physical resources devoted to AI would be a good thing; in the short run, it will simply clobber the already-wobbly U.S. economy. A movement against data centers has the seeds of something good and useful, but it has huge risks that most Americans seem not to realize yet. The big danger is that data center bans will choke off the main engine of U.S. growth, throwing a lot of Americans out of their jobs and putting a hole in Americans’ retirement savings. But before I talk about that, I should talk about why I think limitations on data centers aren’t actually a crazy idea.A couple of years ago, I wrote that no matter how good AI gets, comparative advantage will still mean humans are paid to do something: [A]s AI gets better and better, and gets used for more and more different tasks, the limited global supply of compute will eventually force us to make hard choices about where to allocate AI’s awesome power…This is the concept of opportunity cost…When AI becomes so powerful that it can be used for practically anything, the cost of using AI for any task will be determined by the value of the other things the AI could be used for instead… So…because of comparative advantage, it’s possible that many of the jobs that humans do today will continue to be done by humans indefinitely, no matter how much better AIs are at those jobs. And it’s possible that humans will continue to be well-compensated for doing those same jobs. But how well would humans be paid for those jobs? If people don’t get paid enough to live a decent life, it’s still game over for humanity. “Living a decent life” basically requires some minimum share of natural resources. So as I explained in my post, the real danger isn’t that AI will render humans obsolete; the danger is that AI will render humans too expensive to sustain:  The example of horses scares a lot of people who think about AI and its impact on the labor market…Horses’ comparative advantage was in pulling things, and yet this wasn’t enough to save them from obsolescence…The reason is that horses competed with other forms of human-owned capital for scarce resources…The key resources that became scarce were urban land (for stables), as well as the human time and effort required to raise and care for horses in captivity. When motor vehicles appeared, these scarce resources were more profitably spent elsewhere, so people sent their horses to the glue factory.When it comes to AI and humanity, the scarce resource they compete for is energy. Humans don’t require compute, but they do require energy, and energy is scarce. It’s possible that AI will grow so valuable that its owners bid up the price of energy astronomically — so high that humans can’t afford fuel, electricity, manufactured goods, or even food. At that point, humans would indeed be immiserated en masse.Recall that comparative advantage prevails when there are producer-specific constraints. Compute is a constraint that’s specific to AI. Energy is not. If you can create more compute by simply putting more energy into the process, it could make economic sense to starve human beings in order to generate more and more AI.In fact, things a little bit like this have happened before. Agribusiness uses most of the Colorado River’s water, sometimes creating water shortages for households in the area. The cultivation of cash crops is thought to have exacerbated a famine that killed millions in India in the late 1800s. In both cases, market forces allocated local resources to rich people far away, leaving less for the locals. In fact, this was the real point of my post. The fundamental danger isn’t human obsolescence, it’s that humans will be outcompeted for scarce natural resources. There are a couple of obvious ways to guard against that danger. The first is to redistribute the income from AI to human beings, so that humans can continue to afford all the resources they need in order to live and flourish. Another is to reserve sufficient natural resources for exclusively human use.Data centers use a lot of natural resources, and people know it. Resource use consistently ranks at the top of why people try to ban data centers in their area:Interestingly, water isn’t one of the resources AI competes with humans for — at least, not yet. As Andy Masley has explained at length, data centers don’t actually use much water at all:But the energy concern is very real! Data centers already account for more than 7% of U.S. electricity usage, and the percentage appears to be on an exponential growth path. Data center energy use is projected to surpass various household uses — air conditioning, lighting, refrigeration, etc. — in a matter of years:

Amazon to run West Texas data center on massive gas plant - Amazon is planning to tap one of the nation’s largest natural gas power plants — and possibly biggest single source of climate-warming emissions — to electrify a data center in West Texas. Margaret Callahan, an Amazon spokesperson, confirmed Monday that the company will pay the full cost of powering its operations at an 8,000-plus acre site in Pecos County. “Our new planned data center campus in Pecos County does just that: it’s powered by new on-site generation that won’t raise electricity costs for Texas families and is designed to transition to grid-connected service as interconnection timelines allow,” Callahan said in a statement. Texas regulators previously gave a green light for the power generation portion of the Pecos County project to emit more than 33 million tons of greenhouse gases a year. Once completed, developers say the project could generate as much as 7.65 gigawatts of electricity — enough to power more than 1.9 million homes during times of peak demand The scale of the new proposed power plant is huge. As of 2024, the dirtiest power plant in the U.S. was the James H. Miller Jr. coal plant in Alabama, which U.S. Energy Information Administration data showed emitted more than 20 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions that year. The Amazon project details come as developers in Texas are racing to build their own power plants to avoid a waitlist for plugging into the state’s main power grid, which is managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT. Leaders across the country are closely watching Texas projects as data center pushback mounts, despite state leaders’ past support of a build-out to boost artificial intelligence. The wait for grid power could take months longer than originally anticipated after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced last week a de facto moratorium on data center approvals until state electricity regulators can audit proposed projects. Abbott also ordered the Public Utility Commission of Texas and ERCOT in June to make sure data centers reuse their own water, reduce the cost of electricity for residential ratepayers, do not disrupt residential neighborhoods and pay for the cost of needed electric infrastructure.Several large tech companies have agreed to those general standards, including Meta, OpenAI, QTS Data Centers and Skybox.But even before Abbott’s standards and moratorium were announced, some of the biggest tech companies and proposed data center developers announced plans to build their own power generation units to avoid the grid.The Texas Commission on Environment Quality this year gave approval to Fermi America to allow it to install more than 5 GW of gas power on its data center site outside of Amarillo. Microsoft inked a 20-year agreement to buy power from Chevron’s new 2.67-GW natural gas facility in Reeves County, which is west of Pecos County. While Abbott has encouraged data centers to build their own generation, environmental groups worry that tech companies will overwhelmingly choose natural gas power instead of renewable sources of energy.“One of the dangers of these bring-your-own-power requests to data centers is instead of using much cleaner electricity off of the [ERCOT] grid — which has increasing amounts of wind, solar and batteries — data centers will just build gas plants and increase climate and local air pollution,” said Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas.Amazon has pledged to reach net-zero CO2 emissions across its global operations by 2040. Amazon officials pointed to 10 GW of carbon-free energy projects it has enabled in Texas since 2010 and said the company is still committed to its net-zero goal.“We’re also exploring opportunities for solar energy and battery storage on site,” Callahan said. “This new data center campus in Pecos County is a long-term commitment that we expect will create thousands of new jobs.”But Metzger said the company’s plan to use a giant new gas plant flies in the face of that pledge.

The AI build-out has a problem that $1 trillion in cash can't fix - Now that earnings season is nearly done, there are new — and even bigger — forecasts of how much money hyperscalers will throw at the AI data center build-out this year.  Goldman Sachs estimates the number will reach $1 trillion globally in 2026. JPMorgan forecasts spending of $697 billion in the US. And Bank of America sees a "path toward ~$1.2 trillion" by 2027.But money's not going to get the job done. That's because the bottleneck isn't cash.  Compute is certainly an expensive proposition. We know memory chip prices have been soaring. Nvidia (NVDA) seems able to command whatever price it sets for its newest graphics processing units (GPUs) and software because of fierce demand. There's land to buy, buildings to construct, servers and cooling systems to install.  Despite investment in new manufacturing capacity, chip shortages persist. Construction contractors have highlighted the lack of skilled labor to complete projects on their clients' desired timeline. Then there are the growing regulatory constraints stemming from public backlash against data centers, including a one-year moratorium in New York and an audit of power hookups in Texas. And power is perhaps the biggest bottleneck of all. Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates a 19-gigawatt shortfall in power for AI data centers by 2035 if growth continues at its current pace. "Not only do we need the equipment, not only do we need the permits, but we need the people," George Gianarikas, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity who covers power generation companies, said in an interview. "And what's happening in conjunction with all that is the fact that people are rallying against data centers. I'm sure you've seen all the news across the country. There are protests, there are moratoria, there are pauses. And so when you put that all together, the ambitions of the data center companies to get the power that they need to train their algorithms — in our very strong view, it's not going to happen at the pace that they expect." Wood Mackenzie recently reported that data center power generators are trying to mitigate anticipated rejections by filing multiple applications with different utilities. The energy analysis firm said utilities and grid operators may approve only 28% of the power requested, because of both those "phantom" applications and those submitted by less-experienced operators. All of this suggests the data center build-out will progress at least more slowly and lumpier than the most optimistic outlooks. That's the best-case scenario. In a worst-case scenario, customers of generative AI could move on to cheaper open-weight models or adapt their businesses to being compute-constrained. That could shift bottlenecks to gluts, leaving an oversupply of everything from GPUs to natural gas turbines.

AI’s climate problem is worse than we thought - Until this point, the public conversation about AI and climate change has been laser-focused on the vast amount of electricity used to power the technology.For good reason. Over the last few years, the AI boom has rapidly increased society’s appetite for fossil fuels via the electricity consumption of data centers. Data center electricity consumption has sent tech companies’ emissions soaring, knocked their climate plans wildly off course, and pulled them directly into the fossil fuel business. (Some mind-bending recent examples: Microsoft just signed a deal with Chevron to develop a massive gas plant in Texas explicitly for data centers. And Amazon is planning to build the largest fossil fuel power plant ever to exist in the United States to power its AI.) And yet, this is only the tip of the AI climate iceberg. Because AI is not only consuming fossil fuels to generate electricity—it is also helping the world’s biggest oil companies produce more fossil fuels quicker, cheaper, and for greater profit.Over the last few years, AI has become a powerful tool for oil and gas companies, helping them locate new deposits, drill wells faster, and extract more from existing fields.These aren’t just generic AI tools, either. “There are teams of engineers and salespeople at these tech companies that are explicitly for the fossil fuel industry,” Holly Alpine, a former senior manager at Microsoft, told HEATED. “They are engineers writing code explicitly in partnerships with oil majors to expand production.”Until now, we haven’t known the broad climate impact of these custom-made AI tools for the fossil fuel industry. But a new peer reviewed study published in the journal npj Climate Action is shedding some alarming light.That paper—co-authored by Holly and her husband Will Alpine, also a former Microsoft employee—shows that the emissions enabled by the fossil fuel industry’s use of AI are likely far greater than the emissions of powering AI as a whole.Specifically, they found that Big Oil’s use of AI to produce more oil and gas could create 3.3 to 13.3 times more climate pollution than powering AI’s data centers.On the low end, these tools could enable additional yearly carbon emissions equal to Mexico’s, according to the research. On the high end, they could enable yearly climate pollution equal to Russia’s—the world’s fourth-largest emitting country.“It is difficult and frustrating for us to see the conversation around ‘the true climate impacts of AI’ just stop at operational emissions,” Holly told HEATED. “We cannot get across enough how important it is to include what [AI] is used for.”

Meta and Nvidia plant flag in open-weight AI race led by Chinese Labs - Last month, American tech giants came together to urge policymakers not to place “premature restrictions” on open-weight AI models, even if they’re from China. Now, two of those companies are making a concerted effort to compete by introducing their own open offerings.Meta and Nvidia both released artificial intelligence models this week that are available for developers to download for free via the open-source ecosystem, a contrast to the popular proprietary models from OpenAI and Anthropic. Open-source AI has become a contentious topic from Silicon Valley to Washington, D.C., with critics raising concerns about the potential national security risks of Chinese models, and of the AI training practice called distillation, which can be viewed as a form of intellectual property theft. Meanwhile, most of the industry’s leading players contend that restricting use of the models would be to our own detriment and would place too much power in the hands of too few companies.“The age of AI can be one of prosperity,” the consortium of tech companies wrote in an open letter on July 24. “With the right choices, open weight AI can expand opportunity, strengthen competition, extend American technological leadership, mitigate risk, and ensure that the benefits of this extraordinary technology are shared broadly across our economy.” As for distillation, they call it “a widely used technique for model improvement, evaluation, and validation.”Meta on Monday unveiled Muse Glimmer as part of a strategy to release its most powerful AI models to the open-source community. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company would open the weights for its latest AI model, Muse Spark 1.2. Weights refer to the calculations and rules that determine how the AI works and behaves.A day later, Nvidia debuted Nemotron 3.5 Lightning. The model stems from the company’s Nemotron 3 family of models released in December. The chipmaker said its models are “truly open source,” because the company publishes the related “training datasets, techniques, and model weights” for developers to inspect.Both companies still have to prove there’s an audience for their offerings in a market featuring popular models from Chinese AI labs like Moonshot AI and DeepSeek, as well as Alibaba’s Qwen.Box CEO Aaron Levie, one of the signatories of last month’s letter, is optimistic. He said Zuckerberg’s plan for Muse Spark 1.2 is a “very big deal” because it’s a powerful model that rivals top foundation models from Anthropic and OpenAI. The models this week from Meta and Nvidia are smaller and intended to run on laptops for tasks like powering on-device digital agents.“There’s a very firm flag in the ground that America will have near-frontier open-source models,” Levie said.Meta has tried this route in the past with Llama. That was Zuckerberg’s initial entry into the foundation AI market, but the release of Llama 4 in April 2025 left developers unimpressed. Meta followed by spending billions of dollars to overhaul its AI unit, installing Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang as the division’s leader. Recently, Wang’s group has been rolling out proprietary models under the Muse branding to try and develop new revenue streams.

Meta Removed 756,000 Australian Teen Accounts: Its AI Catches Them After Sign-Up - Meta disclosed on August 12, 2026, that it removed 756,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts belonging to Australians under 16 over the seven months following the world's first legislated social media age ban — a figure the company presented as proof of compliance and that Australia's eSafety Commissioner received as evidence of how far the industry still has to go. The gap between those two readings has a specific technical explanation that has not yet been foregrounded in coverage of the ban: Meta's detection system identifies underage accounts through behavioral signals it reads after users are already active on the platform, not by verifying age at the moment of sign-up. That architectural distinction, confirmed by Meta's own description of its methodology, is the most direct explanation for why the company can report removing three quarters of a million accounts while the eSafety Commissioner's own research finds that 81.5 percent of Australian children under 16 were still using at least one restricted platform three months after the ban took effect. The enforcement data arrives as Australia's Senate prepares to report, by August 25, on legislation that would double the maximum penalty platforms can face for systematic non-compliance — from A$49.5 million (approximately $35 million USD) to A$99 million (approximately $70 million USD). The question the Senate inquiry must now answer is whether higher penalties, applied to a detection architecture that is structurally reactive, can produce meaningful compliance — or whether what Australia actually needs is a different technical requirement. Meta's enforcement methodology, described in its August 12 APAC newsroom post and independently analyzed by technology outlets, rests on five measures. Four of them operate after a user has already created an account and begun using the platform.The primary detection mechanism is AI-powered proactive scanning of profile content. According to Meta, the system analyzes posts, comments, bios, and captions for contextual clues that an account may belong to someone under 16 — birthday celebrations, references to specific school grades or school events, and activity patterns consistent with adolescent use. The examples are behavioral and textual. The system does not verify the age of an account at the moment of creation; it looks for evidence of underage use in the content the account subsequently produces.Meta has also simplified the pathways by which parents and other users can flag suspected underage accounts, implemented AI-driven review of those reports (replacing human adjudication), and strengthened its systems to prevent users whose accounts were removed from creating new accounts. The fifth measure — the only one that operates before an account is active — was updating its Apple App Store age rating to 16-plus in Australia.It is worth noting what is absent from this methodology. Meta separately expanded an AI age estimation tool — one that uses visual cues including height and bone structure in images, which the company describes as distinct from facial recognition because it does not identify specific individuals — expanded to EU and Brazil for Instagram and to Facebook in the United States in May 2026. That visual layer does not appear in the Australian enforcement methodology as described. In Australia, the detection rests on text content and behavioral signals, applied to accounts that have already been created and used.

France’s top court blocks social media ban for under-15s | Borneo Bulletin Online (Reuters) – France’s top court on Friday blocked a bill banning social media access for under-15s, saying it infringed upon freedom of expression and delivering a setback for President Emmanuel Macron, who asked his government to rewrite the legislation. The bill would have barred children younger ​than 15 from opening a social media account from ​September 1. Accounts already open would be closed within four months by social media platforms, which would also need to use age verification approved by the French privacy regulator. But France’s Constitutional Council found that the bill, while requiring everyone to give proof of age, failed “to specify the conditions and limits” under which it should be provided, as well as infringing on freedoms and privacy. “The Council holds that the contested provisions, on the one hand, disproportionately infringe upon the freedom of expression and communication and, on the other, fail to provide the legal safeguards necessary to ensure the right to respect for private life,” it said. French lawmakers had approved the bill in July, becoming the first in Europe to follow Australia, whose world-first ban barred access to platforms including Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube for under-16s in December. Lawmakers there are considering stricter penalties after data showed mixed success. Countries around the globe, including China, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, have either instituted measures intended to curtail or bar access to social media for young people, or have said they were planning them. The European Union has said it was planning to seek stronger protections for children from harmful social media features. Social media companies generally oppose blanket bans, saying they have measures already in place to protect younger users, including age restrictions, though they have also said they would comply with ​government bans. Google, Meta, Snap and TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Macron, who in April urged teenagers to turn off their devices and read in order to become better citizens, has ordered Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu to rework the draft legislation to take the Constitutional Council’s concerns into account, the Elysee said in a statement. The Elysee said Macron was determined for the reform to take effect before spring 2027, when France holds a presidential election. Macron cannot run for a third term.

Inside Bank of America's $250 billion in data center funding | American Banker -The $250 billion infrastructure spending announcement Bank of America made on Wednesday is not just about AI and it's not a contradiction to the bank's sustainability promises, the executive running the project said in an interview.

• Key insight: Bank of America has joined Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs in announcing a huge financing commitment to new data center construction and other infrastructure projects.
• What's at stake: The banks face the risk that the current AI frenzy is a bubble that could burst. They will also be challenged to meet their past promises of environmental friendliness.
• Expert quote: "Bank of America feels a tremendous sense of urgency to get all the investors, banks, developers, corporations, governments and consumers together to build this infrastructure now." — Karen Fang, global head of infrastructure and sustainable finance at Bank of America.

Wealth management has got junior advisors' first 90 days covered. What happens on day 91?  Ask any wealth management firm what a new advisor recruit can expect in the first 90 days, and you'll likely get a tidy answer that includes compliance training, licensing paperwork and an introduction to the team. Ask what happens after that in the age of AI, the answers get murky. As AI tools take over more of the research, drafting and prep work that once taught new advisors the job, firms are racing to figure out what should replace it.

AI Can Now Make Deepfake Biological Viruses. We Are Not Prepared --AI can now design "deepfake viruses" that evade detection and immune systems by altering genetic sequences while retaining function, warns Radical Numerics CEO Eric Nguyen. This theoretical threat became reality when Stanford researchers, using Nguyen's AI models, created the first functional virus genomes from scratch, published in *Science*. Though they responsibly built bacteriophages, the technology proves AI can generate novel pathogens. This capability outpaces current biodefense, as existing regulations are inadequate for AI-composed threats. The dual-use technology offers medical breakthroughs but poses grave biosecurity risks, necessitating urgent development of safeguards against potential misuse. I recently sat down with Eric Nguyen, co-founder and CEO of Radical Numerics. He’s one of the people who taught artificial intelligence to write DNA, and is hoping to use AI to rid us of cancers and other diseases via targeted DNA editing and custom-built personalized-to-your-DNA medicines. But in the course of our conversation, he described a threat that sounded less like calm, academic biology and more like something out of a Hollywood cyber-thriller: a deepfake virus. A deepfake biological virus is not something that attacks your phone or your laptop. It’s not after your money or your identity. Rather, it attacks the cells in your body, and it threatens your health because it’s cloaked – deepfaked – so that it doesn’t look like any virus your body has ever seen before, and slips right through your immune system’s defenses. “One could design DNA to essentially function like a virus, but be able to obfuscate or intentionally basically switch the letters around … so that existing detection systems cannot actually notice that it’s a virus that they’ve seen before,” Nguyen told me in a recent NEXT podcast. "So it's rearranging the alphabet or rearranging the letters in a way that maintains the function, but then does not match what's been seen before." That’s a real virus, but one re-engineered by AI to keep every dangerous function intact while quietly rearranging its own genetic sequence so that our artificial – and natural – screening systems never see it coming. I was wondering if that was a problem for later. Maybe next year, or next decade. Well guess what: later just showed up. On August 6, a team of researchers from Stanford and the Arc Institute published a paper in Science announcing that they had used generative AI to design working viruses from scratch. These are the first functional genomes ever composed by a machine that have not been found in nature. The team generated hundreds of candidate genomes, synthesized almost 300 of them in the lab, and brought 16 of them to life as bacteriophages that successfully infected and killed E. coli. Guess what AI models they used? Evo 1 and Evo 2 … models built at the Arc Institute by Eric Nguyen and others. So the man who warned me about deepfake viruses in an interview watched his own creation become the proof of concept a week later. First off, deep breaths. The Stanford research team did not build a superbug. They built bacteriophages: viruses that infect bacteria, not humans. Antibiotic-resistant infections kill something like two million people a year, and phage therapy is one of the weapons medical scientists have against them. Designing better phages on demand can be a genuinely good thing. They also did the responsible version of this experiment. They stripped human, animal, plant and fungal virus sequences out of their training data, so the model couldn’t learn to build viruses that infect humans or plants. And they ran the work in secure facilities. But the capability speaks for itself. What the Science paper shows is not just that AI can make a bacteriophage. It’s that generative models can now make functional virus genomes – coherent, working sets of genetic instructions — from a text prompt and a training set. That is no longer science fiction. And, importantly, the technique is agnostic. Aim it at phages and you get phages. Aim it at something else … and we’ll get something else. The reason we didn’t get something worse is that these particular researchers chose not to build it. That’s not something we can assume of all teams in all countries.

Artificial Armageddon? As AI designs 16 brand-new VIRUSES, scientists raise fears bots could come up with a catastrophic bioweapon | Daily Mail Online -- The idea of an AI designing brand–new viruses might sound like the plot of the latest science fiction blockbuster.  But it has become a reality, after scientists from Stanford University used AI to create 16 fully functional pathogens. The breakthrough has been dubbed a 'significant turning point' in science, with many scientists pointing out that it could unlock a new era for treating disease. However, not everyone is so convinced. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Dr Simon Clarke, Associate Professor in Cellular Microbiology at the University of Reading, warned that the technology could potentially be used to create dangerous bioweapons. 'The study poses no direct threat to human health because it only involves viruses that only target bacteria, though creating novel synthetic life forms which don’t exist in nature, raises broader ethical concerns,' he explained. 'While this technology has not been used to generate human pathogens, the study confirms AI can design viable, non–natural viruses. 'This underlying capability means the technology could potentially be used to create dangerous pathogens with potential to be a bioweapon, though safeguards within the AI model, which are in place in this study, can help mitigate the risk.' In their study, researchers at Stanford University used AI to create a genome for a virus that infects bacteria, known as a bacteriophage. The AI suggested thousands of genomes, and the researchers created 302 in the lab before exposing them to bacteria. Overall, 16 of the viruses suggested by the AI were able to kill E.coli. According to the researchers, the breakthrough suggests AI can design new viruses with the potential to 'massively improve human health'. However, in the wrong hands, such technology could prove catastrophic, according to Dr Clarke. When asked whether AI could create a virus that sparks a new pandemic, he told the Daily Mail: 'AI can only design genetic code, it cannot physically create or release a virus on its own. 'While the code itself could be misused, sparking a pandemic would require human intervention, specifically bad actors synthesising and assembling the virus in a lab.' Dr Carl Mayers, a Senior Adviser in Biosecurity Policiy at The Centre for Long–Term Resilience, agreed that the AI could be misused – but said that this would be 'extremely hard'. Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said: 'At the moment it would be extremely hard, slow and expensive to use this approach to make a bioweapon. 'The authors had to design, synthesise and test 302 different AI–designed genomes to find just 16 genomes that were functional in a simple bacterium. 'It would be much slower, much more difficult, and much more expensive to do this with animal or human viruses.'

What if a virus were engineered to kill? It could “make nuclear war look like child’s play” (video) Investigative journalist Annie Jacobson walks through a nightmare biological warfare scenario that could take the U.S. from an initial outbreak to anarchy in just six days.

Do AI agents create disintermediation risk for banks? | American Banker - AI agents are already changing the way people work, discover and consume information, and tech companies are looking to personal finance as the next frontier for evolution for the technology.

• Key insights: Tech companies such as Robinhood and OpenAI are counting on AI agents to provide more insights into consumers' financial lives, and sometimes, self-execute payments and rebalance investment portfolios. Some fear that retail banking is the next logical evolution for agent-led automation.  
• What's at stake: Banks could face disintermediation and deposit liquidity risk if consumers get more comfortable with AI agents acting on their behalf, but there's still immediate risk of consumers turning over their banking information to large language models. 
• Expert quote:  "If you're a super regional retail bank who's never really had to worry about Daniela Hawkins messing around with her savings account because she's too busy working to think about it, but she has [an AI agent that will do it for her], and then you multiply that over a million people, suddenly you've got material risk." –Daniela Hawkins, partner at Capco.

As AI agents promise a future where payments self-execute and investment portfolios rebalance without human intervention, some fear that retail banking is the next logical evolution for agent-led automation. Financial institutions may not be doing enough to stop it.

New fintech Maximum aims to take on the core banking cabal | American Banker -As some vendors and banks are upgrading their core technology with artificial intelligence, one fintech founder is building an AI-focused bank operating system alternative.

• Key insight: Maximum, an AI-powered operating system startup for banks, is launching with a $30 million seed funding round to compete with incumbent core providers.
• Supporting data: Seventy-six percent of banks recently surveyed by the ABA have core systems provided by Fiserv, Jack Henry or FIS, with Fiserv alone holding core contracts with 42% of surveyed banks.
• Expert quote: "AI-based core systems hold promise but will be evaluated in terms of near-term ROI relative to infusing AI into existing systems." —Celent's Craig Focardi

SEC delays crypto initiatives amid CLARITY Act wait -The Securities and Exchange Commission was set to kick off several crypto related initiatives Friday, but the meeting was indefinitely postponed

• Key takeaway: The agency planned to hold an open meeting Friday to consider proposing new rules "to create a tailored offering regime for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets." That meeting was canceled due to an "unforeseen scheduling issue."
• Expert quote: "The SEC is committed to delivering on the president's agenda to bring certainty to the crypto space." — SEC spokesperson
• What's at stake: Some have posited that the postponement of the crypto regulation meeting could be tied to the agency waiting for Congress to pass the CLARITY Act. .

An SEC spokesperson attributed the cancellation to an "unforeseen scheduling issue" and said the meeting would be rescheduled "to a later date."

Treasury Department repeals Biden-era FinCEN beneficial ownership reporting requirement - The Treasury Department on Tuesday officially repealed a requirement for American companies and individuals to report beneficial ownership information to its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN.The department initially proposed the repeal in March 2025 and is set to publish the final rule in the Federal Register on Friday.In addition to repealing the reporting requirement, the rule, among other policy changes, exempts Americans who have obtained FinCEN IDs from having to update or correct the information they provided to receive them. It also eliminates the requirement for foreign companies to report Americans who helped them register to do business in the U.S.FinCEN defines a beneficial owner as an individual who, directly or indirectly, owns at least 25 percent of a company or exercises “substantial interest” over the firm. The enforcement network does not consider trusts, corporations or other legal entities to be beneficial owners. Foreign entities that are reporting companies must still report beneficial ownership information for foreign individuals. By maintaining this requirement, the rule states it will assist law enforcement in investigating, prosecuting and disrupting the “financing of international terrorism, other transnational security threats, and other types of domestic and transnational financial crime when foreign entities are used to engage in such activities.”The Treasury Department during the Biden administration implemented the initial reporting requirement pursuant to the Corporate Transparency Act, which Congress passed as part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2021. The requirement went into effect at the start of 2024.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday his department’s repeal of the requirement “is a victory for common sense” and U.S. small businesses.“President Trump promised to cut red tape, and this final rule delivers,” Bessent said in a release. “Treasury is eliminating a burdensome reporting requirement for millions of law-abiding business owners without compromising our national security.”

Beneficial ownership regime's demise removes tool for banks -The Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's decision to permanently exempt U.S. businesses from disclosing their true owners eliminates a database banks hoped would help them satisfy their customer due diligence.

CFPB's open-banking plan likely to ignite new legal battle - The Trump administration will soon have to choose sides in a high-stakes fight between banks and fintechs — and though officials are expected to try to find a compromise that's acceptable to both industries, experts say litigation is highly likely.

• Key insight:  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is stuck between two powerful industries — banks and fintechs — that are at odds over whether banks should be able to collect fees for sharing consumer data.
• Expert quote: "No matter what they propose or finalize, either the banks or the fintechs are going to litigate it."— Ashwin Vasan, partner at the consulting firm FS Vector
• Forward look: A 90-day review period is underway after the CFPB submitted its open-banking proposal to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in early August.

Experts predict that either banks or fintechs will sue the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, depending on the details of the fee structure in its forthcoming open-banking rule.

CFPB will no longer publish consumer complaint narratives -The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it will stop publishing consumer complaint narratives, citing concern that the information is one-sided.

Second CFPB union member placed on administrative leave   Stephen Wheeler, a union leader at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, was placed on administrative leave last week amid an ongoing investigation, according to a union release issued Tuesday.

• Key insight: CFPB union leader Stephen Wheeler was placed on administrative leave last Thursday amid an investigation whose scope and allegations have not been disclosed, according to the union 
• Supporting data: The CFPB has 1,071 employees as of July, down from roughly 1,750 at the start of the Trump administration.
• Forward look: The union is alleging retaliation for Wheeler's union activity and public advocacy, while a grievance over the firing of another union member, Alexis Goldstein, remains pending.

Stephen Wheeler, a prominent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau union organizer, was placed on administrative leave as the agency investigates allegations it has not publicly disclosed.

TRID review triggers battle over refi rescission rules -While saying the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should prioritize narrow targeted reforms to the TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosures, the Mortgage Bankers Association is also seeking the elimination of the three-day right of rescission on a refinance.The Mortgage Bankers Association says the three-day post-close period is redundant, but consumer groups called it vital for borrowers and required by law.

Derivative Losses Squish Already Crushed UWM, the Largest Mortgage Lender in the US: SPACs just Keep on Giving - by Wolf Richter - The already shredded stock of UWM Holdings, the parent company of United Wholesale Mortgage, the largest home-mortgage lender in the US with $40 billion in mortgage originations in Q2, plunged another 35% today, into penny-stock territory of $1.20 a share. The company, which exclusively originates home loans through mortgage brokers, had gone public in January 2021 via merger with a SPAC that gave it a $16 billion valuation. It was the largest SPAC deal at the time and made CEO and founder Mat Ishbia a multi-billionaire. True to SPAC form, it has been a bloodbath for public investors ever since. Since the peak in January 2021, at around the time of the SPAC merger, shares of UWM Holdings [UWMC] have collapsed by 91% and have joined our pantheon of Imploded Stocks (to qualify, the stock must have dropped at least 70% from the more or less recent high). The causes this time were a huge loss after an interest-rate hedge blew up, the suspension of its dividend, and a $2 billion equity infusion from Oak Tree Capital Management, the largest distressed-debt investor in the world, and from the Ishbia family, at a price that’s going to dilute the bejesus out of the public shareholders. The Ishbia family still owns a controlling stake, so no problem pulling that off. When UWM announced its Q2 earnings, it had a few tricks up its sleeve:

• 1. A derivatives loss of $603 million as an interest-rate hedge blew up. Mat Ishiba attributed it to the failed attempt to acquire Two Harbors Investment Corp. “We were overhedged, if you think of it that way, protecting against the Two Harbors transaction. The market moved against us…” he said. So whatever.
• 2. A loss of $123 million due to the decline of the fair value of mortgage servicing rights.
• 3. A total net loss of $452 million, or $0.24 a share.
• 4. The suspension of the dividend (according to the old saw: don’t chase a high dividend yield).
• 5. An equity infusion of $2.05 billion that could dilute existing shareholders by over 50%. But that’s still better for existing shareholders than the company not making it. The initial part is a $1.65 billion infusion of preferred equity and warrants from Oaktree and an investment vehicle owned by the Ishbia family. A second part will be a $400 million rights offering (SEC filing).

UWM is in the middle of the housing market that has been in a massive slump for the past few years: Sales of existing homes have plunged, originations of purchase mortgages have plunged even more, and originations of refinance mortgages have collapsed from the heady days during the free-money pandemic. Nonbank mortgage lenders, such as UWM and Rocket Companies, have responded by reducing their headcount, either through attrition or through layoffs or both since the employment peak in 2021. At the nonbank mortgage lenders overall, employment has plunged by 39% since 2021. So the SPAC merger of UWM in January 2021, at the very peak of this mortgage bubble, at a $16 billion valuation, was a nice job on investors. But who cares, there are now fortunes to be made in memory chip stocks, such as Micron and SanDisk… Oops. Now we’re talking real money, trillions not a few lowly billions. Here is Housing Bubble 1 and Housing Bubble 2 from the point of view of employment at nonbank mortgage lenders:

July CPI Report: US Inflation Cools to 3.4% as Fed Rate Hike Pressure Eases -U.S. consumer prices rose 0.1% in July, cooling the annual inflation rate to 3.4% from 3.5% in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. The reading matched Wall Street forecasts and marked a second consecutive month of tame monthly gains, even as shelter and medical costs kept underlying price pressure elevated. The report lands about a month before the Federal Reserve's September policy meeting, giving the central bank one more month of data to weigh a possible rate hike after holding rates steady since the US-Israel-Iran conflict began. Economists remain split on the Fed's next move. Cooling headline inflation argues for patience, but at least one regional Fed president is publicly pushing for a tighter policy. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.2% in July after holding flat in June, leaving the annual core rate at 2.5%, down from 2.6% a month earlier, the BLS said. Shelter costs rose 0.1% and accounted for roughly two-thirds of the monthly headline increase, the agency said, while a measure of what landlords could charge in rent climbed 0.3%.    Food prices also rose 0.1% for the month. Energy costs fell 1.5% in July but remained 14.7% higher than a year earlier, driven largely by a 24.6% year-over-year jump in gasoline prices, according to the BLS data. Medical care costs rose 0.4% and airline fares jumped 2.2%, while used cars and trucks rose 0.4% and new vehicle prices ticked up 0.1%.   Even as inflation cools, it continues to outpace pay growth for many workers. Wage growth was pacing at 3.2% as of last month, below the 3.4% annual inflation rate, and inflation-adjusted average hourly earnings slipped 0.2% from a year earlier, the BLS said. "For middle-income and lower-income Americans, this is the key issue," Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote on X, adding that inflation has been outpacing wage gains for four straight months. The Fed has left interest rates unchanged since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran earlier this year, even as other major central banks in Europe and Japan raised rates. Some Fed officials argue the central bank has waited long enough. "Now is the time to act," Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack wrote on LinkedIn Tuesday, ahead of the CPI release.Not all economists agree a hike is imminent. The tame July and June readings, taken together, suggest the energy-driven inflation surge earlier in 2026 is losing momentum, even though price levels remain well above the Fed's 2% annual target.The Federal Open Market Committee does not meet again until September, giving policymakers an additional month of data before deciding on rates. The next CPI report, covering August 2026, is scheduled for release on Sept. 11, 2026.

Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf? -Cambridge University has now decided that even Little Red Riding Hood is too dangerous for young minds. Clare College issued an official content warning ahead of a free online humanities webinar for state sixth-form pupils, flagging "adult content including themes of violence, with reference to fairytales." The session, part of a course designed to prepare GCSE and A-level students for university study, encouraged participants to "read beneath the surface" of bedtime stories. Official course notes still felt the need to caution: "Content warning: Please note this session will involve discussion of some adult content including themes of violence, with reference to fairytales." In Charles Perrault's original 1697 version, the wolf eats both grandmother and the girl. The later Brothers Grimm retelling keeps the violence but allows a huntsman to save them. Modern adaptations have dialled the darkness up further. None of this is news to anyone who has ever heard the story. Yet Cambridge treated it as a potential trauma event for teenagers. Lord Toby Young of the Free Speech Union cut through the nonsense: "Putting trigger warnings on fairytales is infantilising, even for Cambridge." Professor Dennis Hayes, director of Academics For Academic Freedom, has long warned where this leads. "Once you get a few trigger warnings, lecturers will stop presenting anything that is controversial. Gradually, there is no critical discussion." Commentator Adam Brooks captured the wider reaction in a short video that has been circulating widely. He called the move "ridiculous," asked what is wrong with a culture that raises perpetual victims, and accused left-wing universities of brainwashing students while staff appear "away with the fairies." What was once a children's warning about talking to strangers has been reclassified as adult material requiring institutional protection.The message to the next generation is clear: the world is too frightening to confront without official guidance, and the stories that once toughened character must now be handled with kid gloves.This is just the latest chapter in a long campaign to wrap classic culture in the same cotton wool as modern culture.For example, Disney has slapped outdated-cultural-depiction warnings on its own older films, and publishers have begun printing classic books with trigger warnings at the front. The Wicked movie was mocked for warning audiences about discrimination against people with green skin.One Massachusetts university even banned the phrase "trigger warning" itself because the words might be triggering.

Is there a summer COVID-19 surge this year? Yep, it’s ramping up again : NPR - Hantavirus. Ebola. West Nile. Measles. And, of course, cyclospora — that stomach parasite making people miserable across the country. Americans have plenty to worry about this summer. But remember COVID-19? It may not be surprising that many people may have almost forgotten about COVID. Unfortunately, COVID hasn't forgotten about us. "We're now in the midst of a growing summer surge of COVID here in the United States," says Dr. John Brooks, an infectious disease doctor at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., who used to work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "I think most of us kind of feel like it's fading away and are certainly very grateful for that. But nationally we're seeing it ticking up pretty much everywhere." The virus is spreading the most again in the South and West, but is also on the rise in the Northeast and Midwest. The good news is the virus is still at very low levels. And so far this summer's wave seems to be continuing the trend of getting milder each year, sending fewer people to the hospital and causing fewer deaths. "What we're seeing is very likely evidence of growing herd immunity if you will," Brooks says. "More and more people have had one or more infections that give them some immunity against the virus and have had more than one vaccination, or maybe both. And all of that really has begun to offer us a lot of protection." Now, that doesn't mean people don't have to worry about COVID at all anymore. The disease still makes lots of people feel awful for a week or two, foiling their summer vacations and forcing them to miss work and school. And COVID can still cause serious disease for some people, sending them to emergency rooms, causing hospitalizations and even sometimes still causing death. "COVID-19 is still dangerous, particularly for older adults, infants and people who are immunocompromised," says Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. And that is a lot of Americans. "In a typical office, if you have 20 colleagues, it's likely that one or two of them have some degree of immunocompromise. So it's very common that people have risk factors that make COVID-19 dangerous."

Study ties COVID vaccine conspiracy theories to distrust of government, mainstream media | CIDRAP - As soon as the COVID-19 vaccine rollout began early in the pandemic, conspiracy theories about them started swirling. Some people claimed that the vaccines contained microchips, while others were suspicious about the intentions of the government or pharmaceutical companies. Researchers surveyed people in Japan about their beliefs in COVID-19 conspiracy theories to understand who adheres to such ideas. The findings were published last week in Scientific Reports.  “When people think about conspiracy beliefs, attention often focuses on highly extreme claims,” lead author Hitoshi Yamamoto, PhD, of Rissho University in Tokyo, said in a university press release. “However, our findings suggest that more common forms of conspiracy-related thinking are associated with the persistent distrust of social institutions and the mainstream media.” Yamamoto and his team looked at annual survey data from 2020 to 2024 to understand which media people used, how they felt about the media, and their media literacy, as well as how these factors affected their beliefs in vaccine conspiracy theories. The researchers noticed that people who subscribed to vaccine conspiracy theories fell into two groups. Some people did not trust the government and pharmaceutical companies and believed they hide information from the public on such topics as a purported connection between vaccines and autism (ie, institutional conspiracy beliefs). The second, smaller group, adhered to implausible conspiracy beliefs such as the idea that vaccines contained microchips that could track people. People who held institutional conspiracy beliefs were younger, were skeptical of mass media, and did not engage regularly with traditional media. As the pandemic continued, their suspicions deepened. “These findings suggest that institutional distrust does not merely reflect responses to pandemic-related information but may instead reflect broader, relatively stable orientations toward social and informational institutions,” the authors wrote. “This aligns with prior research linking conspiracy beliefs to anti-establishment attitudes and populist worldviews.”  Understanding those who believed implausible conspiracy beliefs was more difficult because few people in the survey reported such thoughts. “Given the low prevalence of such beliefs in our sample, statistical analyses should be interpreted with caution,” the authors said. “While some results hinted at associations with changing social media use, our data do not allow us to determine clear causal mechanisms.”

Night shift workers face 88% greater risk of long COVID, study suggests -  People who work night shifts may face a significantly higher risk of developing long COVID, according to a study published last week in the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health. That risk may rise even further among night shift workers who also have chronic insomnia. For the study, researchers led by a team from the Medical University of Vienna and ISGlobal followed participants in the COVICAT study who had COVID-19. COVICAT is a large prospective epidemiologic project in Spain that tracked thousands of volunteers from 2021 through 2023 to evaluate the impacts of the COVID pandemic. Night shift work and sleep habits were assessed in 2021. Long COVID was defined as symptoms persisting for at least three months following COVID infection. Of the 1,899 participants during the two-year follow-up after infection, 283 (14.9%) developed long COVID. Most infections occurred when Omicron was the dominant variant, and most initial cases were mild or moderate. Neurologic symptoms were the most common, reported by 54.4% of participants with long COVID, followed by muscular symptoms (30.4%) and respiratory symptoms (20.5%). After adjusting for potential confounding factors, the researchers found that night shift workers were 88% more likely to develop long COVID than day workers (risk ratio [RR], 1.88). The association was stronger among people who worked more night shifts. Those working at least three nights per month had more than twice the risk of long COVID (RR, 2.07). A similar increase was seen among participants who had worked nights for at least three months (RR, 2.07). At the same time, night shift work was not associated with a greater likelihood of COVID infection, suggesting that circadian upheaval may affect how the body recovers from infection more than how susceptible the body is to becoming infected. "Our findings suggest that circadian disruption plays a role in the transition from acute infection to persistent symptoms," ISGlobal researcher and study coauthor Manolis Kogevinas, PhD, said in an ISGlobal news release. The association between night work and long COVID was particularly pronounced among participants with obesity, who had nearly three times the risk of long COVID (RR, 3.77) than day workers without obesity (RR, 1.28). While night shift work and obesity have been independently associated with markedly higher COVID risk, write the researchers, the current findings involved a small number of participants, so “the observed associations should be interpreted with caution and require replication.” Insufficient and/or poor-quality sleep also emerged as a separate risk factor. Participants with chronic insomnia, which the researchers defined as sleep problems lasting more than three months and occurring at least three nights per week, had a 42% higher risk of long COVID than those without chronic insomnia (RR, 1.42). The combination of night work and chronic insomnia carried an even higher risk. Participants who experienced both had 2.69 times the risk of long COVID compared with day workers without chronic insomnia. “Our findings indicate that night work and poor sleep are independently and jointly associated with long-COVID risk, highlighting a potential role for circadian and sleep disruption in the progression from acute infection to persistent post-infectious sequelae,” write the researchers.

Trump signs executive order to break up measles, mumps, rubella vaccine  -- President Donald Trump is calling to "break up" the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which would require more visits and shots, instead of using a two-dose regimen to deliver the three immunizations. Separating out the MMR vaccine is among the recommendations in an executive order signed by the president today that urges all childhood vaccines be administered at separate visits.“For example, at one year, you should have five separate visits for vaccines rather than getting them all in the same day," President Trump said at the signing. There are no data to show that spacing out the MMR immunizations—or other childhood immunizations—is beneficial, but doing so could increase the risk of infection or lead to kids missing doses. And it adds to vaccination costs.Also, breaking up the MMR vaccine could be difficult, at least in the short term, as this would require buy-in from pharmaceutical manufacturers to make three separate vaccines. And the proposed three separate vaccines are not currently licensed in the United States nor approved by the Food and Drug Administration, which would take some time.The executive order makes no mention of autism. Yet, at today's signing, Trump and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeated a long-debunked falsehood that vaccinations are possibly associated with the neurodevelopmental condition. There is no link. The executive order will do nothing to support families of children with autism or advance understanding of it, said a statement from Andrew D. Racine, MD, PhD, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).*Racine added that pediatricians recommend that children receive certain vaccines at specific ages based on when children's immune systems will respond best and when they are most vulnerable to certain diseases.
"Delaying or skipping shots is risky, especially as measles continues to spread and children go back to school," he said.The president also said that the United States recommends more immunizations than peer nations. This is confusing at best. As Stat News explained earlier this year, many other wealthy countries, including the United Kingdom, Israel, and Australia, recommend kids receive more immunizations than the United States would if an HHS immunization recommendation in January were to go into effect. “None of this is reality-based,” said Amesh Adlaja, MD, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, on Bluesky. “It is all just nihilistic pandering to the anti-vaccine movement and will do nothing but lower standards of living for everyone.”To date, at least 23 states have said they plan to follow vaccine recommendations from AAP, which continues to recommend immunization policies that predate the Trump administration. The order advises states and territories to consider updating their vaccine laws and regulations, and it directs the attorney general to take legal action against states with laws that violate religious freedom, disability accommodations, or parental authority. The president's directive is designed to restore parental autonomy and repair the relationship between parents and public health, said Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, director of the National Institutes of Health.But public health experts worry that the order will create more confusion for parents."Parents deserve clear, evidence-based guidance about how to protect their children, not competing recommendations issued through political processes," said Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, head of the Vaccine Integrity Project and director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, which publishes CIDRAP News.  Osterholm said the executive order does not change the underlying decades of scientific evidence on the safety and real-world effectiveness of childhood immunization, and that confidence in vaccination suffers when families receive conflicting messages, and children ultimately bear the consequences. Parents deserve clear, evidence-based guidance about how to protect their children, not competing recommendations issued through political processes. Jan K. Carney, MD, MPH, the president of the American College of Physicians, agrees that the administration's dismissal of proven science is troubling, and warned that the executive order could increase medical costs for patients and families, including additional copays, due to needing to schedule multiple appointments.“Children and caregivers deserve better consideration for the downstream impact of these proposed changes,” he said in a statement. At the same time, public trust in vaccines has dropped, and an important part of the coalition that led to Trump's second term is Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again movement, which includes voters who are skeptical of vaccines and resistant to government influence. Still, it is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, not the president, that sets federal vaccine recommendations, said Dorit Reiss, PhD, who specializes in vaccine law at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco. But, Reiss noted, the executive order could create political pressure on states to make changes to vaccine policy.Under the order, vaccines for 11 diseases—including measles, polio, and whooping cough— would be recommended for all children. Other vaccines, like those for meningococcal disease and hepatitis B, are recommended only for high-risk children, while flu and COVID vaccination should be based on discussions between doctors and parents. That part of the order is similar to the new childhood vaccine schedule announced by HHS on January 5. Those changes, which were based on an HHS scientific assessment, were blocked by a federal judge on March 16.

Prescriptions for leucovorin soar after White House announcement on autism - Following a White House press conference suggesting leucovorin as a treatment for autism in September 2025, and despite a lack of supporting data, US prescriptions of the drug soared, according to a paper published yesterday in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). “Our findings suggest the press conference may have increased off-label prescribing of leucovorin to children with autism,” lead author Kao-Ping Chua, MD, PhD, from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, said in a press release. “This increase is concerning because the effectiveness and long-term safety of leucovorin for children with autism is uncertain.” Leucovorin is a folic acid analog that doctors use to help patients who have side effects from methotrexate, a drug that treats some cancers and autoimmune conditions. Leucovorin isn’t approved to treat autism, but the US Food and Drug Administration has said it can be used for children with cerebral folate deficiency. Cerebral folate deficiency is “a rare disorder that can mimic symptoms of autism,” Michael Barnett, MD, of Brown University, and Jeremy Faust, MD, of Mass General Brigham, said in a commentary on a previous study in JAMA Network Open in June.

Pediatrics group recommends flu vaccine for all children 6 months and older - The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that all children 6 months and older without any medical contraindications receive the 2026-27 flu vaccine as soon as it’s available. “The good news is flu vaccines have been thoroughly studied,” Kristina A. Bryant, MD, a member of AAP’s Committee on Infectious Diseases (COID) said in a press release. “We know they are safe in children and they can prevent not just hospitalizations and death but every year they prevent a substantial number of illnesses that result in trips to the doctor’s office,” she added. “We want to keep kids healthy and going to school and parents healthy and going to work. Flu vaccines can help us accomplish that.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has yet to share influenza vaccine recommendations for the upcoming season. The AAP also recommends flu vaccination for pregnant and breastfeeding women because it protects both mother and baby from illness. This aligns with what the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advises for pregnant women in its immunization schedule. COID wrote AAP’s policy statement and accompanying technical report on the flu vaccine. Uptake of it in children remains low. As of May 2026, only 49.4% of children ages 6 months to 17 years received the flu vaccine, a rate similar to the previous year. The 2025-26 flu season was considered severe, leading to 190 children dying. Most flu deaths, about 85%, occur in unvaccinated children. Children also experience more symptoms than adults, with 8% to 10% of children having signs of flu. Children with flu can develop fever with or without upper respiratory symptoms, bronchiolitis, croup, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach pain.    They can also face more complications, such as myocarditis, pericarditis, myositis, rhabdomyolysis (rapid breakdown of muscle), seizures with or without fever, ataxia (uncoordinated movement), encephalitis, and encephalopathy. Sometimes, flu also leads to bacterial illnesses such as ear infections, pneumonia, sinus infections, and bloodstream infections. “Influenza vaccination is an important strategy for protecting children and the broader community as well as reducing the overall burden of respiratory illnesses when other viruses are co-circulating,” the AAP wrote in its policy statement.

Uptake of doxyPEP in Europe should be monitored, report suggests - A new analysis suggests that use of the antibiotic doxycycline to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs) by men who have sex with men (MSM) in Europe could result in an additional 4.5 million doses of the antibiotic taken in a year.The study, led by researchers with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and published last week in Eurosurveillance, aimed to estimate how much the use of doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP) could increase overall antibiotic consumption among MSM in 30 European Union (EU) countries who are already taking HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)—a population that constitutes a large portion of early doxyPEP users. DoxyPEP has been shown, both in clinical trials and real-world studies, to significantly reduce the incidence of chlamydia and syphilis in MSM and transgender women with a history of STIs, and several European countries recommend it for those high-risk groups. It’s less effective against gonorrhea.“As doxy-PEP use among MSM expands through both formal prescriptions and informal channels, concern about unintended consequences, such as antimicrobial resistance (AMR), are increasing,” the study authors wrote. “The risk of increased doxycycline use is particularly salient given the EU’s 2030 target to reduce antibiotic consumption by 20% relative to 2019 levels in order to address the growing public health threat of AMR.”The net increase of 4.5 million doxycycline doses represents roughly 2% of total doxycycline consumption in the EU in 2023. The researchers calculated the amount using a model that estimated, based on expert solicitation, that at least one-third of MSM on PrEP initiate doxyPEP use and 326,000 doses of doxycycline are avoided through reduced treatment of chlamydia infections.The authors say that while the figure represents a relatively small share of overall antibiotic use, the increase would be concentrated within a small group.“Because infections are often passed within this group, pathogenic bacteria are exposed to doxycycline repeatedly, which could increase antibiotic resistance,” they wrote, adding that it will be important to monitor uptake, STI trends, and AMR indicators as more EU countries adopt doxyPEP.

WHO: Ebola outbreak began in February, deaths near 2,000 -  Today the World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Africa told the press that genomic sequencing of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus currently causing an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) shows the virus has been circulating since mid-February, and not mid-May, which was when officials began to suspect an Ebola outbreak in Bunia, DRC.“So we are chasing the virus, the virus is ahead of us,” Mohamed Yakub Janabi, MD, PhD, said, explaining that initial testing did not pick up the Bundibugyo strain, and many cases were likely misdiagnosed as malaria or typhoid fever.The WHO did not declare the current outbreak officially until May 17 of this year. In the three months since the declaration, the outbreak has become the fastest growing in history, with response efforts marred by worker strikes, limited contact tracing, and a lack of vaccines or treatments that target the Bundibugyo strain.The outbreak is now the second-largest in history, following the 2014-2016 outbreak in West Africa, which killed 11,000 people. It’s moving at a quicker pace than that outbreak, though, with an average of 75 to 80 new cases each day. Moreover, contact tracing still lags, with health zones reporting only 75% of contact follow-up. Ninety-five percent is needed to control an active outbreak. Last week the WHO and the United Nations (UN) called for intensifying response efforts, as the outbreak is now doubling in certain hot spots in Ituri province. “In some areas of eastern DRC, the Ebola outbreak is outpacing our response, making it imperative that we rapidly scale up every aspect of our efforts to contain it,” Tedros said in a WHO press release. “We must guarantee safe access for responders, protect civilians and health workers, and mobilize the support needed to end this outbreak and save lives.” Today the UN highlighted another dangerous facet of the outbreak: 60% to 70% of deaths are occurring in the community, and not in treatment centers. Not only does this mean most Ebola patients never receive medical care, it means more family and community members are likely exposed while caring for patients.Most patients that do seek care go to Bunia, Janabi told the UN, where health centers are becoming overrun. By the time patients reach Bunia, they are too sick for any meaningful intervention, Janabi explained. “We have to protect Bunia now,” said Janabi, “And see how we can build centres now outside Bunia.”

DR Congo Ebola outbreak on track to be largest in history -  Today during general remarks, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, of the World Health Organization (WHO) said the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is on track to become the world’s largest, outpacing the West African outbreak of 2014 to 2016, which saw more than 11,000 people die. “The outbreak had a big head start, it is still way ahead of us, and we are playing catch-up,” Tedros said. As of today, the WHO reports 4,449 confirmed cases, with 2,061 deaths across five provinces and 53 health zones. Ninety percent of cases are from Ituri province, which also accounts for 80% of all deaths. Most deaths are happening in the community, Tedros explained, which means there are still unknown transmission chains and incomplete contact follow-up. “With partners, we are mapping and pooling resources to strengthen community-based surveillance, to bring every suspected case into care and reach the 95% contact-tracing target needed to interrupt transmission—today we are at around 80%,” Tedros said. He also said the WHO was working to train and place more healthcare workers in the area, as Ebola patients need providers at a 3:1 ratio. Tedros said the WHO is moving forward with a phase 3 trial of the Ervebo vaccine, which targets the Ebola Zaire strain, and not the Bundibugyo strain in circulation. Two recent animal studies showed cross-protection of Ervebo on Bundibugyo virus in animals. “We do not know whether this vaccine is efficacious against Bundibugyo disease in humans,” Tedros said. “The phase 3 trial is the best way to ensure a safe and effective vaccine is available as soon as possible for this and future outbreaks.”

AI-created bacteriophage overcame resistant bacterial strains, but experts emphasize need for safeguards - In Science, researchers from Stanford University and the Broad Institute reportthat the functional bacteriophages they created using artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly destroyed strains of Escherichia coli that had evolved resistance to naturally occurring phages, but experts call for safeguards to prevent the technology from being used for harm. Bacteriophages are ubiquitous viruses that target, infect, and kill only bacteria. They are found everywhere bacteria live, including the environment and the human gut, and they can be used to treat bacterial infections. Using the ΦX174 bacteriophage as a model, the team combined their previously built genomic language models with computational biology to produce 16 complete bacteriophages with substantially different genomes. “Even the simplest genomes are highly complex and can be rendered nonviable by a single mutation,” the authors wrote. “Design at the scale of whole genomes has remained largely beyond reach.” Some engineered phages performed comparably to naturally occurring relatives, and some combinations overcame two strains of E coli resistant to ΦX174-like phages. “Our approach expands what synthetic genomics can achieve alongside methods such as directed evolution and rational engineering, lays out a path for generating adaptive and resilient phage therapies against rapidly evolving pathogens, and establishes a foundation for the generative design of larger, more complex genomes,” the researchers wrote. In an accompanying commentary, Thomas Inglesby, MD, and Moritz Hanke, MD, both of Johns Hopkins University, warn that although the finding is promising, “it also raises urgent biosafety and biosecurity questions. The ability to compose viral genomes using generative AI now exists; the governance to safely steer it does not.” They caution that this technology could be used to create non-therapeutic bacteriophages in eukaryotes such as humans, animals, and plants. “Using such training data to generate genomes of eukaryote-infecting pathogens should not be pursued,” they wrote. “Such genomes might encode new pathogens that can infect humans, animals, or plants in ways that cannot be contained by existing countermeasures.” They recommend adapting existing safety frameworks to generative genomics and excluding sensitive viral sequences from training data.

AI Can Now Make Deepfake Biological Viruses. We Are Not Prepared --AI can now design "deepfake viruses" that evade detection and immune systems by altering genetic sequences while retaining function, warns Radical Numerics CEO Eric Nguyen. This theoretical threat became reality when Stanford researchers, using Nguyen's AI models, created the first functional virus genomes from scratch, published in *Science*. Though they responsibly built bacteriophages, the technology proves AI can generate novel pathogens. This capability outpaces current biodefense, as existing regulations are inadequate for AI-composed threats. The dual-use technology offers medical breakthroughs but poses grave biosecurity risks, necessitating urgent development of safeguards against potential misuse. I recently sat down with Eric Nguyen, co-founder and CEO of Radical Numerics. He’s one of the people who taught artificial intelligence to write DNA, and is hoping to use AI to rid us of cancers and other diseases via targeted DNA editing and custom-built personalized-to-your-DNA medicines. But in the course of our conversation, he described a threat that sounded less like calm, academic biology and more like something out of a Hollywood cyber-thriller: a deepfake virus. A deepfake biological virus is not something that attacks your phone or your laptop. It’s not after your money or your identity. Rather, it attacks the cells in your body, and it threatens your health because it’s cloaked – deepfaked – so that it doesn’t look like any virus your body has ever seen before, and slips right through your immune system’s defenses. “One could design DNA to essentially function like a virus, but be able to obfuscate or intentionally basically switch the letters around … so that existing detection systems cannot actually notice that it’s a virus that they’ve seen before,” Nguyen told me in a recent NEXT podcast. "So it's rearranging the alphabet or rearranging the letters in a way that maintains the function, but then does not match what's been seen before." That’s a real virus, but one re-engineered by AI to keep every dangerous function intact while quietly rearranging its own genetic sequence so that our artificial – and natural – screening systems never see it coming. I was wondering if that was a problem for later. Maybe next year, or next decade. Well guess what: later just showed up. On August 6, a team of researchers from Stanford and the Arc Institute published a paper in Science announcing that they had used generative AI to design working viruses from scratch. These are the first functional genomes ever composed by a machine that have not been found in nature. The team generated hundreds of candidate genomes, synthesized almost 300 of them in the lab, and brought 16 of them to life as bacteriophages that successfully infected and killed E. coli. Guess what AI models they used? Evo 1 and Evo 2 … models built at the Arc Institute by Eric Nguyen and others. So the man who warned me about deepfake viruses in an interview watched his own creation become the proof of concept a week later. First off, deep breaths. The Stanford research team did not build a superbug. They built bacteriophages: viruses that infect bacteria, not humans. Antibiotic-resistant infections kill something like two million people a year, and phage therapy is one of the weapons medical scientists have against them. Designing better phages on demand can be a genuinely good thing. They also did the responsible version of this experiment. They stripped human, animal, plant and fungal virus sequences out of their training data, so the model couldn’t learn to build viruses that infect humans or plants. And they ran the work in secure facilities. But the capability speaks for itself. What the Science paper shows is not just that AI can make a bacteriophage. It’s that generative models can now make functional virus genomes – coherent, working sets of genetic instructions — from a text prompt and a training set. That is no longer science fiction. And, importantly, the technique is agnostic. Aim it at phages and you get phages. Aim it at something else … and we’ll get something else. The reason we didn’t get something worse is that these particular researchers chose not to build it. That’s not something we can assume of all teams in all countries.

Artificial Armageddon? As AI designs 16 brand-new VIRUSES, scientists raise fears bots could come up with a catastrophic bioweapon | Daily Mail Online -- The idea of an AI designing brand–new viruses might sound like the plot of the latest science fiction blockbuster.  But it has become a reality, after scientists from Stanford University used AI to create 16 fully functional pathogens. The breakthrough has been dubbed a 'significant turning point' in science, with many scientists pointing out that it could unlock a new era for treating disease. However, not everyone is so convinced. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Dr Simon Clarke, Associate Professor in Cellular Microbiology at the University of Reading, warned that the technology could potentially be used to create dangerous bioweapons. 'The study poses no direct threat to human health because it only involves viruses that only target bacteria, though creating novel synthetic life forms which don’t exist in nature, raises broader ethical concerns,' he explained. 'While this technology has not been used to generate human pathogens, the study confirms AI can design viable, non–natural viruses. 'This underlying capability means the technology could potentially be used to create dangerous pathogens with potential to be a bioweapon, though safeguards within the AI model, which are in place in this study, can help mitigate the risk.' In their study, researchers at Stanford University used AI to create a genome for a virus that infects bacteria, known as a bacteriophage. The AI suggested thousands of genomes, and the researchers created 302 in the lab before exposing them to bacteria. Overall, 16 of the viruses suggested by the AI were able to kill E.coli. According to the researchers, the breakthrough suggests AI can design new viruses with the potential to 'massively improve human health'. However, in the wrong hands, such technology could prove catastrophic, according to Dr Clarke. When asked whether AI could create a virus that sparks a new pandemic, he told the Daily Mail: 'AI can only design genetic code, it cannot physically create or release a virus on its own. 'While the code itself could be misused, sparking a pandemic would require human intervention, specifically bad actors synthesising and assembling the virus in a lab.' Dr Carl Mayers, a Senior Adviser in Biosecurity Policiy at The Centre for Long–Term Resilience, agreed that the AI could be misused – but said that this would be 'extremely hard'. Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said: 'At the moment it would be extremely hard, slow and expensive to use this approach to make a bioweapon. 'The authors had to design, synthesise and test 302 different AI–designed genomes to find just 16 genomes that were functional in a simple bacterium. 'It would be much slower, much more difficult, and much more expensive to do this with animal or human viruses.'

What if a virus were engineered to kill? It could “make nuclear war look like child’s play” (video) Investigative journalist Annie Jacobson walks through a nightmare biological warfare scenario that could take the U.S. from an initial outbreak to anarchy in just six days.

1 in 20 US adults develop bacterial infections after hospitalization for gunshot injuries  - Bacterial infections develop in about 1 in 20 US adults hospitalized for gunshot wounds, with the greatest risk among those undergoing surgery for injuries to the head, neck, spine, or lower abdomen, per a study published last week in JAMA Network Open.For the study, a team led by researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) parsed data from the Premier Healthcare Database on US adults hospitalized for firearm injuries from January 2019 to May 2021 In total, 24,024 adults who incurred gunshot wounds were admitted to 323 hospitals. The average age at injury was 32.9 years, and 85.3% were men. The median New Injury Severity Score was 2 (minor injuries), and antibiotic therapy was given for a median of one day. Of all participants, 24.1% were hospitalized, and 8.4% died. Bacterial infections were diagnosed in 5.1% of patients, 4.3% developing early (in hospital) and 1.3% identified within the 90-day follow-up period. Infected patients received antimicrobial treatment for a median of nine days. The most common bacterial causes were Escherichia coli (20.9%), Staphylococcus aureus (12.4%), and enterococci (12.4%). Nearly identical proportions of infected and uninfected patients died (8.3% and 8.4%, respectively). Among patients who survived at least one night after hospital admission, early infection wasn’t associated with death (odds ratio [OR], 0.86). The clinical factors tied to increased risk of early infection were surgical procedures of the head, neck, and/or spine (OR, 5.18) and the lower abdomen (OR, 1.77). The lowest risk of early infection was seen among those with a handgun injury (OR, 0.58) and those undergoing surgical procedures for extremity injuries (OR, 0.58). The greatest risk of late infection was observed in those requiring liver surgery (OR, 3.83) or head, neck, and/or spine procedures (OR, 2.30). "Recovery from firearm injuries can be complicated,” senior author Jonathan Baghdadi, MD, PhD, of UMSOM, said in a university news release. “Although our study focused on mortality, infections can impact recovery in multiple ways, contributing to long-term pain and disability."

Invasive mold disease linked to high rates of ICU care, death - New surveillance data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlight the severity of invasive mold disease (IMD), finding that, during five years, 45% of patients with IMD at four hospitals died within 90 days, and half required mechanical ventilation. The findings, published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, are based on active, laboratory-based surveillance at two Atlanta-area academic hospitals and outpatient clinics from 2020 through 2024. IMDs occur when certain types of mold enter the body either through inhalation of mold spores from the environment, exposure to contaminated medical devices and healthcare linens or products, or as part of healthcare-associated outbreaks. The mold spores then travel deep inside the body, damaging tissues and organs and affecting a range of body systems, including the lungs, sinuses, skin, and central nervous system (CNS). For the report, researchers led by a team at the CDC identified 968 patients with potential IMD. Of those, 449 (46%) had an infection, including 89 with confirmed cases, 142 with probable cases, and 218 with surveillance cases, or those presumptively treated as IMD. Lung infections were by far the most common manifestation, accounting for 68% of cases. Skin or deep-tissue infections accounted for 11%, sinus or nasal infections for 10%, and CNS infections for 9%. A very small percentage of infections occurred in non-skin soft tissues (2%) and blood, bone, and eye, at 1% each. Although IMD typically affects people with weakened or compromised immune systems, 35% of patients had none of the classic risk factors used to identify people predisposed to infections, “underscoring the need for clinicians and surveillance efforts to consider the possibility of IMDs among patients without classic host risk factors for infection,” write the researchers Fifty-eight patients (13%) had a current or recent COVID-19 infection. Critical illness, particularly severe COVID and influenza, “is increasingly recognized as an IMD risk factor,” the researchers note. In the study, IMD infections were associated with significant illness and death. In all, 43% of patients were admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) and 50% required intubation and mechanical ventilation. For patients for whom mortality data were available, 45% died within 90 days. Patients with a current or recent COVID infection had particularly poor outcomes, with 66% admitted to the ICU, compared with 39% in those without a COVID infection. The 90-day all-cause mortality rate among those with a current or recent COVID infection was also 66%, compared with 41% without an infection. While IMDs are rare, the findings highlight their potential severity. And with more than one-third of cases occurring in patients without traditional risk factors, they underscore the need to consider IMD in even low-risk patients, the researchers write. To help improve patient outcomes, the researchers call for earlier and more accurate case detection, as well as improved antifungal treatments.

5 people in Louisiana have died from a flesh-eating bacterium found in warm coastal waters - Louisiana beachgoers are being warned to stay out of the water if they have any kind of wound, including cuts or scraps, because of an outbreak of a flesh-eating bacterium.  Five people in Louisiana have died and four are hospitalized owing to Vibrio vulnificus infections so far this year, according to the state's health department. During this same period over the past decade, the department says the state reported an average of seven cases and one death.   V vulnificus is found in warm coastal waters, and all nine cases from Louisiana's current outbreak are associated with seawater; each patient had underlying health conditions. People can also get it by consuming raw or undercooked shellfish, particularly oysters.   The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about 150 to 200 cases of V vulnificus are reported annually, and that about one in five people who are infected will die, sometimes within a couple of days of becoming ill. The bacterium causes gastrointestinal symptoms along with septic shock and necrotizing fasciitis, which is a fast-moving infection that destroys tissue and blood vessels beneath the skin. Severe infections might require a limb amputation.   Though Gulf Coast states see the most infections, a warming climate is expanding where V vulnificus is found, according to a 2023 analysis in Scientific Reports.On average, the study authors found, the distribution of infections has shifted nearly 30 miles northwards per year. "In the late 1980's infections were rare above Georgia (32°N) but by 2018 were regularly reported as far north as Philadelphia (40°N)," they wrote.The study also found that the number of V vulnificus cases in the United States increased eightfold from 1988 through 2018.Additionally, hurricanes, which are likely becoming more intense because of climate change, can lead to outbreaks of V vulnificus, as was seen with Hurricane Ian in 2022 and Helene in 2024.

Florida records its second flesh-eating bacteria death this year | CIDRAP - Florida officials said a second person has died from a Vibrio vulnificus infection this year. The death occurred in an adult from Marion County and follows a late-July death recorded in Palm Beach County, also in an adult, according to a new update from the Florida Department of Health (Florida Health).So far this year, Florida has tracked 14 cases of the flesh-eating bacteria, which thrive in warm, brackish water. Last year, the state saw 33 cases and 15 deaths. In 2024, there were 82 cases and 19 deaths.Most people get vibriosis by eating raw or undercooked shellfish, but people can also contract the bacterial infection after swimming in infected waters with open wounds.“Individuals who are immunocompromised, e.g chronic liver disease, kidney disease, or weakened immune system, should wear proper foot protection to prevent cuts and injury caused by rocks and shells on the beach,” Florida Health said.Florida Health also said around 20% of people diagnosed as having a V vulnificus infection will die, and many will need limb amputations following necrotizing fasciitis, which occurs when the bacteria kill living tissue surrounding a wound.   Earlier this week, Louisiana reported five recent deaths amid increased V vulnificus case counts.

Egg recall linked to Salmonella classified to highest risk level by FDA - The FDA is upgrading an egg recall issued last month to its highest risk level, warning the public that exposure to the eggs could pose serious health risks.On Wednesday, the FDA classified the recall as a Class I, indicating “a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.”  The FDA classified an egg recall last month as a Class I recall, its highest risk level.Midwest Poultry Services first issued the recall of 1.6 million brown and white eggs in late July. According to Midwest Poultry’s recall announcement, the eggs were produced and distributed from farms in Texas between June 6, 2026 and July 3, 2026, and have sell-by or best-by dates between July 20, 2026 and August 17, 2026.  The eggs were shipped to foodservice and retail customers in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, ere available to consumers at Kroger stores in Texas and Louisiana, Brookshire Grocery stores in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Mississippi.The recalled eggs can be identified by codes P-1950 or 0840962 with a Julian date between 157 and 184 printed on the side of the cartons. For a full list of examples, check the FDA recall site or call 574-405-9531. On July 24, the CDC reported a Salmonella outbreak connected to the recall. The outbreak resulted in 98 cases of Salmonella, resulting in 26 hospitalizations across 17 states. No dates were reported in the outbreak.

Taylor Farms recalls salsa, guacamole on salmonella outbreak, intensifying food-safety fears (Reuters) - Taylor Farms is recalling prepared foods containing jalapenos from retailers including Walmart and Whole Foods in several states over potential salmonella contamination, the second major foodborne illness linked to the produce supplier in recent weeks. The recall adds another layer of worry for consumers, who have been avoiding fresh greens at groceries and restaurants after Taylor recalled iceberg lettuce due to a cyclospora outbreak that is already among the largest foodborne illness events in recent U.S. history. The company said on Sunday it had voluntarily recalled the products, including salsas and guacamole, after being notified that Coast Citrus Distributors was recalling the fresh peppers due to an outbreak that has sickened more than 300 people. California-based Taylor is one of North America's largest producers of salads and fresh-cut vegetables and a key supplier to major supermarket chains and restaurant operators, including Kroger, McDonald's and Chipotle. Taylor Farms on Sunday said it stopped sourcing from a Sinaloa, Mexico farm identified as the potential source of salmonella. Products were also recalled from Target, Trader Joe's and Maine-based supermarket chain Hannaford. The company is already facing heightened scrutiny due to the cyclosporiasis outbreak that has spread through most U.S. states. Health authorities are still investigating the sources of that infection, which causes severe diarrhea and can linger for weeks. "Consumers are likely to avoid all Taylor Farms products for a while. Taylor Farms will have to work hard to change the perception that its products can make people sick. It could take some time," said Joe Feldman, senior managing director at Telsey Advisory Group. Industry experts say, however, that because much of Taylor Farms' produce is sold wholesale and unbranded, it will be hard for consumers to steer clear entirely of those products. As a result, consumers are buying less fresh produce out of an abundance of caution. Taylor previously suspended iceberg lettuce sourcing and production from central Mexico after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration linked a large cyclosporiasis outbreak to shredded lettuce supplied by the company from a processing facility in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. As of August 5, the company said the regulator had not confirmed positive sample tests for cyclospora on its lettuce. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the FDA said last week they were investigating the salmonella outbreak, which has sickened 345 people across 27 states and led to 36 hospitalizations. The U.S. investigation into the salmonella outbreak identified restaurants including Chipotle Mexican Grill and Qdoba, a Mexican-style restaurant chain, as having received jalapenos imported by Coast Citrus Distributors. Both restaurants stopped using them, while Coast Citrus recalled the remaining product and notified customers. Salmonella infections can cause diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps and can be particularly severe in young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems. Taylor Farms said it was unaware of any reported illnesses linked to the voluntarily recalled items. Walmart said on Monday it had removed the products from its stores and implemented a sales block at registers and online. Representatives for both Amazon-owned Whole Foods and Ahold Delhaize-owned Hannaford said recalled products were pulled from shelves and advised customers who bought them to throw them out. Kroger declined to comment. Target and Trader Joe's did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

More recalls as US faces several foodborne illness outbreaks - The summer of 2026 continues to bring toilet trouble for thousands of Americans, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today confirming 13,895 Cyclospora cases and an additional 10,455 infections under investigation.Of the total, 3,427 Cyclospora cases are new this week. And among the cases are two fatalities and at least 740 hospitalizations.Last year, the agency tracked only 1,180 cases from May through August, but a major outbreak linked to tainted lettuce and other concurrent outbreaks have contributed to one of the worst years on record for the parasitic infection, which causes lasting, severe diarrhea.The more than 24,000 cases confirmed or under investigation by the CDC is likely an undercount.Food Safety News reports that the Cyclospora count from 38 states this year (12 not reporting) stands at 28,056. Michigan reports the most illnesses by far, with 12,485. Last year, Michigan reported 50 cases. Though the strong majority of Cyclospora cases are from a 15-sate outbreak linked to tainted lettuce grown in central Mexico, the Food and Drug Administration also notes at least two unrelated outbreaks of the parasite with unidentified sources. So far those outbreaks have sickened 172 and 11 people, respectively.In other food safety news, Whole Foods Market announced it was recalling select products from its produce and prepared foods departments that contain jalapeños sourced from Coast Citrus Distributors over potential Salmonella contamination. The peppers have been implicated in an ongoing Salmonella Javiana outbreak, which has sickened 345 people and hospitalized at least 36 in 27 states.Whole Foods said no illnesses have been reported to date in connection with these products, which include prepared salsas and guacamoles.

Best-by dates of recalled iceberg lettuce linked to massive Cyclospora outbreak have passed, says FDA -- The best-if-used-by dates of recalled iceberg lettuce associated with the massive Cyclospora outbreak have passed, according to an update from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday. This means that Cyclospora-tainted Taylor Farms lettuce should no longer be available at stores and restaurants. “The outbreak includes people who reported exposure to processed iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico served or purchased at various locations, including people who previously reported eating at Taco Bell,” the FDA update said. “Most of these illnesses began before the Taylor Farms de Mexico iceberg lettuce recall on July 17, 2026.”Yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its numbers of Cyclospora infections linked to Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce. The agency added 3,123 cases, for a total of 9,481 total cases, and hospitalizations rose by 120 cases, to 398. Deaths remained at two, and the number of states affected increased by two, going from 15 to 17. While the CDC’s numbers have spiked, that could be attributed to a lag in reporting rather than skyrocketing cases. Officials in Michigan, the hardest-hit state of the outbreak, told CIDRAP News last week that most of the recent Cyclospora cases added to their tallies are of people who experienced symptoms before July 16. Politicians have been seeking answers about the outbreak with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, being the latest to send a letter about it. The Hill reports that she asked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if lobbying and donations from Taylor Farms led to the “botched response” and poor communication about this summer’s massive Cyclospora outbreak. Among all US Cyclospora outbreaks, CDC-confirmed cases are nearing 14,000, though counts of each affected state’s total bring the number above 28,000.

Bacon recall alert: Over 12,000 pounds pulled across multiple states - In late July, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) sent out a recall notice for a Maple Leaf Foods bacon product that made its way onto store shelves without going through required U.S. inspection. Here's what you need to know.The FSIS published a recall notice for approximately 12,036 pounds of Maple Leaf Foods, Inc.’s not ready-to-eat smoked bacon, which it said was produced between June 9, 10, 12, 13, and 15.There are two items that are part of this recall: The company’s 12-ounce vacuum-sealed packages of:

• Royale Natural Applewood Smoked All Natural Uncured Bacon (Product of Canada), with sell-by dates of September 1 and September 7, 2026.
• TOP VALU Uncured Hardwood Smoked Bacon (Product of Canada), with sell-by dates of September 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7, 2026.

Both have the Canadian establishment number "EST. 1" printed on the package and the health certificate "2026-S732971612" on the master case boxes. The products were distributed to Grocery Outlet distributors and retailers in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.According to the statement by the FSIS, the bacon was imported from Canada without going through import reinspection in the United States, meaning it entered the country without the federal check required before any imported meat, poultry, or egg product can be sold here. The FSIS discovered the issue during routine inspection activities.Because the product bypassed that required inspection, the agency has classified this as a Class I recall, which is its most serious designation. As the USDA explained on its site, a Class I recall is "a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death." However, more important, the FSIS noted that it did not find any pathogens or other issues in the bacon.  If you bought any of the products with the sell-by dates listed above, don't eat them. It's also important to check your fridge, as the FSIS says the product may still be sitting in consumers' refrigerators or freezers. You can either throw it away or return it to the store where you bought it.

Public Health Alerts: Sales of unauthorized e-cigarettes in the United States, December 2025 - More than two-thirds of US sales of e-cigarettes are illicit, with most targeting young people, according to a Public Health Alerts report today. The report’s authors—scientists from the CDC Foundation—analyzed retail scanner data from Circana, a market research company that collects point-of-sale data, to estimate the proportion of unauthorized sales of e-cigarette products in US stores last December. The report authors note that the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 requires a manufacturer to receive a marketing granted order (MGO) from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to legally market a new tobacco product in the United States. As of December 2025, 39 e-cigarette products had MGOs, making them authorized. “However,” the authors add, “thousands of unauthorized e-cigarette products continue to be sold in the United States.” They note that 7.0% of US adults, 24.8% of young adults (18 to 24 years old), 7.8% of high schoolers, and 3.5% of middle schoolers use e-cigarettes. The investigators assessed Circana sales data from 48 states, not including Alaska and Hawaii. Sales occurred at convenience, grocery, drug, retail chain, club, and dollar stores; gas stations; mass merchandiser outlets; and military bases.A total of 146 products, accounting for 30.6% of e-cigarette sales, were matched to authorized products in December 2025. The remaining 69.4% of sales for 4,421 products were unauthorized.Among all tobacco-flavored e-cigarette sales, 93.1% were FDA-authorized, compared with 26.1% of menthol flavored sales. None of the other flavored product sales, such as fruit, sweet, candy, or mint, were authorized.The authors conclude, “Disposable e-cigarettes in flavors that may appeal to young people comprised the majority of unauthorized sales.”They add, “Insufficient public data regarding which tobacco products are legally marketed presents compliance challenges for retailers and complicates research.”

Public Health Alerts: Silicosis among workers fabricating engineered stone (‘quartz’) countertops in California, 2019-2026 | CIDRAP - A Public Health Alerts report today highlights almost 600 cases of silicosis—an incurable lung disease caused by inhaling silica particles—in workers making stone countertops in California over a span of more than seven years.In the report, researchers from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and their partners note that 65 of the 592 patients needed a lung transplant, and 31 of them died. The authors write, “Over the past two decades, a growing risk has been recognized among workers fabricating crystalline silica-containing engineered stone counter tops (also known as artificial stone or “quartz”). Engineered stone slabs are manufactured by crushing natural quartz into fine powder then binding it with polyester resins and pigments; the material contains high levels of crystalline silica (typically >90%). “Fabrication workers who cut, grind, and polish these slabs into countertops can be exposed to hazardous levels of respirable crystalline silica, along with volatile organic compounds and metals.” The CDPH identified the index case in January 2019. It involved a 32-year-old countertop worker who died of respiratory failure at age 38. After identifying this first case, investigators confirmed two additional cases at the same company, one of which also proved fatal. Screening of the company’s 43 employees found five additional silicosis cases. Through June 2026, the authors confirmed 592 cases related to working with engineered stone, including the 31 fatalities and 65 lung transplants.“These cases are notable for the patients’ young age at diagnosis, short duration of exposure, severity and rapid progression of disease, and frequent co-occurrence of other silica-associated conditions, including autoimmune disease and tuberculosis,” the authors write.The median age at diagnosis was 46, with a mean age at death of 52.

Pee Dee, South Carolina, reports West Nile virus outbreak - The Pee Dee, a region in the northeastern corner of South Carolina, is reporting a West Nile virus outbreak.“Two human cases of West Nile virus were diagnosed in the Pee Dee within a similar time frame and geographic radius, indicating sustained West Nile virus activity in the area and meeting the definition of an outbreak,” the South Carolina Department of Public Health announced.  The mosquito-borne virus is common in the late summer months, but most people infected will never know they have the virus. “Most people infected with West Nile virus have no symptoms,” said Abdoulaye Diedhiou, MD, PhD, MPH, the South Carolina state epidemiologist. “The risk of serious illness is low, with less than one percent of people infected developing encephalitis, a potentially fatal swelling of the brain. However, we urge residents in the area to take this alert seriously and take the precautions advised to further lower their risk of contracting West Nile virus.”  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the country has seen 181 West Nile cases so far in 2026, with 129 cases of neuroinvasive disease associated with infections. Thirty states have reported infection so far this year, with Arizona reporting the most, with 73.

Lyme disease is spreading into southern Appalachia, increasing the need for public education -  Lyme disease is expanding into southern Appalachia, and a town in the Blue Ridge Mountains appears to be on the edge of this growing territory. In an analysis yesterday in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 76.9% of the blacklegged (deer) ticks collected from residential properties in Biltmore Forest, North Carolina, tested positive for the bacterium—Borrelia burgdorferi—that causes Lyme disease. If left untreated, an infection can result in facial paralysis, irregular heartbeat, arthritis, and other long-term neurologic complications. Lyme has historically been considered endemic in the Northeast and Upper Midwest. Researchers note that tick surveys in nearby South Carolina counties found a low prevalence of Lyme, which suggests that Biltmore Forest "represents the leading edge of southward expansion."  In fact, 17 Biltmore Forest residents said they've been diagnosed with the disease. They also reported cases of babesiosis and one case of ehrlichiosis, though the researchers, from both South and North Carolina, didn't find ticks carrying the bacteria that cause these diseases.  However, the researchers identified Borrelia miyamotoi in two adult ticks and two collections of pooled DNA from larval ticks. This bacterium causes hard tick relapsing fever; the most common symptom is a high temperature, though some patients experience chills or shakes, fatigue, joint pain, headache, and nausea. The findings show a need for public education about tick-bite prevention in this part of Appalachia, along with expanded surveillance to improve early diagnosis, said the researchers. They noted that many medical providers in the area lack experience diagnosing and managing tick-borne diseases.  To avoid these illnesses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises people to avoid areas where ticks are found and to apply DEET-containing insect repellent. After coming indoors, people should check their bodies for ticks, including less visible areas like under the arms, back of the knees, and hair.

As New World screwworm returns to the US, a new dashboard tracks the risk -In the 1950s, the New World screwworm cost U.S. livestock producers tens of millions of dollars a year, reaching $50 million to $100 million annually in the hardest-hit Southwest, before it was eradicated from the United States and pushed south to Panama. Now the flesh-eating pest has spread north again, reaching Texas and New Mexico and threatening livestock, wildlife and even people. To help local officials stay ahead of the threat, the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) Public Health Services and University of California San Diego researchers developed a tool to help track the screwworm, a parasitic fly whose larvae feed on living tissue. "Our County public health partners alerted us to the need for better situational awareness of New World screwworm," "We built a dashboard to generate regional risk profiles. This is just one example of how we are responding to County needs with a focus on real-world issues. It's a model that has brought us great success, like the Tijuana River Crisis Environmental Dashboard." The new dashboard combines reports of confirmed detections, environmental suitability for the fly and its larvae, and media coverage to estimate risk nationwide at the county level. The dashboard is currently available only to project partners and public health officials, although the team ultimately hopes to make a public version available. "Traditional reporting mechanisms for public health are often delayed," she said. "Lab confirmation can take days or weeks. By incorporating media reports, we can identify potential threats sooner and stay one step ahead." "The tool gives you a sense of where you might expect to see cases next," "That's helpful in determining how we should be preparing. Is the threat imminent, or do we have six months? We're in a very concerning phase right now, and the tool backs that up." Unlike most fly larvae, which feed on dead or decaying tissue, New World screwworm larvae burrow into living flesh. The female fly lays her eggs in open wounds or natural body openings, and once the larvae hatch, they feed on healthy tissue, causing wounds to grow larger and deeper and leaving them vulnerable to secondary infections. Left untreated, infestations can severely injure or even kill livestock and wildlife. Although cases are uncommon, humans can also become infected. However, unlike infectious diseases such as COVID-19, New World screwworm does not spread from person to person. The larvae invade wounds or mucous membranes, requiring prompt medical treatment to remove them and prevent further tissue damage. The geographic expansion of the pest has been facilitated not only by the fly's natural ability to travel miles looking for hosts, but also by the movement of livestock, pets, birds and other wildlife. "We knew in 2023 that New World screwworm was going to move northward, but I wasn't expecting it to move as fast as it has," said Beatty. "Although the source of the infections in the U.S. is still under investigation, the fact that it's in the U.S. is 100% clear. "Once it entered Texas, we quickly saw an increase in detections," he continued. "It's in a place where it used to live, so it's not surprising it's taking hold again."

Many US public parks sit surprisingly close to hazardous waste sites and facilities that release toxic chemicals -- While parks, playgrounds and hiking trails are generally thought of as "healthy" spaces, researchers from the University of Michigan have found that many of them overlap with old toxic waste sites or sit dangerously close to facilities that actively release hazardous chemicals. Their new study, published in Scientific Reports, looks at the proximity of 151,366 U.S. public parks to facilities in the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and Superfund sites (SFS). Facilities in the TRI typically include larger facilities handling manufacturing, metal mining, electric power generation, chemical manufacturing and hazardous waste treatment. These facilities release chemicals that are considered hazardous to human health and may cause "significant adverse environmental effects" and thus must be reported to the EPA. Superfund sites are severely polluted locations contaminated by hazardous waste, chemicals or toxic materials, including abandoned factories, old mines, landfills and industrial plants. Some of these sites were converted into commercial, recreational, ecological and residential spaces through the Superfund Redevelopment Initiative, launched in 1999. The authors of the new study write, "There is robust evidence of the adverse health impacts of exposure to environmental hazards. Several studies have found that proximity to industrial facilities, hazardous waste sites and manufacturing plants is related to an increased risk of adverse health outcomes, including birth defects, cardiovascular disease and neurological conditions. While proximity to polluting sites is not an exact proxy for exposure to specific pollutants, epidemiologic studies have found consistent associations between residential proximity to polluting sites and increased risk of cancer, respiratory disease and other adverse health outcomes." The researchers combined a 2024 national database of public parks, including national parks, hiking trails, state parks and some playgrounds, with EPA records for industrial toxic-release facilities and Superfund sites. They then used mapping software to measure direct overlap and distances of up to 2 miles (3.2 kilometers). The study did not test air, water or soil inside the parks for specific pollutants, only proximity to known sites. The team found that more than half of the 151,366 parks studied, or 52.6%, were within 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) of a facility in the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory. Around 9.3% of parks had at least one of these facilities either inside the park or within a half-mile (0.8 kilometer) of its boundary. Specifically, 63 parks contained at least one TRI facility within their boundaries. Among the states, Missouri and Virginia had the most TRI sites located within parks. They also found that 2,442 parks, or 1.6%, directly overlapped with land at a Superfund hazardous-waste site. Nearly 18% of parks had at least some land within 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) of a Superfund site. The team says that only five states had no park land overlapping with Superfund sites: Arkansas, Maine, Mississippi, North Dakota and Wyoming. On the other hand, Colorado had the largest amount of total park area that overlapped with Superfund sites, at around 430,610 square miles (1.1 million square kilometers).

Breakfast looks a lot more expensive under new EU pesticide plans -Fancy a morning coffee, orange juice or blueberry pancakes for your Sunday brunch? Prepare to fork out more for those items if Brussels’ plan to get foreign growers to align with the bloc’s pesticide rules holds.  An analysis by the European Commission’s in-house researchers confirms what non-EU farmers have been saying for months: A plan to prohibit any trace of some of the “most hazardous” pesticides banned in the EU for health and environmental reasons would lead to fewer and more expensive products. Under a worst-case, hypothetical scenario — in which the non-EU producers don’t adjust to the rules — you’d have to pay 332 percent more for coffee and 82 percent more for citrus fruit, the Joint Research Centre said in an analysis published on Tuesday. The EU’s agricultural imports would decline by 41 percent and livestock farmers would also be hit with higher feed costs. Even under more plausible scenarios envisioned by the researchers, in which external growers get on board to varying degrees, consumer prices would rise and EU agricultural imports decline. Though that would in turn boost domestic production, with exact numbers depending on producers’ willingness to adapt.

Major genetic weakness threatens future corn breeding, study reveals - A new study led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign scientists reveals critically low genetic variation in one of the country's primary breeding stocks for corn. The finding relates specifically to grain yield in intermediate-maturity hybrids, which dominate commercial production in the U.S. and represent nearly a third of the world's corn production. The researchers say it's a crisis waiting to happen. The study, "Dissecting genetic variance structure and evaluating genomic prediction models for single-cross hybrids derived from Stiff Stalk and Non-Stiff Stalk maize heterotic groups," is published in G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics. "Our study reveals a significant genetic weakness that threatens maize breeders' ability to develop high-yielding hybrids, especially in the context of climatic challenges projected for the U.S. Corn Belt," said the study's lead author, Jenifer Camila Godoy dos Santos, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Crop Sciences. Modern corn breeding relies on heterosis, also known as hybrid vigor. This means that when parents from different genetic, or heterotic, groups are crossed, the hybrid offspring far outstrips either parent's performance in the field. For several decades, new corn hybrids have been generated by crossing parents from two specific heterotic groups: stiff-stalk (SS) and non-stiff-stalk (NSS). These groups are genetically distinct from one another—a necessary ingredient to ensure the most productive corn hybrids—but the inbred lines within each group are genetically similar. And therein lies the problem. Over time, breeders have selected and reused the strongest-performing lines as parents, gradually reducing the overall variability within each heterotic group. Theoretically, with lower in-group variation, crosses between the groups would no longer guarantee strong hybrids. Godoy dos Santos and her collaborators suspected variation was waning but didn't know by how much or how it might affect certain traits. To answer these questions, they evaluated the genetic variation underlying multiple plant traits in 13 SS and 28 NSS inbreds representing early-, intermediate- and late-maturing (flowering) types. Specifically, they focused on variation related to grain yield, plant height, and days to silking and anthesis. The big takeaway? Genetic variability related to yield was lacking in intermediate-maturity SS lines, the most commonly grown maturity group in the U.S. Corn Belt. The researchers say this important heterotic group could fail to contribute to the development of new hybrids that meet yield goals under future challenges.

EPA moves to rescind Biden-era tribal water quality rule - -The Trump administration plans to rescind an EPA rule requiring states to consider tribes’ rights to fish, hunt and gather wild plants when establishing water quality protections — a policy the administration argues went beyond the agency’s authority.Finalized under the Biden administration, the rule provided an avenue for tribes to compel state and federal regulators to account for their consumption of traditional plants and animals when setting water quality standards. Those standards form the basis for protecting rivers, lakes and other water bodies from pollution. Under works for months, the agency is now close to moving forward with a proposal to rescind the rule, according to a notice Friday by the Office of Management and Budget.The rule, “Water Quality Standards Regulatory Revisions To Protect Tribal Reserved Rights,” was a key part of the Biden administration’s strategy to address water pollution and infrastructure challenges on tribal lands.

Hoover Dam is losing power. Inside the 'slowest-moving train wreck in history'-- FROM THE RIM of Lake Powell, you can’t see the danger line. There isn’t a flashing gauge or a chart on the canyon wall that warns visitors when one of the most important machines in America begins to fail. There’s only an invisible number: 3,490 feet above sea level. Engineers call it “minimum power pool.” Above that elevation, Lake Powell can still push water through Glen Canyon Dam’s massive penstocks, spin its turbines, and send electricity across the Southwest with no trouble. Below it, the dam loses the function that helped justify its existence. The river still wants to move, but the machine starts running out of ways to move it. Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell sit near the center of the Colorado River system, upstream from Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. Together those reservoirs store the water that cities, farms, and power plants across the Southwest depend on. Now the entire system is being pushed past its limits, and Lake Powell is where the cracks are really starting to show. Since 2000, the Southwest has been caught in a megadrought that has steadily pulled down water levels in both Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Climate change has made that trend hotter, drier, and harder to reverse. In 2026, a punishingly weak snowpack and an extreme heat wave pushed the basin deeper into emergency. The Bureau of Reclamation began taking steps to keep Lake Powell’s water levels high enough for electricity generation; Hoover Dam’s hydropower output is expected to drop by 40 percent of its maximum capacity this year. “It’s a crisis moment for the Colorado River,” says John Berggren, regional policy manager for Western Resource Advocates. “We’ve known about this problem for years. LONG BEFORE IT became an engineered system, the Colorado River was a dynamic desert waterway. Prone to both floods and droughts, it began in the Rocky Mountains, wound through the heart of the Colorado Plateau, carved the Grand Canyon, and emptied into the Gulf of California. On October 9, 1936, several 4-million-pound generators inside the brand-new Hoover Dam began turning the wild river’s force into electricity—and holding back the water that would become Lake Mead. Hoover’s curved ax-head shape and its 726-foot-high walls eventually made it an icon of American engineering: a single structure that could control floods, generate power, store water, and supply the cities and farms spreading across the deserts of the Southwest. This dam was only the beginning. In the decades that followed, the once-wild Colorado River turned into a complex web of dams and reservoirs designed to deliver electricity—and, even more crucially, water—to roughly 40 million people. The system now includes 14 other dams, including Glen Canyon Dam. But none of them can work without enough water in the right places. On paper, Hoover Dam and Glen Canyon Dam basically work the same way. Water stored behind each dam drops through giant tubes called penstocks, spins turbines, activates generators, and then flows downstream for agricultural and municipal purposes. But it’s the small differences in the two dams—particularly in the design of how water can leave their reservoirs—that could spell the end of electricity generation along the Colorado River. At Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell has three main exits. The first is the penstocks, which are the only way to generate power through the dam. The second is the spillways, built for floods and used only once, in 1983. But the spillways sit high on the dam, so they aren’t all that useful in today’s drought-induced crisis. The third exit: four small tunnels farther down from the penstocks that can bypass the generators and release water downstream without producing power. These are called river outlets. But with a flow rate of 15,000 cubic feet per second, the river outlets can also release excess water during flooding or for other conservation programs. In 2023, the Bureau of Reclamation used them to flush sediment that had built up in Lake Powell downstream. Each exit comes with its own important elevation numbers and terms. When the surface of Lake Powell sits at 3,700 feet above sea level, the reservoir is officially at “full pool,” meaning it’s reached its max capacity of 26 million acre-feet of water, and the penstocks can work as designed. Then, at 3,490 feet above sea level, Lake Powell officially enters that “minimum power pool” phase. Here, electricity generation is no longer possible, as water levels have fallen below the penstocks, but water can still exit through the river outlets. What looks like a vast reservoir is actually a shrinking margin of safety. As Lake Powell declines, one of America’s most ambitious water projects is entering unfamiliar territory. That creates two problems at once. The first is downstream disruption: The smaller river outlets were never designed to operate continuously or move the same volume as the penstocks. The second is mechanical danger. As water levels continue to drop, turbines and outlets can begin pulling in air, raising the risk of cavitation that could pit metal, attack concrete, and destroy machinery from the inside. “It’s the incorporation of water bubbles in the water column. When those water bubbles collapse, they send off shock waves, and those shock waves can destroy concrete and metal,” says Jack Schmidt, director of the Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University and former chief of the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center. “This is a situation that has been calculated, but it’s never been tested because we’ve never been this low.” Below minimum power pool is the final, even more ominous threshold: “dead pool.” Under 3,370 feet, Lake Powell would fall below the level of the river outlets. At that point, water could remain in the reservoir but would no longer be able to rely on gravity to pass through the dam’s existing outlets. The result would be a reservoir trapped behind a dam that is no longer able to release it the way it was designed to. That possibility is no longer theoretical enough to ignore. As of June 2026, Lake Powell rests at an elevation of 3,528 feet—only a few dozen feet above minimum power pool. Schmidt says the Bureau of Reclamation isn’t treating 3,490 feet as the magic switch that flips all at once; the agency wants to keep Powell closer to 3,500 feet to preserve a margin of safety. “People really ought to think about this as a natural disaster,” says Sharon B. Megdal, director of the Water Resources Research Center at the University of Arizona. “For years I’ve said that people need to be vigilant, they need to be aware, but they don’t have to be alarmed. “Well,” she continues, “I’ve been alarmed this last year.” In April 2026, the Bureau of Reclamation began triage. The agency announced plans to release 660,000 to 1 million acre-feet of water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir, upstream on the Green River in northeastern Utah, while holding back roughly 1.48 million acre-feet that would otherwise flow from Lake Powell to Lake Mead. The government is basically borrowing water from one part of the system and withholding it from another to keep Glen Canyon Dam above its danger zone. Hoover can retrieve water from elevations lower than that of Glen Canyon, but if Powell falls below minimum power pool—and especially toward dead pool—it could spell the end of hydropower all along the Colorado River.

Utah is killing the Great Salt Lake - The Great Salt Lake is the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi River and the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere. It historically covered between 1,700 and 2,000 square miles, depending on annual precipitation, before large-scale river diversions began in the 20th century. As a major source of water in the middle of the arid Western U.S., it is the single most important node on the Pacific Flyway that connects South America to the Arctic, which hosts more than 10 million annual migrating birds representing more than 230 species. Its critical importance to avian life cannot be overstated: It supports up to 60% of the world’s Wilson’s phalaropes, about a quarter of North America’s snowy plovers and pintail ducks, 10% to 20% of its white pelicans, and 50% to 90% of its eared grebes, which gather there in late summer to molt and fatten on brine shrimp in preparation for their migration southward. The Great Salt Lake is unique and uniquely fragile, utterly dependent on freshwater inflows to maintain its brackish wetlands, which are hotspots of biodiversity. Its significant degradation, much less its loss, would be devastating, not only to bird populations throughout the Western Hemisphere but to the $1.9 billion diversified local economy that it supports, as well as to the respiratory health of the nearly 2.7 million people who live in the four-county megalopolis known as the Wasatch Front — the vast majority of Utah’s total population of 3.5 million. The Great Salt Lake is unique and uniquely fragile, utterly dependent on freshwater inflows to maintain its brackish wetlands, which are hotspots of biodiversity. And yet, the state of Utah is foolhardily rushing to dry it up. The lake is fed by three rivers: the Jordan, Weber and Bear, all of which are diverted in some part before reaching it. Overall, inflows have been reduced by about 40% since the late 1980s, and water volume is down by an alarming 64%. The lake level has dropped 11 feet since the 19th century. This shrinking footprint, nearly half of the lake’s historical average, not only raises salinity, which threatens ecosystems, it has exposed close to a thousand square miles of playa, or dry lakebed, to fierce winds. Those winds kick up dust laden with heavy metals and toxic compounds, both naturally occurring and derived from intensive mining and mineral extraction around the lake. A 2020 study published in the journal Atmospheric Environment found that air pollution, a growing portion of it linked to the region’s fierce dust storms, causes between 2,480 and 8,000 premature deaths every year, shortens average life expectancy up to 3.6 years and costs Utahns $750 million to $3.3 billion annually.  In 2022, the lake declined to its lowest level in history, an area of just 888 square miles. As the dust storms became too frequent and severe to ignore and public pressure for a solution mounted, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox simply told Utahns to pray for rain. But the lake’s decline isn’t due to any act of God. Nor is it due to a lack of rain — though decreased river flows due to global warming are steadily making matters worse. The main culprit here is the overuse of water — which is the direct result of decades of actions by Utah politicians like Cox, and by the public institutions charged with safeguarding the state’s precious water resources — all of which have failed to heed Brigham Young’s declaration: “It is enough.” Utah, an arid state, has the nation’s second-highest per-capita water use, behind only neighboring Idaho. Most municipal water is used to water lawns, golf courses, sidewalks, driveways and streets; 60% of household water use goes to watering the outdoor landscape, compared to the national average of 30%. And much of that landscape is lawn: around 300,000 acres of grass, mostly Kentucky bluegrass, which requires 24 to 30 inches of water over its growing season — two or more feet of water just to keep grass green. Urban Utah — or, more accurately, suburban Utah; outside of downtown Salt Lake City, this is a land of single-family homes — is a mirage-like green swath in the desert: miles of lawn, an irrigated Kentucky beyond the 100th Meridian. All of that greensward is enabled by perverse policy incentives, beginning with obscuring water’s true cost. Utah has the cheapest municipal water rates in the U.S., so Utahns waste water because it costs them little to do so — or so it seems. But Utah also relies more on property taxes to pay for water than any other Western state. A large percentage of these taxes — on homes, businesses, cars and other property — goes to fund water diversion and delivery infrastructure, offsetting and obscuring water’s true cost. Property taxes often make up more of a water district’s revenues than water sales, with some rural districts getting 75% to 100% of their revenue from the taxes, rendering that cost, for all intents and purposes, invisible to water users. In turn, all this high usage is cited to justify the need for more water projects. Currently, despite the obvious shrinking lake and the associated drastic consequences, the state is proceeding with plans to divert an additional 200,000 acre-feet a year from the Bear River into a 90-mile pipeline — largely in order to water more suburban lawns. This is more than the 4 million residents of the City of Los Angeles use in a year. The water is not needed, and the cost — billions over decades — will be borne by future generations of Utah taxpayers. Even more invisible than the hidden cost of water is the web of vested interests that push and profit from water projects: legislators, often with business interests in the project zones, water district employees, lobbyists and project contractors. By law, water districts have unrestricted ability to lobby and to fund lobbying and are shielded from public scrutiny. The Water District Water Development Council — in effect the lobbying arm of the water industry — is exempt from all open government laws requiring open meetings and minutes, one of the few Utah entities so protected. Making matters worse, this past February, the Utah Legislature passed and Gov. Cox signed HB 392, which allows the state to kneecap lawsuits aimed at curbing its actions by blatantly judge-shopping. At its sole and absolute discretion, the state can remove a case from a particular district judge and reassign it to a hand-picked three-judge panel, while remaining immune from any challenge or judicial review. This will prohibit advocacy groups like the Utah Rivers Council, which has fought for years to block unnecessary water projects in the state, from defending the lake.All of this mismanagement and deliberate obfuscation — what amounts to corruption — is a recipe for the destruction of not only the irreplaceable Great Salt Lake but all water resources and water-dependent ecosystems in Utah. Brigham Young must be turning over in his grave.

Trump silent as severe water crisis hits tens of thousands of Americans -- Puerto Rico entered a sweeping 48-hour water-rationing cycle affecting more than 180,000 people as drought conditions reach historic extremes, while residents in several neighborhoods report having endured more than 100 days of unreliable service this year alone. The crisis is unfolding with no comment from President Donald Trump, even as residents, businesses, and hospitals brace for prolonged shortages. Local officials warn the emergency could stretch for weeks or months, leaving millions of U.S. citizens navigating a system already weakened by years of neglect. The island’s water authority says the Carraízo reservoir has dropped to critically low levels, forcing alternating shutoffs across seven municipalities, but residents say outages began long before the drought—a sign of deeper infrastructure failures that neither the Puerto Rico government nor federal agencies have addressed. CTPR Executive Director Willianette Robles Cancel told Newsweek the tourism sector is coordinating with Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) and the central government to maintain operations, noting: “Our focus has been clear: anticipate, guide, and support the sector to guarantee continuity of tourism services.” But the broader crisis extends far beyond tourism, and frustration is mounting over the absence of federal leadership. A White House official told Newsweek that the situation in Puerto Rico is being “closely” monitored, and it has received no requests from FEMA for assistance. Despite more than 3 million U.S. citizens living on the island, the Trump administration has not issued any statement on the worsening water shortages. The silence comes as Puerto Rico faces one of its most severe droughts in modern history. July was San Juan’s driest month in more than 120 years, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) projects below-average rainfall and above-normal heat through October due to a strengthening El Niño pattern. The U.S. Drought Monitor’s early‑August update shows roughly 68 percent of Puerto Rico in drought, with moderate to severe conditions concentrated across the island’s interior and northern municipalities. Governor Jenniffer González has admitted she does not know how long rationing will last, calling the situation “out of our hands.” Environmental and climate‑communication researcher Catalina de Onis said the government’s messaging minimizes its own role in the crisis. She argued that decades of privatization, austerity, and fossil‑fuel dependence — intensified under the federally imposed Fiscal Control Board — have directly contributed to the island’s vulnerability. “Massive cuts to public services, privatization, and disinvestment have propelled very damaging fossil fuel reliance that perpetuates the drought crisis,” she said, adding that Puerto Rico’s colonial status further limits local control over climate and energy decisions. Customers were divided into two groups that will alternate not having water for at least 48 hours at a time. Local government officials have also not said when the rationing will end and have warned the outages could be extended to 72 hours at a time. Residents counter that the crisis stems from years of political neglect at the territorial and federal levels, as people in several San Juan neighborhoods have tracked more than 118 days of unreliable water service this year, reporting full‑day and multi‑day shutoffs along with persistently low pressure well before the formal rationing plan began. Environmental communication researcher Catalina de Onis said the current shutoffs must be understood in the context of Puerto Rico’s long history of resource extraction and political neglect. She noted that water access has repeatedly been shaped by “racial capitalism, neoliberalism, and US and Spanish empire building,” adding that elderly and disabled residents are facing the most disproportionate impacts. De Onis said the present crisis reflects “disinvestment in public infrastructure…now existing amid compounding crises, including worsening drought conditions associated with climate breakdown.” Puerto Rico’s government has offered little clarity or urgency. PRASA says rationing is necessary to “distribute available water more equitably,” yet communities have been reporting outages since mid-June, long before the drought intensified. San Juan’s mayor has sued PRASA over chronic shortages unrelated to weather, and the agency is urging residents to boil water once service returns — a sign of contamination risk and system instability. Water‑resilience specialist Kevin Gast told Newsweek that the crisis highlights a national problem. “Water resilience is not only a matter of having enough natural water, but also of the quality of the treatment and distribution infrastructure,” he said.

Energy company locks Colorado woman’s thermostat during scorching heat wave — ‘not safe’ --An energy company is facing serious heat after a Colorado woman revealed that she was unable to lower her thermostat during a week of record-high temperatures. Kyri Baker, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, told NBC affiliate 9 News that she attempted to turn down her home thermostat from an uncomfortable 79 degrees to a less hellish 75, only to receive a message from Xcel Energy informing her that the power grid was too taxed to accommodate the decrease. “I just wanted to set it to 75, something very reasonable so my daughter could fall asleep,” she explained. A message on a thermostat screen stating that the temperature cannot be lowered due to stress on the regional energy grid. Xcel’s Saver’s Switch program credits customers $40 per month in exchange for permitting the company to control their temperatures and automatically cycle out air conditioning during peak heat to conserve power grid capacity Baker’s experience coincided with an extreme heat wave in Colorado where temperatures reached 100 degrees on Saturday and remained in the 90s across parts of the Centennial State on Monday and Tuesday. Baker had previously opted into Xcel’s Saver’s Switch program, which credits customers $40 per month in exchange for permitting the company to control their temperatures and automatically cycle out air conditioning during peak heat to conserve power grid capacity. Xcel Energy explains on its website that the Saver’s Switch program activates on a few summer days per year, and functions by turning air conditioning off for 15-20-minute intervals while maintaining fan operation. “Most customers don’t even notice when Saver’s Switch is activated. On control days, Saver’s Switch is typically activated between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m,” they argued. Though Baker voluntarily enrolled in the program to offset her carbon footprint during periods of high demand, she was unaware she would not be able to adjust her thermostat. “It was kind of annoying. I’m doing my part to help the grid, and I’m getting penalized for it in some way.” She believes the restriction creates potentially dangerous conditions, noting that her home was fixed at 80 degrees. Sign up for the California Morning Report newsletter California's top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day. “It’s literally not safe to have a utility not allow you to cool or heat your house to a certain degree,” she emphasized, noting that it could be particularly perilous for older adults or those with medical conditions, Baker, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, has a keen understanding of how extreme heat can affect the grid, as heat makes infrastructure less efficient as customer demand for cool air increases. Baker believes changes and upgrades to the grid system are long overdue and that Colorado needs to address the electric grid’s underlying capacity rather than rely on customers to reduce demand.

Europe swelters under fresh wave of extreme heat -Millions of people across Europe—particularly in France, Italy, Spain and Britain—baked through a new wave of extreme temperatures Thursday as the continent's latest heat wave picked up. More than 135 million people were forecast to face temperatures above 35°C (95°F), with Britain recording its fifth-hottest day on record and parts of France soaring past 42°C (108°F). "The heat has been unbearable here, honestly," said pharmacist Bailey Williamson, voicing concern for hospital patients as Britain sweltered. Europe is the fastest-warming continent and, in some places, is ill-equipped to deal with hot weather. Scientists blame ever-hotter and more frequent heat waves on human-caused climate change. Repeat heat waves and drought have fueled a historically hot summer of wildfires and contributed to the deaths of thousands of people. Temperatures were to surpass 30°C (86°F) for nearly three out of five European residents (excluding Turkey)—around 340 million people—according to an AFP analysis based on German weather service forecasts and 2025 population projections from the Joint Research Centre. The findings are consistent with those of Austrian NGO Klimadashboard. In London, temperatures hit 38.1°C (101°F) at Kew Gardens, making it the fifth-hottest day on record for Britain, according to the official weather agency, the Met Office. Williamson, 20, who works for the National Health Service (NHS), said the heat was hitting hospital patients hard. "People in beds are really, really sick, and they can't even breathe because of the heat problem—so it's really bad," he said. Hospitals had recorded an increase in heatstroke cases, and the NHS was struggling to keep up, he added. "It's scary," Williamson said of the heat waves. "I think it's a real sign about how bad climate change has really got." Tim Wallace, 60, visiting from Australia, was also struck by the heat. "I've never seen it like this, and it's clearly, it is concerning," he said. "We might have summers like this more often, and the grass will burn off more often, and it'll come back. But it's all part of the planet getting hotter." In France, temperatures climbed even higher, with weather service Meteo-France recording 42.5°C (109°F) in Chateaumeillant in central France, the country's highest reading Thursday. Paris hit 38°C (100°F), and much of the country was under a heat wave alert. In Italy, similar temperatures were forecast to affect 29 million people, particularly along the west coast, in the Po Valley, the south and on Italy's islands. Large parts of the Iberian Peninsula also sweltered, with around 25 million people affected in Spain. The country's Aemet weather agency recorded temperatures of 37°C (99°F) in central regions Thursday. In the UK, temperatures also reached 36°C (97°F) or higher in 40 locations across central and southern England. The country is on track to record its hottest-ever summer, the Met Office said this week. The heat wave has fanned wildfires across Europe. In northern Greece, hundreds of tourists were evacuated by boat as a forest fire bore down on two popular resorts, while crews in central England's West Midlands region battled blazes damaging homes amid drought conditions.

Approximately 12,500 people have already died in Germany this year due to the heat | УНН -- Since the beginning of the year, approximately 12,500 people have died in Germany due to extreme heat, surpassing the previous record set in 2018. People over the age of 75 were affected the most, while the authorities are discussing protective measures. Approximately 12,500 people have already died in Germany this year due to the heat Since the beginning of the year, around 12,500 people have died in Germany due to extreme heat, according to calculations by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), reports UNN, citing Bild. The publication notes that the previous record in Germany was recorded in 2018, when the number of heat-related deaths was estimated at approximately 8,900. The most difficult week was June 22–28 — according to the RKI's estimate, around 9,600 people died from the effects of the heat during that period. Temperatures exceeded 40 degrees in many regions of Germany at the time. Most of those who died were elderly: around 9,400 people were over 75. Heat is most often not the sole cause of death, but it exacerbates existing diseases of the heart, lungs and kidneys. The record figures have intensified debate over how Germany should protect itself from extreme heat. Environment Minister Carsten Schneider called for the Constitution to be amended so that the federal government and the states could jointly finance protective measures. The Greens, for their part, are calling for a nationwide summit on combating heat.

Europe’s crisis reserves weren’t meant for this kind of drought - - The rain stopped in spring and never came back. From France to Czechia, this summer’s harvest is withering — and depleting aid funds built for one-off disasters, not a crisis that returns every year. Climate change has made dry seasons so frequent in Europe that the aid has become routine, too: national rescue packages, topped up by EU money. Nearly all of it covers what farmers have already lost; very little goes toward surviving the next one. For all the money the EU spends on farming, none of it is guaranteed to farmers when drought hits. Every rescue is improvised, decided one at a time. And the European Commission says it can’t afford a standing fund unless capitals pay in more, which none have offered to do. In Czechia, just 32 millimeters of rain fell across March and April — the driest spring in more than 60 years. The heat that followed pushed field temperatures past 50 degrees Celsius. “In some cases maize fields are failing to produce anything which can be used as fodder for animals,” said Jan Doležal of the Agrarian Chamber of the Czech Republic farm lobby. He hoped the EU would pay out for the damage in the fall.

India faces rising uncompensable heat stress, especially during monsoon season - Animals struggle to cool down in extreme heat and high humidity, and heat stress is rising in many regions around the world. This is especially true for people in tropical countries, including populous India. In a new paper in AGU Advances, researchers characterize the extent of India's "uncompensable heat stress" and project how the problem could worsen in the future. As global warming continues apace and politicians do little to address the warming crisis, the consequences are hitting home: at least 25,000 excess deaths in Europe in summer 2026, more than 200,000 heat-related deaths in Europe since 2022 and over 30,000 excess deaths this summer in India over a five-day period in which temperatures exceeded 45°C (113°F).Any chance of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, as called for by the stronger version of the Paris Agreement, appears to be gone. Indeed, the rate of warming is even accelerating.In India, heat stress is at times becoming uncompensable—incapable of being mitigated—especially during its monsoon season from June to September. The frequency of UHS (uncompensable heat stress) and the areas affected have both increased significantly over recent decades, according to research published by scientists in India and the United States.Projected number of days of dangerous uncompensable heat stress in India under the IPCC's very high emissions scenario SSP 8.5, for (top row) summer, March to June, and (bottom row) monsoon season, July to October. For 2°C of global warming about 900 million people would be affected; at 3°C the number rises to about 1.1 billion. Credit: AGU Advances & American Geophysical UnionDuring UHS, the human body struggles to cool down because of extreme heat and high humidity or simply cannot cool down sufficiently to prevent major bodily harm. (This is true not only for the elderly but also for young, healthy children and adults.) Heat with high humidity is especially dangerous.A "wet-bulb temperature" is the lowest temperature that can be reached by a surface through evaporative cooling of the body, viz. by sweating. It is primarily a function of air temperature, ambient pressure and humidity. At the wet-bulb temperature point, the air is saturated with water vapor, so sweating accomplishes nothing. "Wet bulb 37" means a wet-bulb temperature of 37°C (98.6°F) and is the limit for human existence—above WB 37°C, a human cannot cool down, even in the shade, leading to tragic consequences. However, the authors write, "Both commonly used dry-bulb temperature and the wet-bulb temperature are prone to biases in heat stress estimation," and the biases differ between India's hot, dry summer from March to June and its wet, humid monsoon season from July to October, as well as across geographic regions.To correct these biases, the authors used dry- and wet-bulb temperatures from reanalysis data from 1979–2021, which fills in past unknown meteorological quantities by applying a climate model to past known, measured quantities.In the observed baseline period of 1979 to 2021, UHS affected about 9% of India's population, with days of extreme concern ranging from one to 15 per year. The area where UHS is an issue quadrupled, rising from 10,000 square kilometers (3,900 square miles) during the 1980s to 40,000 square kilometers (15,400 square miles) by 2020. Under 2.0°C of global warming, the area of India projected to have UHS during summer is an astonishing 63% of the country, and 53% during the monsoon season.With 4°C of warming, UHS during the monsoon season surpasses that of summer because of a projected steep rise in hot and humid extremes. Central and southern India (the peninsular regions) do not currently experience UHS but are expected to if global warming reaches 3°C.A relevant divide is that between India's rural and urban areas. About 68% of India's population lives in rural areas, where air conditioning is often unavailable to mitigate extreme heat and humidity. Urban populations have better access to cooling facilities but face the urban heat island effect as cities rapidly urbanize. Also, widespread use of air conditioners can lead to electricity blackouts during peak demand.

Map shows bug fire spreading rapidly as thousands evacuated in Nevada -The fast-moving Bug Fire, burning near the California–Nevada border, has already ripped through more than 6,500 acres, prompting mass evacuation orders and warnings across parts of Lassen County, California and neighboring Washoe County in Nevada, as firefighters battle the flames to protect threatened communities. According to CAL FIRE incident information, the Bug Fire started at approximately 4:08 p.m. on Saturday, August 8, 2026, east of U.S. Route 395 and south of Bringman Road in Lassen County. Officials with the Bureau of Land Management’s Carson City District have not yet determined the cause of the fire, which remains under investigation. Newsweek has contacted the Bureau of Land Management’s Carson City District for comment, via email. Emergency reports, cited by local news outlet Lassen News, indicate that the blaze was initially reported at roughly 50 acres before expanding rapidly amid windy conditions along the California-Nevada state line. According to CAL FIRE The fire grew extraordinarily quickly over several hours:

• 50 acres shortly after ignition
• 800 acres by early evening
• 2,467 acres later Saturday
• 4,182 acres by around 7 p.m.
• 6,528 acres by 11:49 p.m. Saturday

As of the latest official update, containment had not yet been reported, meaning crews are still working to establish control lines around the fire. Where Are Evacuation Orders and Warnings in Place? Map showing evacuation “Go Now” orders due to the Bug Wildfire on the Nevada-California border as of August 9, 2026. Map showing evacuation “Go Now” orders due to the Bug Wildfire on the Nevada-California border as of August 9, 2026. Officials have issued both evacuation orders and evacuation warnings in parts of Washoe County, Nevada, as well as portions of Lassen and Sierra counties in California. Washoe County emergency managers said evacuation zones expanded repeatedly as the fire pushed toward populated areas near Cold Springs.  The affected areas include communities in and around:

• Cold Springs
• White Lake
• Woodland Village
• Canyon Hills
• Areas north of Silver Knolls
• Portions of the Reno-Stead region

Authorities haven’t yet released a statewide total for the number of residents evacuated. Instead, evacuation notices are being managed through geographic zones that continue to change as fire conditions evolve. Officials are directing residents to check the county’s live evacuation map to determine whether they are subject to “Go Now” orders or preparedness warnings. The Evelyn Mount Community Center in Reno has been established as an evacuation center. Facilities have also been made available for evacuated pets and livestock.

Three days of Ontario wildfire smoke brought unhealthy air to 106 million person-days Smoke from Canada's July wildfires exposed people across Canada and the United States to unhealthy, very unhealthy or hazardous air for nearly 106 million person-days between July 15–17. Over the peak impact period of July 13–18, moderate or worse air quality accounted for more than 769 million person-days. For a period, Toronto recorded the poorest air quality of any major city in the world. "The July 2026 Wildfires in Canada and Their Transboundary Smoke Problem," an incident brief published by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), evaluates wildfire activity across Canada through July 21, 2026, and human exposure to smoke in Canada and the United States during the mid-July peak. The analysis pairs satellite-derived fire perimeters with ground-based air quality readings, overlaid on gridded population maps. Person-days are the number of people exposed multiplied by the number of days they were exposed. It is the third incident brief the institute has published on North American fires, after assessments of the January 2025 Los Angeles fires and the May to June 2025 Central Canada fires. Canada's fire season began slowly. By June 28, the country had burned more than 1.2 million hectares less than its 10-year average for the date. Then the North American Heat Dome settled over much of the continent. By July 21, the deficit had become a surplus of 367,000 hectares. Nationally, 3,915 fires had burned nearly 3.04 million hectares, the third-largest total for this point in the year, behind only 2023 and 2025. Ontario drove the reversal. The province recorded 565 fires burning more than 728,000 hectares, roughly three and a half times its 10-year average. Annual precipitation across Ontario was close to normal, but the southwest of the province had received more than two standard deviations less rain than usual over the previous two months, and temperatures had run more than 2°C above average. The forests dried out fast. "Climate change has not only increased the frequency of wildfires, especially in the mesic vegetation types, but also made them more intense," said Dr. Mojtaba Sadegh, climate and wildfire analytics lead at UNU-INWEH. "When these dense forests burn, they release a huge amount of smoke that impacts millions of people far away from the burn perimeters. There is no easy solution to this problem; it requires a collective commitment to curbing climate change, and even if we act today, the problem will not disappear overnight, but we can make sure it does not get worse." Smoke from the Ontario fires traveled hundreds of kilometers. It pushed Toronto's air quality to unhealthy levels and spread across southern Ontario and parts of Quebec, then moved south into the United States, degrading air quality in Detroit, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, New York City and Washington. Officials in numerous states advised residents to stay indoors and limit outdoor exercise, with particular warnings for children, older adults and people with respiratory or cardiovascular conditions. Some cities canceled public events or moved them inside. Transboundary smoke also became a source of political friction between Canada and the United States, two countries with a long record of cooperation in emergency management and firefighting. The brief argues that worsening climate-driven wildfire and smoke hazards can strain even close international relationships and that coordinated firefighting and cross-border public health planning matter more as those hazards intensify. Closer to the fires, evacuation fell heaviest on Indigenous communities. More than 3,500 First Nations residents were displaced nationally by mid-July, and as many as 11 Ontario First Nations were under evacuation because of wildfire impacts. Around 1,800 residents left remote northwestern communities. Ontario requested federal assistance, including support from the Canadian Armed Forces, to reach places accessible only by air or water. In Namaygoosisagagun First Nation, residents escaped by boat as the approaching fire destroyed the community. Whitewater Lake First Nation was also affected. The fires also disrupted transportation and economic activity, halting Canadian National Railway operations for a time. The brief calls on national and provincial authorities to strengthen evacuation preparedness and shelter capacity in remote and Indigenous communities. It also wants clean-air shelters and clearer public health guidance during smoke events, alongside investment in early detection and infrastructure that can withstand fire in high-risk regions. Over the longer term, it ties the risk to global temperature increases, particularly across boreal regions where carbon-rich ecosystems matter for climate stability well beyond Canada.

B.C. declares provincial emergency as out-of-control Bald Range wildfire grows to over 10 000 ha (25 000 acres) - Youtube videos - British Columbia declared a State of Provincial Emergency on August 8, 2026, after the rapidly expanding Bald Range wildfire pushed into the Summerland area and forced large-scale evacuations across the South Okanagan. By August 9, BC Wildfire Service classified the 10 341 ha (25 552 acres) fire as a Wildfire of Note and Out of Control, with five Evacuation Orders and four Evacuation Alerts associated with the incident. By 21:30 PDT on August 8 (04:30 UTC on August 9), all 5 688 properties in the District of Summerland were under Evacuation Order, while the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen reported another 416 properties under order and 1 100 under alert. British Columbia declared a State of Provincial Emergency on August 8 after the rapidly expanding Bald Range wildfire pushed into the Summerland area and forced large-scale evacuations across the South Okanagan. By August 9, BC Wildfire Service reported that the Bald Range Fire has burned approximately 10 341 ha (25 552 acres) fire, classifying it as a Wildfire of Note and Out of Control. At least five Evacuation Orders and four Evacuation Alerts hasve been issued due to the incident. The Bald Range wildfire (K51490) expanded rapidly after it was first reported during the evening of August 7, as strengthening winds pushed the fire toward Summerland and communities in surrounding valleys in British Columbia’s South Okanagan. Multiple homes and structures have been destroyed, however, the exact numbers are yet to be determined. The five Evacuation Orders were issued by snpink’tn Indian Band, the District of Peachland, the Regional District of Central Okanagan, the District of Summerland and the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen. Four Evacuation Alerts were also listed, issued by snpink’tn Indian Band, the District of Peachland, the Regional District of Central Okanagan and the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen. Kelly Greene, B.C.’s Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, declared the State of Provincial Emergency on August 8. The Office of the Premier said the addition of the fast-moving Bald Range fire and the large-scale overnight evacuation created a need for emergency powers to be available to officials at short notice. By 21:30 PDT on August 8 (04:30 UTC on August 9), the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) reported 416 properties under Evacuation Order and 1 100 under Evacuation Alert within its jurisdiction. All 5 688 properties in the District of Summerland were under Evacuation Order, while snpink’tn Indian Band; identified as Penticton Indian Band reported 38 properties under order and 1 082 under alert. Greater West Bench–including Husula Highlands, Sage Mesa, West Bench and Westwood properties–as well as Kickininee Park, Brent Lake, the Shingle Creek area and Farleigh Lake Road were alsi under Evacuation Alert. Reception centres were operating in Penticton, West Kelowna and Chilliwack, and RDOS directed evacuees not to use forest service roads except Forest Service Road 201 between Penticton and Kelowna.

There's nothing 'wild' about most wildfires. Humans start them and have made them more dangerous -  A wildfire needs a name long before anyone knows what caused it. When the pines of the Gironde in southwestern France caught fire in July, the fire was reported within hours under the name of the ground it was burning. By the time it had taken 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres), that name was fixed in every bulletin in Europe.The investigation into how it started took longer, and the scientists working out why it ran so far took longer still, publishing into a news cycle that had already moved on.  Every large fire has two causes: the spark that lights it and the conditions that let it become so severe. Naming the fire, though, can hide this, as can reporting. A fire is named in hours, blamed in days and attributed a true cause in weeks.  The name comes first, into an almost complete absence of information, and the word we reach for while we wait is "wildfire."  It is a strange choice for Europe, where the human share of ignitions is put at roughly 97%. In the whole run of British fire service records, lightning has been logged as the cause of three wildfires, two of which turned out to be the same fire. This is why a 2024 parliamentary briefing stated flatly that almost all UK wildfires are started by people.  The defense is that "wild" never meant natural: A review of wildfire terminology across international glossaries confirms it denotes an unplanned, uncontrolled vegetation fire, "whether natural or human-caused." But nobody consults a glossary before reading a headline, and in that first vacant hour, "wild" places the fire outside human society. It implies there was no spark—and certainly no humans. While the UK and much of Europe have no official naming conventions, the way fires are named tends to produce much the same outcome as the more formally codified American system. In the U.S., the National Wildfire Coordinating Group's data standard states that names must reference nearby geography and "should not identify responsible parties or otherwise imply culpability or liability," with "Powerline" and "Pipeline" given as banned examples.So when a Pacific Gas and Electric Company line dropped into dry brush in California in 2018, 85 people died, and the company pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter, it was named "the Camp Fire," after Camp Creek Road. One of the century's defining powerline fires was remembered as a road.Then the investigators report and the vacuum fills, which in Europe happens quickly because so many fires are obviously human-caused that the question of how they started rarely stays unanswered for long. The correction makes things worse rather than better: The story does not widen from the name toward the drought that let the fire run but narrows onto the person with the lighter or the careless outdoor cook. In response to the UK's summer of wildfires, new Prime Minister Andy Burnham has largely avoided talking about systemic climate change but has urged shops not to sell disposable grills.  In doing so, he's targeting the spark, but not the conditions that have made disposable grills so destructive this summer.  After Spain's catastrophic 2025 season, the opposition Partido Popular's flagship proposal was a national register of arsonists, while the prime minister proposed a climate emergency plan. And when I wrote here last month about how the French media were framing this summer's fires, the replies filled with cries of arson. The claim spread far enough that Reuters fact-checked posts citing France's own figure that 90% of fires are human-started as proof that climate change isn't real. "Wild" says there was no spark; "arson" says there was nothing but a spark. Both are arguments about ignition, and neither reaches the heat, the drought and the fuel dryness that turn a dropped match into a firestorm. The arson frame buries the climate story so effectively precisely because it is partly true.  The true cause of the devastation arrives last, if at all. Scientists put the weather conditions behind July's fires at twice as likely in France and 20 times more likely in Spain than in a world without human warming. A finding published weeks after the name, and days after the argument about who lit it.  Media coverage doesn't do well with such a lag. A review of 12,000 Canadian news stories found 16.5% of wildfire reporting mentioned climate change, compared with 35% for extreme heat. The spark is reportable in a paragraph. The conditions require specialist knowledge.  Britain had its worst fire year on record in 2025, Europe burned over a million hectares, and what we will have kept of it is a list of locations. Fixing that means naming both causes in the order they matter rather than the order they arrive. We should consider retiring "wildfire" in favor of "landscape fire," stating the spark once it is known and explaining the conditions that allowed it to spread. In 2023, Greece's then-climate crisis minister showed how briefly it can be done, observing of one bad season that most fires were ignited by human hands, through negligence or intent, and that what differed from previous years was an unprecedented heat wave. Spark and conditions, in a single sentence.

State of Emergency declared in Perry and Muskingum counties after flooding leaves one dead, Ohio - 3 Youtube videos - Ohio Governor Mike DeWine declared a state of emergency in Perry and Muskingum counties on August 11, 2026, after severe flooding left one person dead and affected communities including Roseville, Crooksville and New Lexington. Radar and rain gauges indicated 127–203 mm (5–8 inches) of rain in parts of southeastern Ohio, where numerous structures, vehicles, and roads were flooded. Forty Ohio Army National Guard members were deployed to assist local responders. A person died in Roseville village during a medical emergency after flooded roads prevented first responders from reaching the individual on August 11, Governor DeWine confirmed. The village of approximately 1 500 residents was nearly isolated by flooding, with only one road reported to be usable. State officials urged residents who remained in Roseville to leave while an evacuation route was available. A State of Emergency has been declared for Perry and Muskingum counties, with the Ohio National Guard High Water Rescue Unit for Roseville and Crooksville being activated. The deployment included 40 Ohio Army National Guard members assigned to assist response operations in the two counties. Ohio Department of Natural Resources swift-water rescue personnel also conducted rescues in the affected area beginning during the morning of August 11. At 17:16 EDT on August 11 (21:16 UTC on August 11), NWS Charleston said radar and automated rain gauges indicated that 127–203 mm (5–8 inches) of rain had fallen since midnight across central Perry County and northwestern Morgan County. Numerous structures, vehicles and roads were flooded around New Lexington, Somerset, Crooksville, Junction City and nearby areas. At 06:04 EDT on August 12 (10:04 UTC on August 12), flooding of creeks and streams continued across central Perry and northwestern Morgan counties. NWS said no additional rainfall was expected in that specific warning area, with the warning remaining in effect until 10:15 EDT (14:15 UTC). A flood watch remained in effect across southeastern Ohio through the morning of August 14 as saturated soils and further thunderstorms could produce significant runoff and renewed flooding. A separate NWS warning for parts of Athens, Morgan, Perry and Washington counties said 102-152 mm (4-6 inches) of rain had fallen. At 17:50 EDT on August 11 (21:50 UTC on August 11), the automated gauge on Sunday Creek at Glouster stood at 4.94 m (16.2 feet), corresponding to moderate flooding. Ohio Route 13 and several streets were flooded in Glouster, Trimble and Jacksonville. NWS reported 76–127 mm (3–5 inches) of rain in other warned parts of southeastern Ohio. Several roads remained closed in parts of Athens, Morgan, Perry and Washington counties early on August 12. Youtube video Flooding also continued across central Athens County, southwestern Morgan County and west-central Washington County, where numerous roads remained closed. The warning for those areas remained in effect until 18:00 EDT on August 12 (22:00 UTC on August 12). At 03:45 EDT on August 12 (07:45 UTC on August 12), the Muskingum River at Beverly stood at 9.02 m (29.6 feet), above its 8.84 m (29 feet) flood stage. NWS forecast the river to crest near 9.08 m (29.8 feet) during the morning before falling below flood stage late in the afternoon. The flood warning remained in effect through the evening of August 12. At 03:15 EDT on August 12 (07:15 UTC on August 12), the Hocking River at Athens stood at 5.49 m (18 feet). NWS forecast the river to rise above its 6.10 m (20 feet) flood stage during the early afternoon and crest near 6.31 m (20.7 feet) that evening. The river was forecast to fall below flood stage on Thursday morning, with the warning remaining in effect through Thursday afternoon.

Severe storms leave at least two dead, spawn at least six tornadoes, and cause flooding across the Midwest and Ohio Valley - 5 Youtube videos --At least two people died, 16 incarcerated people were hospitalized following a lightning strike and more than 800 000 electricity customers across Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky were without power at 00:00 EDT on August 12 (04:00 UTC on August 12) after severe storms swept the Midwest and Ohio Valley on August 11, 2026. The storms included a preliminarily confirmed derecho associated with three confirmed EF1 tornadoes in Iowa and three preliminarily confirmed tornadoes in the Chicago area. A maximum gust of 160 km/h (99 mph) was measured at Gary, Indiana, while 127-203 mm (5-8 inches) of rain flooded structures, vehicles and roads in parts of southeastern Ohio. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) preliminarily confirmed the mesoscale convective system that moved from eastern Iowa to northern Indiana as a derecho on August 11. Preliminary data indicated that it began around 07:00 CDT in Iowa (12:00 UTC) on August 11 and continued through at least 13:25 EDT in Indiana (17:25 UTC), although SPC said it would later assess whether the continuation toward Cincinnati should be included. NWS Quad Cities confirmed three EF1 tornadoes in Delaware County, Iowa. NWS Chicago also confirmed three tornadoes with damage consistent with EF1 intensity on August 11. While no official ratings have been announced, NWS reported that damage along a path from near Monee through Crete was consistent with up to EF1 intensity, while damage from southern Orland Park toward Flossmoor indicated at least EF1 or possibly higher intensity. Damage from a third tornado in the Minooka area was consistent with EF1 intensity. Two of the Chicago-area tornadoes continued into Lake County, Indiana, with one affecting St. John and the other affecting Munster. A 4-year-old boy was killed when a tree fell onto the bedroom of a home in Geneva Township, Indiana, Jennings County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Cody Low said. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said a person died during a medical emergency in Roseville after flooded roads prevented first responders from reaching the individual. A third person died in a home explosion and fire in Portage, Indiana, after the storms. Police said the cause remained under investigation, so the death was not included in the storm toll. Governor DeWine declared a State of Emergency due to the severe flooding in Perry and Muskingum counties and activated the Ohio National Guard High Water Rescue Unit to assist in Roseville and Crooksville. More than 800 000 utility customers across Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky were without power at 00:00 EDT on August 12 (04:00 UTC on August 12), according to PowerOutage.us. Sixteen incarcerated people were transported to hospitals for treatment after a reported lightning strike at Grafton Correctional Institution in Lorain County on the evening of August 11. One person was airlifted, and no deaths were reported. Ohio prison officials said the incident occurred as incarcerated people were returning from their evening meal. A thunderstorm producing numerous lightning strikes crossed Lorain County during the 17:00 EDT hour on August 11 (21:00 UTC on August 11). A separate round of severe storms struck Columbus around 10:00 EDT on August 11 (14:00 UTC on August 11). Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said a gust of 132 km/h (82 mph) was recorded at John Glenn Columbus International Airport. The storms brought down trees and power lines, damaged homes and vehicles, and flooded roads, with the city’s South Side among the hardest-hit areas. About 100 000 AEP customers were without power on the afternoon of August 11. Dayton recorded 53 mm (2.07 inches) of rain on August 11, breaking the previous daily record of 47 mm (1.86 inches) set in 1915. The confirmed Iowa and Chicago-area tornadoes were associated with the derecho-producing system. The lightning incident, Columbus wind damage, and flooding elsewhere in Ohio occurred during other rounds of thunderstorms and had not all been formally attributed to the derecho.

Severe weather making insurance costs soar as key info is kept under wraps -Families in Ohio and across America are experiencing firsthand that climate change-driven severe weather is a major factor, increasing the cost of claims and driving up premiums. Homeowners are opening their insurance renewal notices and finding premiums they can no longer afford, if they can even get coverage at all.Some insurance companies are pulling out of entire regions.Not only are customers paying more to get coverage, but they are getting less of it. In high-risk areas, deductibles have been rising relative to coverage.Between 2021 and 2024, property insurance premiums rose 23% in Ohio and 24% nationwide. But granular information about these rising insurance costs, for example, the raw dollar amounts of premium increases, where problems are most severe or what types of housing are hardest hit, is difficult to find.  As a result, homeowners lack clear, reliable data to help them decide where to live and how to protect their homes and finances. This missing data also stymies researchers and public officials seeking solutions because assessing financial risks related to homeowners insurance is crucial for addressing them. Ultimately, we need to take action to reduce the air pollution driving extreme, climate-related weather that contributes to increasing damages to our homes in the first place.But in the meantime, insurance regulators can help close the information gap by releasing complete, transparent data to help deal with the ensuing risks. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which is made up of insurance regulators from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories, serves as the industry's standard-setting body. After years of urging from consumer, climate and housing groups, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners has taken an important, long-overdue first step toward providing this critical information.This year, it started collecting from insurance companies more comprehensive ZIP code-level data, such as policy type, claims and losses sorted by peril, and the number of policies with mitigation discounts.The regulators have announced a plan to release a public report explaining these variables early next year.The National Association of Insurance Commissioners is convening in Columbus this week for its summer national meeting. Insurance commissioners plan to discuss the potential scope of the public report.To ensure the report provides the most useful information for policymakers and consumer advocates so they can better understand and respond to the escalating homeowners insurance crisis, we recommend that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners include the following:

• First and foremost, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners should provide full public access to all collected data in detail so that researchers and consumer groups can independently verify the report's findings and methodologies and conduct further analysis.
• The report also should include average premiums, losses, deductibles, nonrenewal notices and mitigation discounts by year, ZIP code and policy type (home, renter, condominium or mobile home). Such information will help provide a fuller picture of the impacts of severe weather caused by climate change and evaluate discounts offered for weatherproofing measures. It will also help identify timely, targeted action, such as developing plans and strategies to mitigate the risks of extreme weather well in advance.
• Finally, the report should include analysis and actionable recommendations that are informed by feedback from consumers and independent experts.

Insurance regulators have taken an important first step to help U.S. homeowners and renters dealing with unprecedented changes and challenges in both our climate and our economic climate.  Truly meeting the moment will require releasing complete and useful data to the public as soon as possible so that consumers and decision-makers alike can make informed decisions in the face of increasing risks and costs.

While Great Lakes ice cover is slipping, a 'temporary respite' may be on the way -There's good news and bad news for folks who love a good coat of ice on the Great Lakes for the activities and businesses it supports. The good news is that, after decades of declining annual average ice cover, there's reason to believe that trend could slow or even temporarily reverse. That's according to new research from the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research, or CIGLR, at the University of Michigan. "We may anticipate a pause in ice cover decline, or even a moderate (short-lived) increase in average ice cover," the team wrote in its study published in Communications Earth & Environment. "This contradicts most existing literature on this subject." The research suggests that the Great Lakes' ice cover is synced to strong but slow-churning natural global cycles that drive regional weather patterns. Currently, we're in a trough, but we could be heading toward a crest that would mean more ice cover, even against a backdrop of global warming. That is not to say the lakes are out of hot water with respect to climate change. "It is important that we do not interpret these changes as climate recovery, but rather a temporary respite from the background warming that has continued over the last 125 years," the authors wrote. The researchers also found further concerning news: Especially with warmer temperatures, year-to-year swings in ice cover can be massive. This makes forecasting ice cover for future winters more challenging. That, in turn, makes it more difficult for Great Lakes residents, businesses and the shipping industry to prepare for and adapt to what may be in store. "If you look at the last 50 years, the highest ice year and the lowest ice year we have on record are back to back," said David Cannon, senior author of the new study and an assistant research scientist with CIGLR. "So as we continue seeing these changes in the lakes, maintaining our observations and long-term records is really important." Building a better long-term record of ice cover was the basis for this new study, which began as part of the Great Lakes Summer Fellows Program. . "I have always loved Lake Superior growing up in Minnesota," Elleanna Viere said. "By the time I was off to undergrad, I knew that I wanted to go to Northland College on the south shore of Lake Superior, where I further fell in love with snow and the Great Lakes. When I was looking for summer internships, I stumbled upon CIGLR and got very excited to have the opportunity to expand my knowledge and skills in the region." During her time at Northland, Viere noticed the ice bridge to nearby islands in Lake Superior forming later and later each season. In 2024, poor ice conditions forced Ashland's "Book Across the Bay" 10K (6.2-mile) ski and snowshoe crossing of the frozen Chequamegon Bay to reroute closer to shore to boost safety. "With changes in ice cover and major events in the region, many people said the ice has become more unpredictable in recent years," Viere said. Her project with CIGLR aimed to assess one metric of those changes—the average annual ice cover of each lake—not just in recent years, but by looking much further into their history for new insights. Researchers have access to satellite data to determine Great Lakes ice cover going back to the 1970s. Before that, though, they have to rely on estimates and simulations with known limitations. Viere, Cannon and their colleagues coupled this ice cover data with air temperature records to develop a model that linked the two observables. With air temperature data stretching back more than a century, they then used the model to look backward and "hindcast" the lakes' average annual ice cover to 1898. The team also dug up newspaper articles and captains' logs from the pre-satellite era to help validate their model's outputs. The model showed that, for about the first 40 years of the 20th century, average annual ice cover experienced a downward trend, similar to what the lakes have experienced since the late 1970s. But for the better part of four decades between those two declines, ice cover rose. That means, if history repeats itself, we could see increasing average annual ice cover within the next decade or so. "I think this is a reminder that our memories are pretty short," Cannon said. "Our parents and grandparents can tell us that there used to be more ice on the lakes, and there definitely was. But we've kind of lost what happened before that, and that timescale is important." Moving forward, Cannon said it would be helpful to build models to hindcast other ice attributes on the Great Lakes, such as thickness and spatial patterns, over time. Both he and Viere also stressed the importance of measuring and preserving this data now to help current and future generations of researchers better forecast Great Lakes ice. "The Great Lakes are a precious resource and ecosystem to the region," said Viere, who has started a graduate program at Northern Michigan University. "Knowing how factors such as annual average ice cover have been fluctuating can eventually help us understand how future years can be influenced and how to adapt to these changes."

Potential Tropical Cyclone One-C moving toward Hawaii, heavy rain, strong winds and dangerous surf forecast - Potential Tropical Cyclone One-C was moving toward the Hawaiian Islands on August 13, 2026 with 1-minute sustained winds of 65 km/h (40 mph). The system is forecast to continue strengthening during its approach. Heavy rainfall, strong winds and dangerous surf were forecast for parts of Hawaii starting late August 14. Meanwhile Tropical Storm Hernan that formed far west of Baja California, was forecast to weaken. Satellite image of PTC one c and Tropical Storm Hernan at 1250 UTC on August 13, 2026 At 23:00 HST on August 12 (09:00 UTC on August 13), Potential Tropical Cyclone One-C was located approximately 1 250 km (775 miles) east-southeast of Hilo, Hawaii. 1-minute sustained winds were 65 km/h (40 mph), and the system was moving west at 17 km/h (10 mph), according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) and Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC). NHC forecast the disturbance to become a tropical storm and strengthen while moving west-northwestward toward the Hawaiian Islands. Heavy rainfall is forecast to begin affecting the Big Island on Friday before spreading westward across the island chain during the weekend. The rainfall may produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially over steep terrain. High winds and dangerous surf are also among the primary hazards for Hawaii. The exact location and magnitude of wind impacts remained dependent on the developing circulation, track and intensity as the system approached the islands.

Heavy rain soaks eastern Japan, prompting highest-level warning - Hundreds of people were left stranded in Japan's Chiba station due to suspended train services as torrential rain pummelled the region.Torrential rain pummeled eastern Japan on Thursday, triggering landslides and power outages and prompting the weather authority to issue its highest-level heavy rain warning for the region for the first time.Footage from public broadcaster NHK showed cars submerged in floodwaters in a residential area in the city of Kashiwa, Chiba region."This is shaping up to be an unprecedented level of heavy rain," a Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) official told a news conference.In areas hit by the localized rainfall, "lives may be in imminent danger. Please secure your safety immediately," the official said.More than 100,000 households, mostly in Chiba but also in the Ibaraki and Saitama regions, were urged to evacuate, according to the disaster management agency.In the hour leading up to 9 p.m. (1200 GMT), approximately 100 millimeters (3.9 inches) of rain fell near Sakura city, Chiba, NHK reported, citing JMA.The JMA issued its highest-level heavy rain warning for the Chiba region for the first time, the JMA official told reporters.The agency's top-level warning—issued for more than a dozen cities in Chiba—typically indicates a high likelihood of an imminent disaster because of heavy rain.NHK said the extreme weather knocked out power for more than 10,000 households in Chiba and that authorities had been alerted to landslides, mudslides and flooded houses in several cities in the region.

Rapid warming may tip Atlantic circulation at 2°C, while slower warming may avert collapse - For several years, climate scientists have shown that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) could come to a halt if the world warms too much. New research from Utrecht University shows that this picture is incomplete: The pace of warming also determines whether the AMOC stays stable. The study was published in the journal Nature Climate Change. AMOC is the system of ocean currents that transports warm water from the tropics northward. It plays a major role in redistributing heat across the planet and helps keep the climate in Western Europe relatively mild. Scientists have long suspected that this "heat engine" of the Atlantic Ocean could reach a tipping point. This means that the system would shift from its present-day strong state to a much weaker state within decades. Such a tipping event could be triggered by external influences, such as an increasing amount of meltwater from the polar regions or global warming itself. Until now, the AMOC was thought to tip and collapse around +4°C of warming. Researchers at the Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht now show that there's more to the story. "Our results show there is not necessarily a fixed temperature beyond which the AMOC inevitably collapses," says lead author René van Westen. "The stability of the circulation depends on how fast the climate is changing." AMOC strength for a slow (+0.5 ppm yr⁻¹, black) and fast (+2.5 ppm yr⁻¹, blue) increase in atmospheric CO2. The yellow star marks the onset of the AMOC collapse under fast warming, at around +2°C in this model. Credit: Courtesy of the researchers To investigate how the rate of climate change affects the strength of the AMOC, van Westen and his colleagues ran a climate model twice. In their simulations, they used a gradually increasing amount of atmospheric CO2, but at different speeds. In one simulation, CO2 concentrations rose slowly (0.5 ppm per year); in the other, much faster (2.5 ppm per year), comparable to today's rate. Under slow warming, the AMOC remained stable well beyond +4°C, and it did not collapse even at +5°C of warming. Under fast warming, the AMOC collapsed at around +2°C. "We deliberately looked at a scenario that is much slower than what we're experiencing today," explains co-author Reyk Börner. "That allowed us to isolate the effect of the warming rate alone, independent of how warm it eventually gets." The explanation lies in how the ocean is able to adjust to change. "Under slow warming, the entire ocean, from the surface down to its deepest layers, has time to gradually reorganize and adapt to the changing conditions," says co-author Henk Dijkstra, professor of dynamical oceanography. "Under faster warming, the ocean simply can't keep up." According to the researchers, the critical warming rate lies around 0.3°C per decade, a pace the world is already approaching. Van Westen compares it to driving a car: "If you're driving toward a wall, it makes sense to steer around it. To do that, you need to brake, otherwise you fly off the road. When it comes to global warming, the world is still pressing extra hard on the accelerator right now."

Suicide Basin GLOF sends Mendenhall River into flood stage as governor declares disaster, Alaska - 2 Youtube videos - Alaska issued a disaster declaration as an ongoing glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) from Suicide Basin raised Mendenhall River into minor flood stage near Juneau. NWS expects the waterway to reach major flood stage on August 13, 2026, with a forecast crest of 4.91–5.06 m (16.1–16.6 feet). Flooding from Suicide Basin pushed Mendenhall River into minor flood stage near Juneau, Alaska, at 23:00 AKDT on August 12 (07:00 UTC on August 13), when the National Weather Service (NWS) reported 2.77 m (9.1 feet) and a rise rate of about 0.21 m/h (0.7 feet/h). NWS forecasts a 4.91–5.06 m (16.1–16.6 feet) crest in major flood stage between 10:00 and 14:00 AKDT on August 13 (18:00–22:00 UTC). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recorded a provisional stage of 2.81 m (9.22 feet) at its Mendenhall River gauge near Auke Bay at 23:15 AKDT on August 12 (07:15 UTC on August 13), with discharge at about 328 m3/s (11 600 ft3/s). USGS labels the real-time measurements provisional and subject to revision. NWS’s 23:00 AKDT update placed the water level inside Suicide Basin at about 384 m (1 261 feet) and falling as the release continued. The NWS Flood Warning for Mendenhall Lake and River remains in effect until 04:30 AKDT on August 14, (12:30 UTC). NWS forecasts major flood stage around 09:00 AKDT on August 13, (17:00 UTC), followed by a crest between 10:00 and 14:00 AKDT (18:00–22:00 UTC). The forecast depends on the estimated volume and release rate from Suicide Basin and on whether the basin drains partially or fully. The declaration follows formal requests for assistance submitted by the City andBorough of Juneau (CBJ) and the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. The declaration activates the State Public Assistance disaster recovery program and allows temporary waiver of administrative requirements that could obstruct immediate flood-prevention or mitigation work. The State Emergency Operations Center elevated its operational status and said three emergency-management personnel would deploy to Juneau during the flood window.

Arctic cyclone clusters batter sea ice, leaving coasts more exposed to storms - In the Arctic, weather plays a key role in determining how much ice covers the ocean. Arctic cyclones are one weather phenomenon with a significant influence, causing unusually warm and stormy conditions that typically lead to significant ice loss. These conditions last particularly long when several cyclones rapidly follow one another. An international research team led by the Alfred Wegener Institute has now, for the first time, systematically investigated the effects of these accumulating cyclones using weather data from recent decades. In the journal Nature Communications, they described this "cyclone clustering" and its specific consequences for the future of sea ice and, by extension, the Arctic coastline. "Cyclone clustering" occurs when several low-pressure systems rapidly pass through a particular area one after another, causing storms that are more severe and last longer than "normal" storms. "In Europe, such events have frequently led to significant damage in the past due to high winds, heavy rainfall or high tide levels along the coast," To find out whether cyclone clustering also occurs in the Arctic and how these intense weather events affect Arctic sea ice, an international research team led by AWI systematically analyzed and compared satellite and weather data from 1979 to 2024. "We adapted an algorithm for tracking weather systems so that it could detect rapidly successive cyclones in the Arctic," Aue explains. "We were then able to compare the state of the sea ice in satellite images before and after a cluster had passed through." The results show that where cyclones coincide with Arctic sea ice, they break up the ice cover and cause ice floes to drift and collide. During the cold Arctic winter, the gaps that emerge as a result normally refreeze within a few days. However, when a cluster of cyclones hits the sea ice, persistent stormy conditions delay and hinder the closing of the gaps. During the warmer months, Arctic cyclone clusters are less intense, but they can still have a significant local impact on sea ice: They drive ice floes northward and push them into the existing ice. This reduces the area over which the sea ice is spread. The storms also carry warm air, which thaws the ice from above. Furthermore, they can transport warmer seawater from deeper layers to the surface, causing the upper water masses to warm. Over the last two decades, cyclones have thus contributed to ice loss, particularly toward the end of the melting season. The number of storms that accumulate in a cyclone cluster varies depending on the region and season but averages 2.5 cyclones. Similarly, their impact depends on when and where they occur. There are regions where the effect on sea ice is amplified by up to 1.5 times and regions where the effect is amplified by up to 7 times. "On average across the entire Arctic, cyclone clusters reduce Arctic sea ice cover by about twice as much as conventional, isolated low-pressure systems. This condition also lasts about 2.5 times longer," Aue says. Another worrying finding of the study is that the loss of Arctic sea ice caused by cyclone clusters has increased significantly over recent decades. One reason is that the ice is losing its resilience to storms caused by cyclones as it becomes thinner and more mobile due to ongoing global warming. In summer, this could be further amplified by the increasingly warm Arctic Ocean. "We could be entering a self-enforcing feedback loop: The weaker the sea ice becomes, the more cyclone clusters can reduce its extent, which in turn weakens the sea ice," Aue says. "Currently, we are using climate projections to investigate whether the intensification of the effects of cyclone clusters that we have seen in recent decades could continue in the future." The study highlights how strongly weather events influence sea ice and how important it is to understand the causes and effects of cyclone clusters in the Arctic. This is crucial because coastal communities in the Arctic are increasingly exposed to dangerous weather events due to increasing cyclone activity. Sea ice acts as a buffer against waves. Its retreat, combined with the increasing thawing of permafrost, is making coasts more vulnerable to storms.

NOAA to end support for Arctic climate change report - The Trump administration will end support for a major annual scientific report that documents how climate change is affecting the Arctic, according to two people familiar with the issue. The move to pull government resources from NOAA’s Arctic Report Card deals a significant blow to efforts to track the health of the Arctic, the region of the planet that has been most heavily affected by rising temperatures from rising greenhouse gases. The report’s authors were informed of the action during a Monday afternoon meeting, said the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss private details. The move jeopardizes public dissemination of the report that NOAA has published since 2006. It has previously been available on the agency’s website, requires NOAA staff for its production and pools data from NOAA scientists for many of its findings. Ending the agency support is the latest in a series of steps President Donald Trump has taken to squelch federal climate research. His administration has also sought to break up the National Center for Atmospheric Research and gutted the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which produces a sweeping federal assessment of climate science. A NOAA spokesperson confirmed the agency would no longer facilitate the report, but that the agency would continue to collect and publish data historically used in it. “The Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing Arctic Research Program will continue to support observations, models and products that contribute to national security, weather prediction, safety of navigation, and the economic vitality of coastal communities,” the spokesperson said in a statement. NOAA’s backing is essential for the report, which relies on 100 scientists from across the world to compile data and observations across the Arctic, said Zack Labe, a climate scientist at research organization Climate Central and an author of the report card’s sea surface temperature chapter. “[I]t has been the key reference for understanding our changing Arctic for the last two decades,” he wrote in a text message. “Without its support, we lose the crucial insights on this rapidly warming part of the world, along with documenting all of the local and far-reaching impacts it has on society and the environment.” The Arctic Report Card is typically one of the major news events at the annual conference for the American Geophysical Union, an organization of Earth and space scientists. Previous reports have documented some daunting discoveries about the effect climate change has had on the Arctic, including how perturbations in the northern latitudes ripple across the planet. Those include issues ranging from the effect of melting ice on global sea-level rise to recent findings that the Arctic for the first time became a global contributor to climate change due to rapidly thawing, carbon-rich permafrost. “Devastating news for Arctic environmental monitoring,” Rick Thoman, one of the report’s lead editors and a climate specialist at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks’ Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness and International Arctic Research Center, posted on Bluesky. While the Trump administration allowed the Arctic Report Card to proceed last year, it did not issue notice of its release. It is unclear how nonfederal contributors to the report will continue work on the upcoming edition, which has already begun, or where it will be posted.

National Academies backtracks on disputed climate science chapter, will review process  -  One of the nation’s most respected scientific institutions said Friday it will conduct a review of a disputed climate education chapter in a judicial manual, weeks after President Donald Trump ordered his administration to investigate the matter. In a post, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said it will review the process involved in producing the climate science chapter for the fourth edition of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence. That review should conclude by the fall, a spokesperson for the academies said. The Federal Judicial Center, which published the manual, removed the climate science section in January following complaints from Republican attorneys general who accused the authors of siding with efforts to hold oil and gas companies financially responsible for climate change. The academies at the time declined to also remove the chapter from its website but said Friday the chapter will not appear on its website during the review. Trump had amplified complaints about the chapter last month, writing in a Truth Social post that he was ordering federal officials with authority over contracts and grants to look at funding for the National Academies. The National Academies noted that the chapter has “received considerable scrutiny” and has found that “questions about the processes used to develop the chapter warrant an independent review.”  It did not say who will conduct the review but added that the assessment “is about the process used to produce the chapter and not about the validity of climate science.” The National Academies said the focus of the review will be the group’s “own procedures and whether they were adequate to ensure the highest standard of objectivity that this institution requires and our nation deserves.” It had said last month after Trump’s order that the academies “remain committed to our mission to provide independent, objective scientific advice. Our activities are conducted to ensure scientific rigor, transparency and independence. Those enduring values remain our commitment.” The Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence was issued in December and included new guidelines on topics such as eyewitness identification, computer science, artificial intelligence and climate science. After the education arm of the federal judiciary agreed in January to remove the climate science section, another group of Republican attorneys general escalated the assault in March, asking the Trump administration to revoke federal grants received by both groups, saying they had “violated their public commitments” by engaging in a “biased process.” House Republicans sent a similar letter to the administration in May, saying the climate chapter violated “Gold Standard Science” by not including a “fully independent, meaningful peer review from scientists with differing views on climate science.” They asked the White House’s budget director, Russ Vought, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to “investigate” whether the academies should be “suspended or debarred from all federal funding.”  Efforts to discredit the climate science chapter have emerged as part of a broader campaign by the Trump administration and Republicans across the country to scuttle the nearly two dozen climate lawsuits that could put the fossil fuel industry on the hook for potentially billions of dollars.  The Supreme Court will hear a case challenging those lawsuits in October and conservative groups have called for a probe of whether Justice Elena Kagan — a member of the high court’s liberal wing — violated ethics rules by writing the forward to the judicial reference manual. Kagan testified last month that she hadn’t read the chapter in question. Republicans have asserted that the authors of the manual’s climate chapter, Jessica Wentz and Radley Horton, who are affiliated with climate studies programs at Columbia University, had “applauded litigation as a tool to advance their preferred political objectives.” Wentz and Horton have refuted that characterization. Democratic attorneys general and members of Congress have called on the Federal Judicial Center to restore the climate chapter, saying “partisan actors should have no input into the substantive determination of what constitutes accurate and reliable information.” Democrats say the peer-reviewed chapter drew from a variety of expert climate sources and provided context to help courts assess the “credibility, weight, and admissibility of those different sources.” Justice Samuel Alito, who was appointed by a President George W. Bush and holds stock in oil companies, has also faced calls to step back from the Suncor climate case. A court spokesperson has said the justice is not required to recuse himself because he does not have financial interests in the companies directly named in the case. Alito has declined to participate in earlier versions of the climate case that have come before the Supreme Court.

River shipping emits nearly one-quarter of global shipping CO₂, analysis finds - River and canal ships generate roughly a quarter of the world's shipping carbon dioxide emissions, according to new research published in Nature Climate Change. And that's despite the fact that these bodies of water make up less than 1% of Earth's total navigable waterways. Cars, planes and ocean-going vessels contribute considerably to global transport pollution. But until now, there was no detailed global estimate of CO2 from vessels operating on rivers and canals. To fill this knowledge gap, researchers in China took a deep dive into the data. They analyzed approximately 20 billion ship-tracking records collected from 2019 to 2022. From this massive data set, they identified 12,289 navigable rivers and canals that showed persistent vessel activity. However, the raw tracking information was incomplete because tracking signals can drop out in some parts of river networks. What's more, standard tracking tools use straight lines to connect location points. This means that on winding rivers, they mistakenly show ships traveling across dry land. To overcome this obstacle, the team designed a route reconstruction model that maps vessel movements accurately around bends. Then, to calculate fuel use and total exhaust emissions, the researchers combined these vessel movements with ship specifications. They found that in 2022, inland vessels produced roughly 164 million metric tons (149 million tons) of carbon dioxide, which accounted for 24.7% of total shipping emissions for that year. Between 2019 and 2022, emissions nearly doubled, driven primarily by increased vessel activity and economic demand, particularly in Asia. The majority of these emissions, around 69%, came from just 20 major rivers, including the Yangtze River, the Rhine, the Mississippi and the Danube. Cargo ships were the biggest source of pollution, accounting for roughly two-thirds of inland vessel CO2 emissions. Rivers also naturally release carbon from organic matter breaking down and soil runoff. In this research, the study authors discovered that shipping emissions were about 80% as large as estimated natural CO2 release from the same navigable rivers. The study also showed that emissions fluctuate depending on the time of year and local water and climate conditions. There are several reasons for this, as the scientists explain in their paper: "These findings indicate that inland vessel exhaust emissions are governed by coupled socioeconomic demand and hydroclimatic capacity." Because human activity and natural processes overlap so heavily in these waterways, the research team highlighted how navigable rivers can be unusual carbon environments. "Navigable rivers therefore represent hybrid carbon environments, where river–atmosphere exchange and anthropogenic transport emissions coexist at comparable magnitudes."

Perceived naturalness emerges as key driver of public support for climate technology - From nuclear energy to lab-grown meat, the list of effective but unpopular climate solutions is long. A new University of Colorado Boulder study sheds light on why people reject or accept some proposed sustainability technologies: If it doesn't seem natural, they won't go for it. And that holds across political ideologies. "We found that naturalness predicts support over and above a lot of other things you might think matter, like risk and benefit perceptions or how much people understand the technology," said first author Sarah Gonzalez-Coffin, who earned her doctorate in social psychology from CU Boulder in May. The study also found that a simple shift in framing, comparing technologies to things in nature, can prompt people to trust and accept even engineered solutions, such as nuclear energy, more. The findings are published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. "We sometimes assume that if we can just develop solutions to address climate change, the public will say, 'OK. Let's use them.'" said senior author and psychology professor Leaf Van Boven. "Our study shows that often it is not the technology itself, but the way we communicate about it that shapes public response." Research in the health and wellness space has long shown that merely framing something as natural prompts consumers to make positive assumptions. When fruits are adorned with an "organic" label, people say they taste better, although studies show no major flavor differences. People view vaccines as safer if they are described as made from ingredients "found in nature." Gonzalez-Coffin's previous research has shown that despite its potential environmental benefits, beef grown in a bioreactor is generally considered too unnatural to support. While there is no strict legal definition, people tend to view things as natural if they have minimal human intervention, are made from things in the natural environment and are culturally familiar, the authors found. "We ask ourselves all the time: Is this natural? And we have a deep aversion to things that are artificial," said Van Boven, noting that this has been shown to hold true across genders and among urban and rural populations. "It's part of being human." To see if it also applies to climate solutions, the researchers surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults about 10 methods for reducing or removing carbon from the atmosphere. They ranged from afforestation (tree planting) to direct-air carbon capture (using chemical filters to draw carbon out of the air and pump it into the ground) to nuclear energy, wind and solar power. Participants were asked if they would support using tax dollars to deploy the technology on a broad scale. Above and beyond perceived risks, benefits, fears and familiarity, how "natural" people thought the technology was predicted whether they'd support it. This held true across a diverse sample of the U.S. public and, surprisingly, across political parties. "That is a rare point of convergence, especially in the realm of climate change, where support for solutions can be incredibly polarized," said Gonzalez-Coffin, now a postdoctoral research associate at University of Arizona's Lovejoy Center for Bridging Biodiversity, Conservation Science & Policy. In a second study, the authors manipulated their descriptions to frame technologies in a natural light. For instance, direct-air carbon capture was described as a technology "that mimics natural processes to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, similar to the way that plants pull carbon from the atmosphere through their leaves." This simple wording change led to higher levels of support across the board.

Major M7.4 earthquake hits Chocó, Colombia, leaving over 160 dead - A major earthquake registered by the USGS as M7.4 hit Chocó, Colombia, at 12:34 UTC on August 10, 2026. The agency is reporting a depth of 107 km (66 miles). EMSC is reporting M7.2 at a depth of 95 km (59 miles). According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), there is no tsunami threat because the earthquake occurred too deep inside the Earth. Latest unofficial reports mention over 160 fatalities. The epicenter was located 5.1 km (3.2 miles) E of San José del Palmar (population 2 392), 24.5 km (15.2 miles) WNW of Ansermanuevo (population 12 332), 31 km (19 miles) SW of Santuario (population 11 787), 34 km (21 miles) W of La Virginia (population 25 900), and 55 km (34 miles) W of Pereira (population 467 269), Colombia. 1.9 million people are estimated to have felt very strong shaking, 14 million strong, 12.9 million moderate, and 5.6 million light. Based on all available data, there is no tsunami threat from this earthquake because it is located too deep inside the Earth, NWS PTWC said at 12:55 UTC. No action is required. The USGS issued an Orange alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. Significant casualties and damage are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread. Past orange alerts have required a regional or national level response. Estimated economic losses are less than 1% of GDP of Colombia. Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are vulnerable to earthquake shaking, though resistant structures exist. The predominant vulnerable building types are mud wall with wood and unknown/miscellaneous types construction. Recent earthquakes in this area have caused secondary hazards such as landslides and liquefaction that might have contributed to losses. Landslides triggered by this earthquake are estimated to have affected a significant area, with a significant population exposed. Liquefaction is estimated to have affected an extensive area, with an extensive population exposed.Reuters reported at least 164 deaths in its 06:01 UTC update as search-and-rescue operations continued through the night. The report said at least 85 people were killed in Cali, 66 in Pereira and 13 in Chocó, the department closest to the earthquake’s epicenter. Emergency teams, police, soldiers and volunteers continued searching collapsed buildings and flattened homes for survivors. In Cali, the official Unified Command Post reported approximately 5 000 homes damaged or collapsed, 700 injured, 188 people missing, three hospitals collapsed, 18 other hospitals affected and 39 educational facilities damaged. Authorities said 228 rescuers and search dogs had been deployed to the city, supported by 105 military engineers. Reuters reported that the upper floors of one Cali hospital partially collapsed, trapping some patients and forcing around 600 others to receive medical care in the street. Rescue workers continued searching unstable and collapsed structures across the city. President Abelardo De La Espriella declared a national state of emergency, saying the government’s first priority was rescuing people trapped under rubble. Authorities also imposed curfews in Cali and Pereira, while more than 1 000 security personnel were being deployed to Cali following reports of looting.

Colombia quake death toll tops 250 as rescuers race to find survivors - (Reuters) - Rescue crews on Tuesday dug through mountains of rubble in western Colombia, shouting for ​quiet so they could listen for survivors still trapped under the buildings that collapsed in a powerful earthquake estimated to have killed at least 250 people. The 7.4-magnitude quake, the most devastating to ‌strike Colombia this century, tore through its coffee-growing heartland early on Monday, leaving apartment blocks, homes, schools and health centers cracked, leaning or flattened. Separate reports from affected cities put the death toll at 254 on Tuesday morning, with 101 people killed in Pereira, deep in coffee country, and 95 in Cali, the country's third-biggest city. Many Indigenous communities in the forested Pacific-facing region of Choco close to the quake epicenter are still without power or basic services, complicating rescue efforts. The earthquake struck just days after the inauguration of new President ​Abelardo De La Espriella, who traveled to the affected regions and promised economic support to people who lost their homes. The government, which announced immediate austerity measures as it came into power, is currently preparing to ​revise a more than $180 billion budget prepared by their leftist predecessors. The National Coffee Federation was working on the ground with families to assess damage to farms and rural ⁠infrastructure, its chief German Bahamon said on social media. Meanwhile, rescuers worked through Monday night and Tuesday with cranes, excavators and their bare hands, creating human chains and passing buckets filled with debris as they searched for people ​still trapped. Rosa Gonzalez described how she escaped the guest house she ran in Pereira with her husband and 10-month-old baby. "The structure started creaking and just as we ran outside the building collapsed," she said, speaking to Reuters ​as she stroked her cat, who was rescued during the night. Though eight made it out alive, an elderly man was trapped on a terrace and she feared he may be among the people killed. Social media influencer Jose Gallego had just arrived at Pereira airport when the earthquake struck. He was recording a live video, capturing footage of violent shaking as he crouched under a table and parts of the ceiling fell. "There were people injured, bleeding, screaming and trying to reach their families," he said. Unable ​to sleep, Gallego said he was staying in open spaces in case of aftershocks. Over 100 aftershocks had been recorded as of Tuesday afternoon. "I crossed the city on foot; it took two hours and the scenes were devastating," he told ​Reuters. "It was like a nightmare come to life." Thousands of people were left homeless as the earthquake brought down apartment complexes and left deep cracks in homes, leaving families to await safety assessments outside. Alberto Machado, 34, told Reuters the quake struck after ‌he dropped off ⁠his son at school. It destroyed their Cali home, leaving his wife, mother-in-law and two young children to spend the night at a neighbor's house, unsure of their next steps. He spoke outside a sports center that prepared to host 60 people overnight, including 30 elderly people from a damaged nursing home. Dog and cat shelters also put out calls for food, medicine and helping hands. In Cali, residents cooked on the streets and salvaged what they could from the wreckage. Rescue workers, civilian volunteers and local officials gathered outside the destroyed Torres del Limonar apartment complex, once a pair of multi-story towers in a genteel, tree-lined neighborhood. Crowds cheered as rescuers pulled a woman alive from ​the rubble and she was taken away on a ​stretcher. Others were less fortunate. Cali's public health secretary ⁠German Escobar said the city's morgue was now full and authorities were bringing more bodies off the streets. Cali mayor Alejandro Eder, one of several to impose militarized overnight curfews to prevent looting, was shouted out of a hard-hit neighborhood, footage on social media showed. In Choco, towns close to the epicenter told local outlets they had yet to ​receive government help. Andres Caicedo, a community leader in Sipi, a small woodland community an 11-hour road and river journey from Choco's capital, told Caracol TV residents were ​struggling in a community already ⁠ravaged by attacks from armed groups. "We're going up trees for scraps of internet connection," Caicedo said. "We have children and older people who still haven't gotten over the shock ... We don't have a health center or medical supplies, we've done what we can with our own hands." On Tuesday afternoon, three airports remained closed and many areas - especially Choco - still lacked access to gas, water, electricity and some major highways remained closed off. Though De La Espriella offered a national death toll around midday ⁠on Monday and ​government entities said they had been ordered not to share their own, the national government has not given another, drawing criticisms from ​commentators and creating confusion about the number of dead. With communications still patchy in some of the worst-hit areas, officials said the full extent of the damage and the final death toll could take days to establish.

At least 20 killed as 7.7-magnitude earthquake strikes Indonesia - Aaj English TV -- At least 20 people died after an earthquake of magnitude 7.7 and dozens of aftershocks struck off ‌eastern Indonesia on Saturday, a rescue agency said. Tsunami waves of less than 1 metre were recorded in several areas of the Southeast Asian nation after the early morning tremor. The tsunami warning was lifted about three hours after the quake. Rescuers around the port town of Maumere found 20 dead, six ​injured and two trapped under the rubble, said Fathur Rahman, head of the city’s rescue agency. Maumere is the main ​town in Sikka Regency on Flores Island in the east of Indonesia’s vast archipelago. Teams have yet to ⁠reach Nagekeo, the region closest to the epicentre, and communication signals there had been affected, Fathur told Reuters. Attempts to reach ​Nagekeo by car were blocked by landslides, while another team was attempting to go by ferry, he said. About 2,000 residents in Nagekeo evacuated, ​and damage was reported to a number of houses, warehouses and government facilities, the national disaster mitigation agency BNPB said. Authorities also reported traffic congestion and power outages affecting parts of the regency, it said. The governor of East Nusa ​Tenggara Province, Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, told a press conference that five people died ⁠from collapsing rubble as they slept. Parts of a building collapsed into dust and rubble as people screamed and ran in the street, ​a video on Facebook, verified by Reuters as being at a port in Maumere, showed. It is the main town in Sikka Regency on Flores Island in the east of Indonesia’s vast archipelago. “The quake was massive, the shock was so strong, we ​were resting at home with family,” said Nona, a 51-year-old resident of Talibura, a village in East Nusa ​Tenggara. “There were 13 of us inside the house, and we all ran to save ourselves.” Strong shaking was felt across East Nusa ‌Tenggara, ⁠West Nusa Tenggara and parts of South Sulawesi, and residents in several areas reported shaking lasting about one minute, BNPB said in a statement. “Most of the people felt the shock and scattered out of their homes,” it said. A hospital in the district of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara Province was moving patients outside, Kompas TV footage ​showed, and Kompas.com reported at ​least one landslide. Indonesian geophysics ⁠agency BMKG recorded the first quake at 4.58am at a depth of 15km, followed by several aftershocks. About 2,000 residents in Nagekeo evacuated, and ​damage was reported to a number of houses, warehouses and government facilities, BNPB said. ​ Authorities also ⁠reported traffic congestion and power outages affecting parts of the regency, it said. Australia’s tsunami warning centre said the undersea earthquake would have “no tsunami threat to the Australian mainland, islands or territories”. Indonesia straddles the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a highly seismically ⁠active ​zone, where different plates on the earth’s crust meet, creating a ​large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.

Appeals court rejects youth-led challenge of Trump energy orders - -A federal appeals court has turned away a group of young climate activists who had challenged President Donald Trump’s orders to boost oil, gas and coal production.A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that rejected the case in June said Monday it had voted unanimously to deny a request for a rehearing before a full panel of active judges. Every judge on the court was advised of the request, and none of them opted for the full court to rehear the case, the panel noted.The appeals panel ruled in June that the 22 young challengers lacked the standing to sue over three executive orders Trump signed in 2025. The youth in Lighthiser v. Trump contend they will be harmed by federal agency action over the next several years. But the appeals court judges in June said the link between the executive orders and the alleged injuries was “too speculative” for a lawsuit.

Climate case over killer Puerto Rico storm was filed too late, oil companies argue - E&E - Oil and gas companies told an appeals court Tuesday that dozens of Puerto Rican towns missed their opportunity to sue the fossil fuel industry for contributing to a 2017 hurricane that killed thousands of people, marking a new bid to quash a climate case based on federal law used against the Mafia. The industry assertion comes as 37 Bayamón municipalities appeal a 2025 federal court ruling that found the local governments failed to meet the legal deadline for filing a lawsuit that argued oil majors misled the public about the dangers of burning fossil fuels.The claims in the lawsuit “all accrued” when Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in September 2017, “at which point they knew or should have known of their injuries and who allegedly caused them,” attorneys for Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP and others told the 1st U.S. Court of Appeals. “Everything plaintiffs needed to file their complaint was already in the public record years before they filed suit.”Lawyers for the towns did not respond to a request for comment.

Insurers attacked for siding with fossil fuel industry in Supreme Court case - They hoped to make the U.S. property-insurance industry an ally, but now, climate advocates are accusing insurers of selling out to oil and gas producers in a pivotal Supreme Court case over climate liability. A court brief by insurance groups, which supports the fossil fuel industry’s effort to avoid liability for extreme weather damage, reveals how insurers are ignoring the need to protect their policyholders against climate change, advocates say. The brief “on behalf of Big Oil is the clearest public confirmation yet of where their loyalties lie,” the Center for Climate Integrity, which supports lawsuits against large energy companies, said in a recent statement. Dave Jones, a climate expert and former California insurance commissioner, said in his own recent Supreme Court briefthat insurers have placed the “well-being of the fossil fuel sector” over the millions of homeowners they insure. Insurers have a financial interest in the fossil-fuel industry because they insure and invest in oil and gas projects, Jones added. This is amplifying climate change, even as insurers use extreme weather as a justification to raise home-insurance prices on policyholders and declare large swaths of the U.S. uninsurable, he said. A representative for an insurance group said there is no alignment with or endorsement of the fossil fuel industry. “Our position is a legal one,” Joanna Coll, a senior vice president with the American Property Casualty Industry Association, said in an email. The association and two others filed the “friend of the court” brief in Suncor v. Boulder, a case that could force oil and gas companies to pay for costs from climate change. Boulder County and Boulder City in Colorado are seeking damages from Suncor and Exxon Mobil for concealing climate risks that lead to increased flooding, wildfires and other property damage. The companies say federal law bars the lawsuits, which could cost them billions of dollars in damages and are appealing a 2025 Colorado Supreme Court ruling allowing the lawsuit to proceed. The energy producers appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the global nature of climate change means only federal law should apply. The high court accepted the case in February. The closely watched case could affect hundreds of lawsuits and potentially billions of dollars in judgments. Oral arguments are scheduled for Oct. 5. The case will be heard amid a national debate over who should pay for rising damages from wildfires, hurricanes and other natural disasters linked to climate change. Insurers have paid increasing amounts in claims in recent years as the frequency and severity of extreme weather events has soared along with repair and reconstruction costs. Crushed by the cost of extreme-weather events, local governments deserve to collect damages from fossil-fuel companies, whose products are the “underlying cause of the loss,” Jones, director of the Climate Risk Initiative at the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Law, wrote in a friend-of-the-court filing. Jones’ brief was a direct response to a May friend-of-the-court filing by the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, the Complex Insurance Claims Litigation Association and the Reinsurance Association of America. The groups, which represent major property and casualty insurers and reinsurers, say local governments should be barred from suing energy companies under state law. The groups also warn that letting localities sue energy companies for climate change could harm U.S. energy security. If energy producers can be held liable under state laws, selling commercial insurance to oil and gas companies will become far more difficult because it would be impossible to estimate possible losses from litigation, they said. Insurers might simply curtail business with the sector, which would stifle investment in energy infrastructure, they claimed.

Trump admin to reconsider permits for Atlantic Shores wind project - In the latest blow to the offshore wind industry, a federal court has cleared the way for the Trump administration to reconsider permits for the Atlantic Shores project off the coast of New Jersey. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Monday that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management could review the construction permits it issued to the project. The permits were issued under the Biden administration. “Remand is appropriate here in the interest of judicial economy and in light of the lack of prejudice to Atlantic Shores,” the order read. An attorney representing Atlantic Shores did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Xavier Becerra says California can still meet 2035 gas car sales goal - --— California gubernatorial front-runner Xavier Becerra said Tuesday that he still believes the state can meet its goal of banning new gas car sales by 2035, after raising doubts about the climate target during his primary campaign.Becerra said that California “might be able to beat” the 2035 target in response to a question from POLITICO’S Melanie Mason during an interview at POLITICO’s The California Agenda: Sacramento Summit.“If we invest in it, it absolutely is feasible,” Becerra said. “If we don’t invest in the infrastructure, then it’s not easy.” The answer adds more nuance to the former health secretary and state attorney general’s position on California’s EV sales mandate, a key piece of the state’s climate agenda. Gov. Gavin Newsom created the mandate with an executive order in 2020.

Trump waged war on EVs. Now he’s helping them out  - President Donald Trump has made no secret of his disdain for the EV sector. But one of his major policy initiatives is now poised to bolster the same companies he’s put on the back foot.Since taking office, Trump and Republicans in Congress have scrapped hefty consumer tax credits designed to drive faster electric vehicle adoption nationwide, raising costs for cars, batteries and charging stations. EPA under his watch has moved to reconsider Biden-era emissions standards for gas-guzzling cars and trucks. And, with help from Republicans, he’s moved to stall funding for EV charging infrastructure across the U.S. while pushing fossil fuels.“On day one, I ended Biden’s insane electric vehicle mandate that would have crushed the U.S. auto industry forever, it would have never come back,” Trump said at a rally at General Motors’ proving ground in Milford, Michigan, in late July.Yet in a twist, the Trump administration is providing the EV sector with an upstream boost, subsidizing critical mineral mines and offering grants and loan guarantees to the very battery and mining companies that make electric cars a reality. Domestic battery production has long been an impediment to the growth of the EV industry in the U.S., raising the cost of vehicles and forcing automakers to rely on foreign-sourced minerals. The Trump administration’s industrial policy comes as the EV sector is seeing spikes in sales propelled by the U.S.-led war with Iran and the associated turmoil in the oil markets.On Friday, the president sat with hundreds of mining executives and Cabinet members to unveil $3 billion for mineral projects — like graphite, magnets and silicon anode material — citing national security and the nation’s reliance on countries like China for those raw materials. While the focus was often the materials needed for weapons or data centers, those same materials are needed for EV batteries.“[EVs] may not have been [the] main intent [behind supporting critical minerals], but it’s a serendipitous benefit,” said Jon Jacobs, chief commercial officer for Westwater Resources, a graphite producer now in line to receive a $25 million federal loan to build a processing plant in Alabama.Corey Cantor, research director at the Zero Emission Transportation Association, or ZETA, said the EV sector will benefit from the funding, pointing to research that found securing supply chains and minerals like graphite for energy and defense will likewise benefit AI and advanced manufacturing, including EVs.“Even if in this case the Department of Defense is important as a customer … battery usage and innovation is going to spill over into a lot of different sectors, whether it’s stationary storage or the EV industry,” said Cantor.

Lumos Asks FCC to Preempt Two Ohio Counties' Rights-of-Way – – Two northeastern Ohio counties are hiring outside counsel to fight a federal petition filed by fiber optic provider Lumos. Lumos filed its petition on June 18 asking the Federal Communications Commission to preempt Stark and Mahoning Counties’ local right-of-way requirements under Section 253 of the Communications Act, arguing that permitting requirements in both counties have effectively caused it to abandon projects that would have reached roughly 200,000 Ohio households. “This wasn’t a decision Lumos made lightly,” Lumos’s VP of Marketing Derek Kelly said in a statement explaining the company’s decision. “Before filing the petition, more than a year was spent working with county officials in an effort to find a practical path forward.”In Stark county, Lumos challenged a $1-per-linear-foot construction fee and inspection charges of $55 to $75 an hour. The company also drew issue with both counties over requirements that construction plans be prepared and certified by an Ohio-licensed professional engineer and supported by base mapping from a professional surveyor.  Lumos estimates Stark county’s requirements would have added about $2.74 million to its project, roughly 50 percent of anticipated costs and 23 percent of expected five-year county revenue, while Mahoning’s survey mandate alone would add an estimated $3.9 million. “The surveying requirement alone would have added roughly $1.5 million in costs and potentially delayed construction for years due to the limited number of licensed surveyors available to perform the work,” Kelly wrote. He argued the same right-of-way access in other jurisdictions generally would not exceed $500.Lumos ultimately abandoned both buildouts, stranding more than $2.6 million in sunk engineering costs and leaving an estimated 200,000 households without access to its service.Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office civil division chief Kathi Welsh, whose community has clashed with fiber installers over damaged utility lines and unfinished excavation work, said the survey mandate exists to ensure safety and protect existing infrastructure in the right-of-way.Lumos already faced a significant safety incident in the region. The company was boring underground in Girard on April 30 when a gas line ruptured and triggered an explosion that destroyed a home, leaving its residents homeless. Girard has suspended further fiber excavation pending the results of a state investigation, and township officials in nearby Boardman have asked state lawmakers for expanded authority to issue emergency stop-work orders and set uniform excavation safety standards. Lumos has faced pushback from local officials over its construction work before.A lawsuit filed in Spartanburg County, S.C. reported April 2025 alleged Lumos ruptured a sewer line, causing sewage backflow into a home and a resident’s infection. The suit claims Lumos has been responsible for six gas leaks and multiple water-main strikes in Columbia, S.C., plus a sinkhole in a public road, and says the incident was one of several.In Floyd County, Ind., commissioners issued an immediate stop-work order in June 2025 on all Lumos utility permits, citing violations of the county utility agreement and public-safety concerns raised by a local fire district. Lumos had planned to serve more than 80,000 homes in Clark and Floyd counties. The company has been pursuing an aggressive expansion since T-Mobile and private equity firm EQT completed a joint venture to acquire Lumos in April 2025, with the companies targeting expansion of the fiber network to 3.5 million homes by the end of 2028. T-Mobile took a 50 percent stake and assumed the customer relationships, while Lumos continued building and operating the fiber network.

Commissioners continue to address broadband installation concerns in Warren, Ohio area (WKBN) – Problems with fiber optic installation are reaching a breaking point in Trumbull County. Commissioners are considering stopping the work altogether until their concerns are addressed.  Commissioners called a special meeting with broadbrand representatives on Tuesday after crews installing cable hit gas lines, damaging a house in Girard and closing a busy road in Bazetta Township. They spoke with representatives about the policies and procedures used for installing the fiber optic broadband. One concern for community leaders is repairing the damages left behind. “Commissioners only have so much they can do, so we need to find out what your directions are moving forward,” said County Commissioner Rick Hernandez.Commissioners also met during a special meeting in mid-July to assess the work. At that time, they were considering shutting down all fiber-optic installation work. At that time, work on the upgrade was temporarily paused for two weeks by the installation companyBroadband providers are in charge of bringing in subcontractors for that work; however, community leaders say there hasn’t been much communication as to when it will be completed. “I had concrete drives just cut apart. There’s no regard to the property they’re working on. With communication, keep in mind, contractors, you have the county level, but there’s also the townships. There’s also your villages and your cities,” said James Pantalone, Howland Township administrator. There is technology broadband providers could use to help prevent damage underground, like those to gas and water lines. The use of it could be expensive, however. “There’s an assumption of liability and risk because we’re identifying city water. We have to have an agreement, and it does get very costly,” said Bob Padgett, of Brightspeed.With the series of issues that have transpired because of the fiber optic installation, commissioners emphasize their biggest concern is the safety of their residents and want the proper protocols to be followed.“Some of them might just be getting lucky, not following, and might be getting lucky and not having any incidents or major incidents where it’s brought to your attention that they’re doing things that you wouldn’t approve of, that you wouldn’t put your name on. Follow up with them, please,” said Nic Coggins, assistant director/director of economic development at the Trumbull County Planning Commission.  Grant money was allocated in 2025 to improve broadband access in Trumbull County. The $6.3 million program reimburses internet service providers who handle infrastructure upgrades.

Planning for Uncertain Data Center Demand – RMI - After decades of relatively flat electricity demand, US load growth is back. In the near term, most of that growth is expected to come from data centers. Utilities have managed load growth before, including at higher growth rates than are forecast today. What is different now is the scale, concentration, and uncertainty of individual customer requests. A single data center campus can require as much electricity as a small city, and many of the largest requests are clustered in a small number of utility service territories. In 2024, for example, AEP Ohio reported pending data center requests totaling 30,000 megawatts (MW) — enough to more than triple its peak load. Signed agreements alone would increase central Ohio data center load from 600 MW in 2024 to 5,000 MW by 2030. Many utilities are preparing to meet data center demand by building or contracting for gas-fired generation. Across the country, gas capacity in utility plans is surging, even as gas turbine supply chains tighten and costs rise. Among the utility integrated resource plans (IRPs) covered in RMI’s Engage and Act dataset, total projected gas capacity by 2035 rose from 275 to 350 gigawatts (GW) between December 2022 and March 2026 forecasts (Exhibit 1).Recent utility filings provide more detail into why utilities are planning to build new gas plants. In Louisiana, Entergy has said it intends to build more than 5,200 MW of new combined-cycle gas power plants to support Meta data centers, along with up to 2,500 MW of solar and support for nuclear power and battery storage. In Georgia, the Public Service Commission approved Georgia Power’s request for almost 10,000 MW of new generating capacity, nearly 6,000 MW of which is gas-fired generation — all as part of a plan to meet future capacity needs including 15,600 MW from 32 large load customers.These decisions reflect a broader planning challenge: utilities must make large investment decisions before they know how much data center demand will actually materialize. That uncertainty is not new. In the early 1970s, many utilities planned for sustained high demand growth and committed to large new nuclear projects. When electricity demand growth slowed after the oil shocks, inflation, and recession, some projects became uneconomic and were canceled, while others left customers paying for investments that no longer matched system needs. In Washington state, abandoned nuclear projects left bondholders on the hook for more than $2 billion.Today, meeting uncertain data center demand with large, long-lived, high-cost assets creates similar financial risks for utility customers. These assets may be underutilized if the load they are intended to serve arrives late, develops at a smaller scale than expected, relocates, or never materializes. While large-load tariffs with protections such as minimum bills, collateral requirements, exit fees, and customer-funded infrastructure can influence how these risks are allocated, they do not eliminate them. Gas plants carry specific risks, including construction-cost escalation and delays associated with growing turbine backlogs, exposure to volatile fuel prices over their operating lives, and the possibility that future emissions limits will increase compliance costs, constrain plant utilization, or lead to earlier-than-planned retirement.To illustrate the risks facing utility planners today, this analysis examines a representative mid-sized utility in the Midwest with a substantial large load pipeline. The analysis has been calibrated to that utility’s integrated resource plan, using publicly available data. However, it is meant purely to illustrate the risks associated with different resource strategies, not to reflect any utility’s actual procurement decisions.The analysis compares five scenarios that vary by resource strategy and the amount of data center load that ultimately materializes (Exhibit 2). Scenarios 1 and 3 use a gas-first strategy, in which the utility builds enough combined-cycle gas capacity to serve the full potential data center load, while other resources may serve projected non-data center demand. The remaining scenarios use a portfolio approach, allowing a capacity expansion model to select the least-cost mix of resources to meet total system demand.Scenarios 1 through 4 all plan for the high end of potential data center demand. That demand fully materializes in scenarios 1 and 2, while scenarios 3 and 4 test what happens if only a portion appears. Scenario 5 provides a reference case in which the utility correctly forecasts the lower level of data center demand. Comparing results across these scenarios shows the cost of overbuilding, and how that cost differs between a gas-first strategy and a more diverse portfolio.

AI’s climate problem is worse than we thought - Until this point, the public conversation about AI and climate change has been laser-focused on the vast amount of electricity used to power the technology.For good reason. Over the last few years, the AI boom has rapidly increased society’s appetite for fossil fuels via the electricity consumption of data centers. Data center electricity consumption has sent tech companies’ emissions soaring, knocked their climate plans wildly off course, and pulled them directly into the fossil fuel business. (Some mind-bending recent examples: Microsoft just signed a deal with Chevron to develop a massive gas plant in Texas explicitly for data centers. And Amazon is planning to build the largest fossil fuel power plant ever to exist in the United States to power its AI.) And yet, this is only the tip of the AI climate iceberg. Because AI is not only consuming fossil fuels to generate electricity—it is also helping the world’s biggest oil companies produce more fossil fuels quicker, cheaper, and for greater profit.Over the last few years, AI has become a powerful tool for oil and gas companies, helping them locate new deposits, drill wells faster, and extract more from existing fields.These aren’t just generic AI tools, either. “There are teams of engineers and salespeople at these tech companies that are explicitly for the fossil fuel industry,” Holly Alpine, a former senior manager at Microsoft, told HEATED. “They are engineers writing code explicitly in partnerships with oil majors to expand production.”Until now, we haven’t known the broad climate impact of these custom-made AI tools for the fossil fuel industry. But a new peer reviewed study published in the journal npj Climate Action is shedding some alarming light.That paper—co-authored by Holly and her husband Will Alpine, also a former Microsoft employee—shows that the emissions enabled by the fossil fuel industry’s use of AI are likely far greater than the emissions of powering AI as a whole.Specifically, they found that Big Oil’s use of AI to produce more oil and gas could create 3.3 to 13.3 times more climate pollution than powering AI’s data centers.On the low end, these tools could enable additional yearly carbon emissions equal to Mexico’s, according to the research. On the high end, they could enable yearly climate pollution equal to Russia’s—the world’s fourth-largest emitting country.“It is difficult and frustrating for us to see the conversation around ‘the true climate impacts of AI’ just stop at operational emissions,” Holly told HEATED. “We cannot get across enough how important it is to include what [AI] is used for.”

Ohio data center tax breaks require $1.5M payroll - — An Ohio data center can become eligible for a state sales-tax exemption by investing at least $100 million and paying workers at the site a combined $1.5 million annually.Depending on salaries, that minimum payroll could represent 10 to 30 permanent jobs.The requirement shows the trade-off behind Ohio’s largest business tax incentive. Data centers can involve hundreds of millions or billions of dollars in buildings and equipment but require relatively few workers once construction ends. The employment standard is among the data-center policies facing renewed scrutiny in the governor’s race. Ohio’s three candidates for governor agree that data centers should cover their power and water demands, but their plans differ over construction limits, tax incentives and other statewide rules. The exemption resulted in nearly $1.6 billion in estimated forgone state tax revenue in fiscal 2025, up from $554.9 million in fiscal 2024, according to figures from the Ohio Department of Taxation. The state previously projected the fiscal 2025 amount at $135.8 million.Gov. Mike DeWine cited the incentive’s increasing use and a legislative review of the industry when he paused consideration of new exemption requests May 27.The debate intensified after Libertarian gubernatorial nominee Don Kissick called for an immediate moratorium on data centers that had not broken ground. Previously approved exemption agreements remain in effect.Ohio law does not require a specific number of employees. It requires participating companies to maintain at least $1.5 million in annual payroll subject to state income-tax withholding beginning in the third year of an agreement.The following figures are illustrations, not staffing estimates for any particular project:

• At an average salary of $50,000, the payroll would cover 30 jobs.
• At $75,000, it would cover 20 jobs.
• At $100,000, it would cover 15 jobs.
• At $125,000, it would cover 12 jobs.
• At $150,000, it would cover 10 jobs.

The Ohio Tax Credit Authority may exempt as much as 100% of applicable state and local sales and use taxes. The exemption can cover servers and other computer equipment, cooling systems, electrical infrastructure and building materials.Meeting the investment and payroll thresholds does not guarantee approval. But the law allows projects with comparatively small permanent workforces to receive exemptions on large amounts of equipment and construction spending.Recent agreements illustrate the difference between the scale of a data center’s investment and the number of permanent jobs it promises.In October 2025, the Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved a 50%, 10-year exemption for The Constant Co. in Springfield.The company committed to investing more than $901 million and creating 20 full-time-equivalent jobs with $1.5 million in annual payroll. The project matched the statutory payroll minimum while proposing about $45 million in investment for each committed job.In October 2024, Microsoft received a 100%, 15-year exemption for a project covering sites in New Albany, Heath and Hebron.Microsoft committed to investing $1 billion and creating 20 full-time-equivalent jobs with $2 million in annual payroll. That amounted to $50 million in proposed investment for each committed job.A June 2024 agreement with Vantage Data Centers Management Co. and New Albany Data Center called for a $185 million investment and 12 jobs with $1.68 million in annual payroll. The authority approved a 50%, 10-year exemption.The figures are company commitments contained in state approval records, not confirmed counts of workers ultimately employed.Companies must report their employment, payroll, investment and exempt purchases to the state each year. If a project fails to meet the statutory minimums, the Tax Credit Authority may terminate its agreement and require repayment of some or all of the exemption claimed.The authority also may reduce or end an exemption if a company initially meets the requirements but later falls short of the investment, employment or payroll commitments in its agreement, according to the Ohio Administrative Code.

Northeast Ohio data center moratoriums: What they cover - cleveland.com — Cleveland, Twinsburg, Ravenna and Vermilion have temporarily stopped some or all approvals for new data centers, with deadlines ranging from this fall through spring 2027. The measures differ in scope. Cleveland and Twinsburg focus primarily on standalone data centers that would be the main use of a property. Ravenna and Vermilion cover broader zoning, development and building applications. None permanently prohibits data centers. Cleveland, Ravenna and Vermilion allow extensions under specified conditions. Twinsburg’s ordinance does not. The ordinances and meeting records cite concerns including electricity and water demand, utility capacity, nearby properties and whether existing zoning codes adequately define data centers. The original article examined whether Ashville residents may force a referendum on their village’s agreement with a data center developer. The Northeast Ohio moratoriums involve a separate issue: what approvals each city has temporarily stopped while considering permanent regulations. Cleveland City Council approved Ordinance 556-2026 by a 14-1 vote July 15. City records list July 20 as its effective date. The measure stops city departments from reviewing or issuing permits and other approvals for expanding an existing standalone data center or establishing one as the principal use — the main purpose — of a standalone building. Existing data centers may continue operating. The final ordinance ends the pause three months after July 20, which would be Oct. 20, or when permanent regulations take effect. A separate city explanation says it runs through Oct. 16. The records differ by four days. Council may extend the moratorium once for three months. A city working group is examining utility infrastructure, neighborhoods, natural resources and land use. Public records reviewed for this story do not identify its members. The city had already denied Lakeland Equity Group’s permit application for a proposed $1.6 billion data center campus on 35 acres in Slavic Village, News 5 Cleveland reported. The rejection and later citywide moratorium were separate actions. Twinsburg City Council unanimously adopted Ordinance 2026-065 as an emergency measure April 14. It stops zoning and occupancy applications involving a data center as a property’s principal use. Existing businesses also may not expand in a way that would make a data center their principal use. Twinsburg’s zoning code already does not list data centers as an allowed principal use. The ordinance gives officials time to determine whether and where they should be permitted and what restrictions should apply. The moratorium lasts 12 months from its effective date and may end sooner if the city changes its code or council revokes it. The ordinance contains no extension provision. The posted ordinance leaves the mayoral approval and effective date fields blank, so the records do not specify its exact expiration date. A property owner sought permission in 2025 to market industrial land for a potential data center. Council returned the request to the Planning Commission, and the applicant later withdrew it, according to the city’s account. The records do not state why. Twinsburg says it has no pending data center application or proposal. Ravenna City Council unanimously adopted Ordinance 2026-067 as an emergency measure April 20. The one-year moratorium covers zoning permits, conditional-use permits, variances, site plans and building permits for new data centers. The posted records place its expiration in April 2027 but do not establish a precise day. The ordinance may be extended if officials need more study time or ended early if permanent regulations are adopted. The Committee of the Whole minutes say the Planning Commission will examine utility demands, zoning and how to classify facilities including server farms, cloud-computing centers and cryptocurrency mining operations. An existing cryptocurrency mining operation remained open because, council members said, its size had not required city utility infrastructure or Planning Commission approval. The records do not identify that threshold. Council records reviewed for this story do not identify a formally filed data center application when the moratorium was adopted. Vermilion introduced Ordinance 2026-17 March 23 and adopted it April 20. The moratorium runs through March 23, 2027, unless council extends it. It applies in every zoning district and covers development plans, special- or accessory-use permits, occupancy permits, building permits and similar approvals. Existing businesses also may not expand to establish or operate a data center. The administration, Planning Commission and council are reviewing state requirements, water and sewer capacity and whether data centers should be allowed in any zoning district. The ordinance cites increased development interest in Erie and Lorain counties but identifies no proposed project in Vermilion. The records reviewed for this story do not show a pending application when the moratorium was adopted. Cleveland faces the first deadline this fall. Vermilion’s pause runs through March 2027, while the Twinsburg and Ravenna measures extend into April unless permanent regulations take effect sooner.

Ohio General Assembly members propose sweeping bill to regulate data center development - Last week, a group of legislators in the Ohio House of Representatives introduced a far-reaching bill to regulate data center development across the state of Ohio.  In the face of concerns about the environmental, aesthetic, and public finance ramifications of Ohio’s rapid growth in data center development, Ohio House Bill 983 introduces a range of interventions designed to insert the public into data center development decisions.   The bill will require voter approval for every new construction or expansion of a data center with peak electric load over one megawatt for every municipality and township within five miles of the project.Permits issued without voter approval would be considered void.It would also impose new air emission and water discharge standards on a range of substances including PFAS, glycols, metals, and other organic compounds. These standards would apply to existing data centers after eighteen months.Owners of data centers would also be held financially responsible for water supply and water pressure impacts associated with their centers.    On the fiscal side, the legislation would ban local governments from offering property tax incentives for data centers and power plants associated with them. It would also require public disclosure of all data center agreements associated with development and supply.This legislation would significantly slow down the development of data centers in Ohio, if not stop it altogether.The voter approval requirement in particular could lead to dozens of required communitywide votes across the country to authorize data center developments. This would have a substantial impact on Ohio’s economy.Developers are set to invest $40 billion in data centers across the state of Ohio over the next four years. While this legislation would prevent some wasteful incentive spending, it would also likely cost the state economy tens of billions of dollars in investment.m One of the major concerns people have with data center development in Ohio is strain on public utilities, particularly electricity and water.If data center development drives up demand for each of these, it could drive prices for electricity and water up for local residents.This could fall more heavily on low-income residents because they spend more of their income on utilities than high-income residents. This bill’s proposed interventions could mitigate some of these cost concerns.There are other spillover effects people worry about with data center developments.Will incentives leave less money available for schools? Will data centers lead to wastewater, air emissions, and noise pollution?These are concerns that could be bluntly dealt with through bans on incentives and community votes, which are likely to torpedo most projects. Overall, though, it seems like this bill is a hammer for an issue that likely needs a scalpel.Communitywide votes to authorize new developments would likely be tantamount to a total ban of data center development across the state. This could slow Ohio’s economy to the tune of tens of billions of dollars over the next few years.Making sure that Ohio’s electricity and water systems keep up with new development could probably be achieved with less economic pain than a de facto permanent ban on development would create.

Ohio Supreme Court rules on potential vote on two data centers and natural gas plant (18 page slip opinion embedded) The battle over a data center in a small town south of Columbus will go on. A unanimous Ohio Supreme Court ordered the village of Ashville to submit to elections officials petitions for a ballot issue this fall on a data center and a natural gas plant to power it. But that doesn’t mean the vote will definitely happen.In May, residents opposed to the deal Ashville struck with EdgeConneX to build two data centers and a natural gas plant on village-owned property turned in enough valid signatures to put the issue before voters this fall. Ashville refused to submit it to the Pickaway County Board of Elections, saying this was emergency legislation not subject to a referendum. Justices agreed the village didn’t have sufficient reasons for the deal to be declared an emergency.“I think this will be the first vote on data centers in Ohio," said Marc Dann, a Democratic former Ohio attorney general now representing Data Center Resistance, a group that's supporting people opposed to data centers in their communities. “I think it's really terrific that the Ohio Supreme Court unanimously stood up and enforced the constitutional right that citizens have to a referendum, particularly when there's no emergency associated with the legislation.”Though the petitions must be submitted, elections officials could still decide the agreement was an administrative action, which is also not subject to referendum. If that happens, there won’t be a vote.Requests seeking comment from EdgeConnex and the Data Center Coalition have not been returned.

Ohio Supreme Court sides with Ashville residents who oppose data center - The Columbus Dispatch --The village of Ashville improperly blocked a ballot referendum that aims to challenge a controversial data center, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Aug. 7. The court sided with three Ashville residents who sued fiscal officer April Grube after Grube rejected the ballot measure. The referendum seeks to overturn a term sheet for an agreement between the village and EdgeConneX over a data center and natural gas facility.The Ashville Village Council approved the measure in April and declared an emergency, arguing the project shouldn't be "unnecessarily delayed." The move came after EdgeConneX requested an emergency designation, according to court records. Emergency laws are not subject to ballot referendums.But the state Supreme Court said the resolution wasn't a true emergency."All emergency measures are presumably designated as such because commencement of the underlying matter should not be delayed," the court stated. "But (the resolution) does not explain why waiting 30 days for the resolution to take effect would unnecessarily delay the EdgeConneX project." The fight in Ashville comes amid a broader reckoning over data centers in Ohio. Residents have flooded government meetings to oppose developments. State officials and political candidates, under pressure from constituents and voters, have started calling for more restrictions on companies that build them.The Aug. 7 ruling is a victory for Ashville residents, but it doesn't guarantee their referendum will make the Nov. 3 ballot. Grube must now submit the issue to the Pickaway County Board of Elections for a final decision. Still, former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann − who represents an organization called Data Center Resistance − is optimistic about their prospects. And he said the court's decision is a win for communities statewide who want to push back on data centers through the referendum process."We'll get our first democratic process around a decision to bring a data center to town," Dann said. "Everyone can make their arguments fair and square in the public square." An EdgeConneX spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Village Must Submit Data Center Referendum to County Board of Elections - Court News Ohio -- The village of Ashville must submit a referendum petition to the board of elections seeking a public vote on the village’s tentative agreement to cooperate in the construction of two data centers and an accompanying natural-gas power-generating facility, the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled today.In a per curiam opinion, the Supreme Court concluded that the Ashville fiscal officer, April Grube, could not refuse to certify the petition of opponents of the EdgeConneX data center plan because the village adopted its agreement with the company as emergency legislation.The Court ordered Grube to submit the petition to the board of elections for placement on the Nov. 3 general election ballot. However, the Court’s decision does not ensure voters will get to decide the matter. The Court noted that the Pickaway County Board of Elections may consider whether the resolution was an “administrative action” taken by the village, and not subject to a referendum.Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy and Justices Patrick F. Fischer, R. Patrick DeWine, Joseph T. Deters, Daniel R. Hawkins, and Megan E. Shanahan joined the per curiam opinion.Justice Jennifer Brunner concurred with the opinion but stated she supported setting an expedited schedule for the Court to address whether the village resolution is not subject to referendum because it was an administrative action. In April, Ashville village council adopted Resolution No. 06-2026 to approve a “development and supply agreement term summary” with EdgeConneX and to declare an emergency.The resolution stated EdgeConneX and its affiliate intended to construct and operate two single-story data centers and a natural gas power plant on village property. The resolution noted EdgeConneX intended to seek authority from the Ohio Power Siting Board to build the power plant. The term summary states that the resolution does not constitute a legally binding agreement, except for four provisions. Those provisions included EdgeConneX paying between $50,000 and $100,000 to the village to hire professional advisors to assist with the project, and that the village’s previously enacted data center moratorium would not apply to the project.The resolution’s emergency clause stated the legislation was “immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health, and safety of the municipality” and that it needed to accept the terms “as soon as possible so that this project is not unnecessarily delayed.”The resolution was adopted in April and approved by the mayor.  Village resident Laura McNamara-Smith and others circulated a referendum petition to repeal the EdgeConneX resolution. In May, the group turned in enough valid signatures to place the referendum on the Nov. 3 ballot. The petitions were submitted to Grube to transfer to the board of elections. In a June letter, Grube informed the board of elections that she was not submitting the petition because it was insufficient and invalid. She explained the resolution is not subject to referendum because it passed as an emergency measure and was an administrative action. McNamara-Smith sought a writ of mandamus from the Supreme Court directing Grube to submit the petition to be on the ballot.  The Court explained a municipal official with the duties of the village clerk has limited discretionary authority to determine the sufficiency and validity of a referendum petition. Grube has those duties for Ashville and has the right to refuse to submit the petition if it is an emergency measure. The opinion noted that R.C. 731.30 defines emergency ordinances as measures “necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety in such a municipal corporation.” The Court noted that to qualify as an emergency measure, it must contain sufficient reasons for the village to declare it an emergency.“In doing so, we must determine whether the council apprised voters of the specific reasons for declaring the resolution to be an emergency measure,” the opinion noted.The Court wrote that it previously ruled that parroting R.C. 731.30 by referring to the “preservation of the public peace, health, or safety” is not enough. The village also cannot provide “after the fact” reasons for declaring an emergency that are not in the resolution, the opinion noted. The other reason stated by the village was to prevent unnecessary delay. An emergency resolution takes effect immediately. Other resolutions take effect within 30 days, the opinion noted.“All emergency measures are presumably designated as such because commencement of the underlying matter should not be delayed. But Resolution No. 06-2026 does not explain why waiting 30 days for the resolution to take effect would unnecessarily delay the EdgeConneX project,” the Court wrote. Because the resolution fails to apprise voters of specific reasons to pass as an emergency, it is not exempt from referendum and must be submitted to the board of elections, the Court concluded.

Ohio Supreme Court Sides w/ Data Center Foes on Ashville Vote -- Marcellus Drilling News - -  A unanimous Ohio Supreme Court has ordered the tiny Pickaway County village of Ashville to let voters decide the fate of a data center and natural gas power plant — a project the village council tried to fast-track by declaring it an “emergency” not subject to a public vote. The court didn’t buy it. But before opponents celebrate too hard, the ruling doesn’t guarantee a vote will actually happen this November — county election officials still get to decide whether the deal is even the kind of thing voters can weigh in on at all.

Ohio residents sue to stop data center - — As the demand for data centers continues to grow, so does the heated battle over where they belong. Emotions are boiling over in one southwest Ohio community where police were called to a council meeting, and a lawsuit is now in the works. Close to an hour north of Cincinnati, in the small town of Trenton, there is construction underway to build a new data center that many residents don’t want and some are fighting the city to stop it. At Thursday night’s Trenton city council meeting, police were called in and residents were escorted out after tempers flared over a data center. It happened when city leaders played a video showing President Donald Trump saying he supports data centers. Residents snapped back in disagreement. Lorie Blankenship is one of them. She’s with the group “W.A.T.E.R.,” Woodsdale and Trenton Environmental Resistance. They started a petition to stop large data centers from being built here. They hoped to get enough signatures to get the issue on the November ballot and believed they needed 10% of voters who cast a ballot in the last election. But city leaders say while the group gathered over 300 signatures, that’s not enough because they need 10% of all voters to sign, not just the ones who voted in the last election. The group has now filed a lawsuit against the mayor and city council over their decision not to certify the petition. “We now have a situation where the city is being ripped apart…. We’re essentially asking the Supreme Court to tell the city that they should do their statutory duty by allowing us to have that on November’s election,” said Blankenship. City leaders did not address the lawsuit in the heated council meeting, and would not comment on it. But they did say this area is zoned for heavy industrial, and they’re moving forward with data center plans.

'They are afraid' | Tri-state vote on data center ban depends on Ohio Supreme Court decision -  A group of petitioners in the Trenton area has elevated a battle to ban data centers to the Ohio Supreme Court after city council members voted to reject their initiative to put a vote on the November ballot. nIn response, the Supreme Court opened an expedited election case and issued a summons to the City of Trenton, Mayor Ryan Perry and every council member Thursday. We reached out to Barry Blankenship, who has led the signature-gathering effort, after they filed the lawsuit and asked what he thought when council voted 4-3 in a special meeting Tuesday to reject their initiative."What that tells me is, they are afraid to let the people of Trenton decide," Blankenship said.City Attorney Nick Ziepfel laid out the options before council at the special meeting:

1. Decide that the term "electors" in the city charter referred to all registered voters active during the previous election cycle, requiring the petitioners to gather 820 valid signatures to get the initiative before voters.
2. Decide that the term "electors" in the city charter referred to all voters who cast a ballot in the previous election, requiring petitioners to gather 128 valid signatures to get the initiative before voters.

The council decided the former tally of 820 was appropriate, making the 336 valid signatures gathered by petitioners well short of the goal.The Butler County Board of Elections determined 128 signatures were sufficient to get the measure on the ballot, based on advice from the Butler County Prosecutor's Office.Prosecutor Mike Gmoser said he did not do the math for the Board of Elections and instead provided the legal basis for determining the number of signatures required."I did it only on the basis of the question that was posed to me by the Board of Elections, and I answered it. I am satisfied that I have answered correctly," Gmoser said.He did not comment further due to the pending case before the Supreme Court. Blankenship said he immediately contacted the group's attorney when the petition was rejected. "If Trenton doesn't want to hear us, and Trenton doesn't want to feel like we have a right, we'll take them to the Supreme Court, as we did," Blankenship said.Blankenship and others have been fighting the already-under-construction Prologis data center south of Kennel Road and the newly announced Amazon Web Services project on what is now land controlled by Madison and St. Clair townships, but eyed for annexation by Trenton. The Supreme Court gave the city and council members three days to file a response to the summons. Read the Full Lawsuit Here:

Ohio targets $40 billion data center boom with local votes, pollution rules, and no tax breaks - Ohio's push to become a major data center hub could face a significant new obstacle: voters. State lawmakers have introduced a sweeping proposal that could make many future projects far harder to build, even as developers are expected to invest billions of dollars in new facilities across the state, according to the Ohio Capital Journal. House Bill 983 would put more control over Ohio data center projects in the hands of the public. Projects with peak electric load above one megawatt, including expansions of existing facilities, could not proceed without voter approval. That requirement would extend beyond the host community to every municipality and township within five miles of the site, and any permit issued without that approval would be invalid. The bill also targets pollution and resource use. Data center developers would be held liable for impacts on local water supply and pressure, and the measure would add air-emission and water-discharge limits for PFAS, glycols, metals, and other organic compounds. The provisions "would apply to existing data centers after eighteen months," the Ohio Capital Journal noted. The bill would also bar local governments from offering property tax breaks to data centers or associated power plants, while making development and supply agreements publicly disclosable. Ohio is projected to attract roughly $40 billion in data center investment over the next four years. One major reason backers want tighter rules is concern that large facilities can strain electricity and water systems. If that extra demand drives utility rates up, residents could be saddled with higher monthly bills, with lower-income households often feeling the impact most because utilities take up a larger share of their income. In some places, data centers have drawn criticism over wastewater, air emissions, noise, and the visual impact of large industrial campuses. Tax incentives have also become a flashpoint, particularly when residents worry that public dollars could be diverted from schools or other local needs. At the same time, critics of the bill argue that requiring repeated communitywide votes could effectively block most new projects, slowing development and, they claim, costing the state billions in economic activity. The legislation would impose a much stricter set of rules on the industry. Among its biggest changes, the measure would let nearby voters decide whether many projects can move forward and would require more transparency around agreements tied to those developments. Whether or not House Bill 983 advances, it signals that data center growth in Ohio is no longer just an economic story. It is also becoming a debate over energy, water, pollution, and who gets to decide what gets built nearby. If the measure moves forward, Ohio could become a test case for how far states are willing to go to rein in data center growth. The outcome could shape not only future investment but also how communities protect their resources while navigating a rapidly changing digital economy.

Massillon puts limits on future data centers with new zoning rules -  — Massillon City Council is putting new rules in place for future data centers, limiting where those facilities can be built and adding additional review requirements before construction can begin. Council voted 7-1 on Aug. 3 to approve zoning changes that only allow data centers in industrial zoning districts, which are areas designated for heavier industrial uses and generally located farther away from residential neighborhoods. The move comes as the city’s temporary stay preventing new data center development is set to expire Aug. 14. City leaders say the goal is to have regulations in place before any proposal comes forward. "It doesn't matter the size of the data center whether it is a large scale or non-large scale, we are only going to allow it on I-2 full general industrial at this point," said Julie Harwig Smith, Ward 5 Massillon City Councilwoman. Under the new rules, large data centers, those exceeding 100,000 square feet per parcel, and smaller facilities must be located at least 400 feet away from residential districts. Developers will also be required to show their proposed sites have enough water, electric and wastewater capacity before construction can move forward. The regulations also require peak noise and decibel level certifications to address concerns about potential impacts on surrounding neighborhoods. “My biggest concern is protecting the residents,” Smith said. “I don't want anyone's peace and solitude to be harmed. I don't want them to have health effects from constant noise. I don't want our electric bills higher, or our water polluted. None of us do.” The city’s site plan review committee will also have the ability to revisit utility-related changes that may happen after a project receives initial approval or after construction begins. While there are currently no finalized data center projects planned in Massillon, city leaders say they want to be prepared if a developer approaches the city. One possible future location that has been discussed is the Massillon Technology and Energy Park, the former Republic Steel site, which is already zoned for heavy industrial use. City leaders say the new regulations are intended to balance economic development opportunities with protections for residents.

Ohio governor wants local governments to be aggressive in data center negotiations – NBC4 -— Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) has spent much of this week at the Ohio State Fair, and says one of the top issues he’s hearing about from fairgoers is data centers. On Friday, DeWine told reporters he believes the majority of Ohioans agree with the basic principles that data centers are economically beneficial but must comply with health and environmental standards. He also reminded local officials they have the ability to make data center companies adhere to those standards. “We don’t have to give everything to it,” DeWine said. “We can be more aggressive, local government can be more aggressive. We can demand certain things from them.” DeWine maintains that data centers are an essential part of the economy and of everyday life, pointing out that every time a person Googles something they are using a data center.But, DeWine said, local governments can negotiate deals with data center developers who want to build in their communities and set terms that might better serve their residents. He also said both candidates hoping to replace him as governor seem to have embraced that mentality as well.  Brown County attorney Austin Baurichter, however, is frustrated by the implication that the best residents can hope for is getting a good deal out of a data center. He points out that a lot of people simply don’t want any data centers built in their community. “The underlying assumption under that statement is that these deals are gonna happen no matter what,” Baurichter said. “I see all of these politicians, these governor candidates, talking about, we’re gonna get a good deal, right? Nobody ever says we’re gonna not have a deal at all because people don’t want these at all.” Baurichter has represented data center opponents at the local and state level, including residents in Ashville, Ohio, who have sought to put a referendum on the November ballot blocking the construction of the EdgeConneX hyperscale data center in Pickaway County. Despite obtaining enough valid signatures to get on the ballot, the petition was blocked by Ashville’s fiscal officer, who claimed the resolution approving the development was adopted as an emergency, rather than a legislative measure. Emergency measures are generally shielded from repeal by referendum, but on Friday, the Supreme Court of Ohio wrote that Ashville failed to justify why it needed to adopt the resolution as an emergency, other than to avoid unnecessary delays. The court ordered Ashville to submit the petition to the board of elections.  Baurichter said the speed at which local governments like Ashville’s have approved new data center projects in recent years has made constituents feel left out of the democratic process.“Trust is thin right now between people and their local governments,” Baurichter said. “I wish Gov. DeWine had said local governments can be aggressive in protecting the rights of their constituents, and protecting the voice of their constituents.”Gallup polling from earlier this year shows that 70% of Americans oppose the construction of data centers in their communities. Even as he advised local governments to be aggressive with data center developers, DeWine rejected the idea of stopping them entirely. “I think it would be bad if we said, well, we don’t want any data centers,” DeWine said. “I think that’s not helpful to the economic future of the state. But doing it the right way, I think, makes a lot of sense.”

All candidates for Ohio governor have now called for restrictions on data center boom - Each of the candidates for Ohio governor now wants to restrict the data center boom, all proposing some form of moratorium unless certain guidelines are met. Within two weeks of each other, they announced their proposals. Democrat Amy Acton announced hers in July, Libertarian Don Kissick in August, and several days later, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy unveiled his. Republican Vivek Ramaswamy said the state needs more data centers to store and process data. Previously, he said a total ban would be bad for the economy. But this past week, he laid out an extensive plan to regulate the tech hubs. “Free electricity for local communities paid for by the data centers combined with lowering property taxes as a condition, I think it’s going to be something that sets Ohio up as a national model for how we deal with this issue,” Ramaswamy said Friday. His plan prohibits new data centers until a list of requirements is met: a company will pay electric bills for the community it is in; new hubs must pay full property taxes, which could provide some relief for homeowners; and there will be strict standards for environmental protection. He also wants to prioritize using brownfields over farmland. Much of the criticism of data centers centers on energy use and environmental concerns. “Air and water quality is no worse off, and that we’re prioritizing brownfield sites that are abandoned rather than interrupting fertile farmland,” Ramaswamy added. On his first day in office, he said he would sign an executive order immediately halting the approval of any new center until the legislature passes his vision. Democrat Amy Acton announced that she wants a conditional moratorium on data centers. “We are absolutely open, but we’re not for sale,” Acton said Friday. “We have conditions.” To get a data center in the state, the companies would be held liable for all costs associated with their project, must protect the environment, and be transparent about building plans. “The community should have a lot of say about what comes into their community,” Acton said. “That’s why we don’t think you should be coming in secrecy.” She also would require assurance that the construction jobs will all go to union workers. New data centers would also be required to be built on brownfields and previously developed industrial sites, not farmland. She also made a requirement for community benefit agreements so that the centers bring something positive to the residents. Data center opposition is also being fueled by reports that tax breaks handed out by the state have reached $1.6 billion. She wants to rein those in, and would add clawback provisions to protect Ohio taxpayers, she said. And while she wants to bring down costs, she explained she doesn’t think free electricity can logistically work for everyone. “I can’t speak to no one ever having an electric bill,” Acton said. “I think the math doesn’t quite add up on that.” Libertarian Don Kissick is “against data centers,” he said, and announced his version of guidelines in early August. “Ohioans need room to breathe, and the land rush to stop, until permanent statewide standards are in place,” Kissick said in a statement. “The rules should be clear before construction begins, not negotiated project by project.” As broken by us, a new proposal by a business trade group is causing Ohio farmers to fear that the state and utility companies could take private property to build data centers. This idea would also allow entities to take the land before the owner gets paid. Kissick’s proposal would ban that. Under his policy, there would be no non-disclosure agreements, no special tax incentives for developers, centers would have to generate their own energy, and facilities would have to use closed-loop cooling systems to conserve water. “If a project cannot succeed without secrecy, eminent domain, taxpayer subsidies, or shifting its infrastructure costs onto Ohio families, then it shouldn’t be built here in the first place,” Kissick said. Like Acton, the libertarian also cast doubt on Ramaswamy’s proposal for free electricity. “Ohioans deserve policy, not a sales pitch,” Kissick said.

What an Ohio EPA decision on data center wastewater discharge means for the environment, the industry - Listen • 26:53 -  The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has dropped a proposal that would have made it easier for data centers to discharge their wastewater into fresh water.The agency was considering a plan to streamline a permit process for all data centers statewide, which could have allowed wastewater to be discharged into some lakes, rivers and streams.But the Ohio EPA changed course after a “significant volume” of comments against the plan. On Cincinnati Edition, we discuss the implications of the decision for the environment and the data center industry and hear how other states and jurisdictions are handling the issue.Guests:

• Leatra Harper, managing director, FreshWater Accountability Project
• Doug Swain, president, Logistix
• Miranda Willson, reporter, E&E News by Politico

Beginning at noon, call 513-419-7100 or email talk@wvxu.org to have your voice heard on this topic. You can catch a recorded replay at 8 p.m. Listen here.

PUCO takes steps to limit data center power cost increase - Ohio power regulators are taking steps they say are designed to protect large electric customers from paying higher rates because of data centers. Under a new order by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, data-enter customers will have to give AEP Ohio, a large power company, notice when they plan to ramp up electricity usage so other large customers don't see power bills increase because of the increased demand from data centers. "Upon receiving notice, AEP Ohio will procure energy to serve the customer through separate stand-alone auctions or spot-market purchases, with the entirety of the cost assigned to the data center customer," the commission said in a statement. "This ensures that the costs to serve the data center customer do not impact other customers also on AEP Ohio's default rate." This spring, the state utility board approved a new rate structure for AEP Ohio. "New data centers must pay a minimum monthly customer charge," the board said. "This helps ensure new data centers pay for the costs they create on the grid." The commission defines a data center as "a building that holds many computers which store and process information. Much of 'the cloud' lives in data centers." Ohio has 240 data centers in 19 markets, accessing to Data Map, which tracks the industry Critics say data centers have the potential to drive up electricity costs and also strain Ohio's water supply. However, one of Ohio' attractions for data centers is that the state has a cooler climate, requiring less water for cooling the centers. "We continue to implement safeguards to ensure that other customers are not impacted by costs to serve large loads like data centers," PUCO Chair Jenifer French said. "Ohio is fully committed to protecting customers from added costs related to data center buildout. Today's action builds upon the PUCO's efforts to create separate rate classes for data center customers, and the commitments under the Ratepayer Protection Pledge.

State directs AEP Ohio to implement new data center protections – NBC4  -— The state’s public utilities regulator directed AEP Ohio to further protect customers from data centers’ impacts on energy prices.The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, or PUCO, granted AEP Ohio’s request for relief this week and ordered the utilities company to implement new protections for Ohioans’ electric costs amid a data center boom. The ruling requires data centers to give AEP Ohio a 180-day notice before joining the grid. See previous coverage of data centers’ effects on electric rates in the video player above.Data centers require immense amounts of energy, which increases demand on Ohio’s grid. However, Ohio law does not allow utility companies like AEP Ohio to generate more energy, so as demand increases, supply often cannot keep up. Because AEP Ohio is the default provider in central Ohio, the company is compelled to serve data centers that cannot provide their own electricity.“For many reasons, there’s an imbalance between the supply of electricity and the growing demand for it,” an AEP Ohio spokesperson said. “This imbalance has driven the cost of generating electricity higher over the last several years, a reality that AEP Ohio cannot fix on our own because we are the local electric distribution company and are legally prevented from owning or operating power plants and other types of power generation.”The difference can increase prices for the company’s 1.5 million Ohio customers through generation costs, which AEP Ohio does not profit from but still appear on bills. AEP Ohio has already placed some protections in place, such as a tariff requiring data centers to cover at least 80% of their energy costs.Under PUCO’s ruling, AEP Ohio will use the 180-day notice to find enough energy to serve the data center through stand-alone auctions or quick purchases. That way, AEP Ohio will bring in new energy to cover the data center’s needs. The data center customer will cover all costs, PUCO said. Ohio is home to nearly 200 data centers, about half of which are in central Ohio. PUCO said Columbus residential electric bills are over 7% higher this month than they were at this point in 2025. Last year also saw spiking costs; AEP Ohio said customers’ bills raised an average of $27 per month in the summer of 2025 due to increased generation costs.“Ohio is fully committed to protecting customers from added costs related to data center buildout,” PUCO Chair Jenifer French said Wednesday. “Today’s action builds upon the PUCO’s efforts to create separate rate classes for data center customers, and the commitments under the Ratepayer Protection Pledge.”The Ratepayer Protection Pledge is a nonbinding promise for data centers to cover their own costs initiated by President Donald Trump. Trump recently expanded the pledge from data center companies to also include government entities and utility companies.AEP Ohio and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine are among the 300 signatories who pledged to help protect consumers from price hikes due to data centers. The pledge reflects a commitment to working to minimize data centers’ impacts on utilities but does not legally require action.

PUCO Approves Additional AEP Ohio Plan to Protect Ratepayers from Data Center Costs -  State regulators on last Wednesday approved another data center-related AEP Ohio proposal aiming to prevent cost shifts from those energy-hungry customers.The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio previously signed off on the central Ohio electric distribution utility’s data center tariff, a plan proponents have repeatedly contended keeps residential ratepayers’ utility bills in-mind.The plan commissioners OK’d on Wednesday takes that idea a step further by requiring data center customers to provide a 180-day notice of their intent to return to the standard service offer and to pay all generation costs when they rely on an SSO.“We continue to implement safeguards to ensure that other customers are not impacted by costs to serve large loads like data centers,” PUCO Chair Jenifer French said in a statement.“Ohio is fully committed to protecting customers from added costs related to data center buildout. Today’s action builds upon the PUCO’s efforts to create separate rate classes for data center customers, and the commitments under the Ratepayer Protection Pledge.” That pledge, signed by Gov. Mike DeWine in July, marked an effort by the White House to secure commitments from governors and other key players to insulate consumers from data center-driven cost hikes.Opposition toward AEP’s plan came from the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association Energy Group and Constellation Energy, which characterized the proposal as unlawful and warned it could allow the utility to “impermissibly” provide generation services.The Retail Energy Supply Association and Interstate Gas Supply Inc. joined OMAEG and Constellation in taking issue with the 180-day notice, which essentially constitutes a "stay" locking those customers into existing terms for the duration of that period.“In short, restrictive conditions such as AEP’s proposed 180-day notice requirement and minimum stay provision discourage shopping and therefore market competition,” OMAEG wrote to commissioners. “Moreover, such provisions improperly constrain customers’ ability to respond to changing market conditions.” The commission, however, determined the proposal was lawful and “sufficiently tailored for the unique circumstances occurring on the federal and state level regarding data center customers’ load.” The panel noted ongoing debates on market changes occurring between PJM Interconnection and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.“Moreover, the Commission notes that the adoption of this Interim Request should not be interpreted as an indicator of the Commission’s long-term position on fair cost allocation for [data centers] Customers,” the PUCO wrote in its order.“However, given the extraordinary circumstances contemplated in this Finding and Order, AEP Ohio’s Interim Principles offer a reasonable, temporary solution to the issues raised.” On the other end, AEP’s proposal drew favor from various consumer and environmental groups such as the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, the Ohio Environmental Council and the Environmental Law & Policy Center, among others. While OCC supported the central Ohio utility’s proposal, the group also called for stronger consumer protection measures to ensure residential consumers do not face higher bills. “Consumer protection must be at the forefront when considering AEP’s proposal,” the office wrote. “Data centers should pay all costs associated with serving them, including generation costs, in keeping with the law’s mandate that utility service must be, in all respects, 'just and reasonable’ for all consumers.”Google and Amazon Data Services were also generally supportive of the plan, but told the PUCO the proposal should also apply to customers that are not subject to the utility’s data center tariff.Commissioners were not moved by that request, writing that the limited interim relief is “consistent with the existing regulatory framework” in the state.

With more data centers on the horizon, communities worry about rising electricity bills | WEKU -Residents across Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia have packed public meetings in recent months to speak out against data centers, with a recurring concern being how they could affect the cost of electricity. On a steamy evening in July, the Kentucky Public Service Commission met at Hancock County High School, about 20 miles east of Owensboro. They’re here to discuss a data center project in the county seat of Hawesville. More than a dozen residents spoke — none of them in support of the development. For some, electricity bills were top of mind. Gary Elder, a 69-year-old retiree who lives in Lewisport, said his bills are already high and thinks the data center could drive them up even more. “Last month at the house was $440,” he said. “Last year during the heat — and I'm sure it will be that way probably my next bill — it was $569. It was my highest electric bill last year. I'm retired. I can't afford a $1,000, $1,100, $1,200 electric bill.” Residents weren’t only worried about the impact on their household finances. Christie Compton, of Falls of the Rough, said she’s expecting her first grandchild in November. She told the commissioners she wants future generations to be able to afford to live in the area. “I know thinking about, ‘We're going to make all this extra money,’ it's very enticing,” she said. “But you have to look at it in the long run and think, ‘What are we going to do for our future?’ If you worry about your children and your grandchildren, think about that, please.” Data center proposals have multiplied across Kentucky and the surrounding region in the past year, making it the latest battleground over land and water use, community impacts, electricity costs and the rise of artificial intelligence in the broader economy. Hancock County has a population of just under 10,000 and sits along a quiet part of the Ohio River in Western Kentucky. In July, Maryland-based developer TeraWulf signed a 20-year contract with AI company Anthropic as a tenant for its Justified Data Campus in Hawesville on the site of an idled aluminum smelter. It would employ about 100 workers and generate millions of dollars in tax revenue to support local schools, including the one where the meeting was held. But some in attendance, like Jacob Hodge of Lewisport, aren’t sold on the project. “None of us want this,” he said. “We weren't even able to know what was happening before the land was sold.” TeraWulf representatives attended the Hancock County meeting, but they did not speak or make any presentations. When offered the opportunity to comment for this story, they declined. The Kentucky PSC needs to approve or reject TeraWulf’s contract with regional electric cooperative Big Rivers and local utility Kenergy. The data center will draw nearly 500 megawatts of power from the regional grid, about as much as the shuttered aluminum plant. Big Rivers has signed President Donald Trump’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, which aims to shield customers from the cost of building power plants and transmission lines to support data centers. The voluntary ratepayer pledge — signed by other major utilities in Kentucky and nationwide — may not be enough to reassure residents who have seen their electricity bills spike in recent years.“You can say in the contracts all day that it says they can't do that, but we've seen it all over the country,” Hodge said at the meeting. “It's happened thousands of times. People keep getting their rates jacked up because the AI data center comes into town, and this industry is an industry built on lies.”  Kentucky is uniquely dependent on coal to generate electricity among states. With the rise of cheaper natural gas from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and the growth of renewables such as wind and solar, coal does not always produce the cheapest electricity. Residential customers of Kenergy pay some of the highest monthly bills in Kentucky, according to Heatmap, which tracks electricity prices nationwide. In July, the average Kenergy bill was more than $260 — a 39% increase from July 2021. As a whole, average bills across the state have increased more than 21% in that timeframe. Leslie Barr, a Kenergy spokeswoman, said existing customers would not end up paying more to support data centers. “Co-ops are opposed to electric rates subsidizing data centers,” she said. “Instead, we support contracts with data centers that can help stabilize electric rates.” But Jamie Van Nostrand, the former chairman of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, said electricity customers are likely to be on the hook for the new generation and transmission utilities needed to meet data center demand. It’s less likely for customer rates to go down.“I think the chances of that happening are fairly small,” he said. “I think generally data centers will cause higher rates.”State legislators can codify ratepayer protections into law. Kentucky’s House of Representatives approved such legislation this year, but it stalled in the Senate. On Aug. 6, Gov. Andy Beshear signed an executive order meant to ensure data centers bear any increases to electricity costs, not residents.At the PSC meeting in Hancock County, Compton said residents in places like Eastern Kentucky need to make their voices heard. “I think that they need to come out in full force,” she said. “I think that they need to let their local city councils (know), their fiscal courts, all of them. They need to show up, and all state lawmakers, but mainly, people don't realize local government is the one that lets this stuff come in.”

Kentucky Data Center Developer Says It Could Double in Size - — An Eastern Kentucky data center campus could double in size.Bitcoin mining firm TeraWulf, Inc. plans to construct what would become one of the largest artificial intelligence data centers in the Bluegrass State at more than 1 gigawatt of full-time electrical capacity by 2030 on the site of an abandoned strip mine near Ashland on the border of Greenup and Boyd counties. But capacity could double, TeraWulf Chairman and CEO Paul Prager said Aug. 5 during the public company’s second quarter earnings call.“Given its near-term power availability, we are increasingly optimistic about the potential to expand the Muskie campus to as much as 2 gigawatts and accelerate portions of the current development timeline,” he said. What the company is calling its Muskie Data Campus is an approximately 285-acre site within EastPark Industrial Park. Delivery of 500 megawatts is expected in the second half of 2028, with an additional 500 megawatts for the second half of 2030. An estimated $4 billion is being invested in property acquisition, construction and more.Construction of the campus “will be one of the largest economic development projects Eastern Kentucky has ever seen,” a spokesperson for Gov. Andy Beshear said in May when the project was announced. The administration told the Herald-Leader it believed the campus “would be a positive for the community.”Investor-owned Kentucky Power Co., the primary utility propping up TeraWulf’s project, started the process of requesting the state regulator’s permission to generate new energy. The company plans to build a new natural gas-fired unit at its former Big Sandy coal plant in Louisa, 30 miles south of Ashland. TeraWulf is also the developer of a data center campus being built in Hancock County where the artificial intelligence company behind the chatbot Claude signed a $19 billion, 20-year lease earlier this summer. Hancock County is situated along the Ohio River just east of Owensboro. The Hancock County data center campus is still under construction and initial capacity is projected to come online in the second half of 2027. The campus will accommodate 401 megawatts of critical infrastructure technology load by early 2028, or the power equivalent needed to supply at least 300,000 homes with continuous electricity. In February, TeraWulf acquired the former Century Aluminum smelter which included 250 buildable acres and immediate access to power infrastructure, including multiple transmission lines, an energized substation and direct connection to the regional transmission network. Then in April, Big Rivers Electric Corp. filed a service agreement with the state’s Public Service Commission to continue serving the site while protecting existing member-consumers, providing financial benefits and supporting system reliability.When it acquired the site, TeraWulf said it would invest between $3 billion and $4 billion constructing two data center buildings that would generate hundreds of short-term construction jobs. Once operational, TeraWulf said there would likely be 100 full-time, permanent jobs for electrical technicians, IT specialists, facility operators and more.The developer previously estimated the project would contribute more than $14 million annually in state sales taxes in addition to contributing $7 million in annual school taxes. Nearby the Boyd County proposal, a separate data center developer is planning yet another 2-gigawatt facility.A data center broker based in the United Kingdom says it is eying a former steel mill near Ashland to house what would would also be a 2-gigawatt AI computing center with power consumption levels rivaling a mid-sized city like New Orleans.Rubix Data Centers, part of a Spanish artificial intelligence and cloud services firm, has identified 500 acres of former AK Steel Ashland Works property along the Ohio River to construct a what was then Kentucky’s largest data center project.The two proposals position Kentucky’s Northeast corner, once a thriving steel manufacturing community, as one of the nation’s hottest hubs for hyperscale data, a fact that’s already sparked outrage among some residents in both communities, who fear the cost of electricity and environmental hazards that accompany major computing hubs could push them out of their homes.

State regulators order Dominion to assign more transmission costs to data centers - More of the cost to build the high-voltage transmission lines that serve as power highways across the state could soon be covered by data centers, after a recent decision by state regulators.   The State Corporation Commission has ordered Dominion Energy to develop a policy to directly assign the cost of transmission infrastructure to data centers and other large-load users that  connect to the facilities, “with the goal of finding an acceptable and symmetrical approach towards assigning costs in these circumstances.”In the latest rate adjustment case for Dominion’s “rider T1” that covers the cost to build the transmission lines and substations, the company argued that data centers and other companies in their class should have to shoulder more of the cost of the power infrastructure that is necessary only to power their facilities. . In a rare move, Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration weighed in on the case, with officials stating that data centers should be paying their “fair share,” and that residential customers shouldn’t have to pay for power infrastructure solely used by data centers. “Any network or substation upgrades that would not have been triggered but for a large load customer should be assigned directly to that customer, shielding regular Virginia families from subsidizing commercial extension,” Deputy Chief Energy Officer Louise White testified during a hearing in July. In the final order, the commission recognized that even the possible new tariff “may not address all instances in which a utility may incur transmission related costs to address transmission system reliability criteria violations that appear to be directly caused by the addition of one or more large-load customers.” Dominion has reported 203 transmission projects in its grid connection pipeline, according to the company’s 2024 integrated resource plan. Environmental groups cheered state regulators’ move this week. “The decision establishes an important precedent: Virginia families and small businesses should not subsidize transmission infrastructure built solely to connect new large-load data centers,” said Chris Miller, president of the Piedmont Environmental Council, one of the intervening parties in the case. The forthcoming Valley Link transmission line is an example of a project which, in the future, could be “directly assigned to the GS-5 rate class” or other alternatives, commissioners also said. The regional grid operator allowed Dominion and other utilities to develop plans for the 115-mile, 765 kilovolt transmission line that is anticipated to stretch from Lynchburg to Culpeper to push more power to Northern Virginia, where most of the state’s data centers are concentrated. “This order — which is projected to save Virginians hundreds of millions of dollars — makes sure that data centers are paying the full cost of the transmission infrastructure their developments require,” Spanberger said in a statement. The governor pledged to work with state lawmakers in future legislative sessions to ensure data centers “pay their fair share, adhere to strict environmental standards, and listen to the concerns of local communities.” Dominion asked the commission to recover $1.5 billion, which would translate to about a $.94 monthly increase for the average customer. The company originally asked for a $2.90 monthly increase but recalculated its formula to levy more costs onto data centers and factored in the new high-load user GS5 rate class that established a 85% transmission demand rate. It is not clear when the SCC will rule on the new transmission tariff for data centers and what the exact savings for residential customers will be.

PJM: Data Centers Panicked, Nearly Crashed the Grid on Purpose -- Marcellus Drilling News - PJM Interconnection and Dominion Energy are reviewing a July 22 event in Northern Virginia in which roughly 3,800 megawatts (MW) of data center load — the largest such disconnection in PJM’s history — unexpectedly ripped itself off the grid after a routine, correctly cleared transmission fault, forcing PJM operators to scramble to keep the grid stable. The event has reignited a fight over whether data centers, which are growing explosively across the PJM footprint (including Marcellus/Utica territory), need to be held to new “ride through” standards so they stop treating minor grid hiccups like five-alarm fires.

Residents express concerns over impact of western Pa data center runoff on area waterways - YouTube video - — Residents and environmentalists in Homer City, and surrounding areas, are concerned about their water and are raising awareness of the potential damage they believe could happen to a creek in the area. While construction is underway on one of the largest gas powered AI data centers in the United States, we spoke with activist groups on Tuesday to hear what parts of that creek they say could be impacted. The executive director for the Mountain Watershed Association says that they are worried that a new proposed amendment could seriously impact the waters of Blacklick Creek. She claims that Homer City Redevelopment is proposing to discharge 6.54 million gallons per day into the creek. From there, the polluted water would flow down through Blairsville into the Conemaugh River. We asked what areas near the Blacklick Creek, which runs through several communities in Cambria and Indiana counties, would be impacted the most. Activists say that the most impacted areas would be downstream and add that Blacklick Creek has a long history of mine drainage, with much of it just now being cleaned up. Concerned residents say the creek is also classified by the DEP as a trout stocking fishery and is a key part of the Ghost Town Trail. One activist says that her concerns are for those who recreate using Blacklick Creek, as the water being drained contains contaminants such as chlorine, biocides and scale inhibitors, and it's temperature can be up to 110 degrees. There is real concern for the potential for this creek to house species like trout because if 30% of the flow is 110 degrees, you're going to significantly increase the temperature of that creek, which makes it uninhabitable for cold water fish populations. If folks are recreating at Blacklick Creek -- fishing, boating, or walking the Ghost Town Trail in that area -- I think it's important for people to express their concerns about a discharge like this. While officials with the Mountain Watershed Association say that residents upstream do not have to be as concerned as those downstream regarding those discharge areas, one official on Vintondale Borough Council says that he believes that surrounding communities should be asking questions about their water related to the coming data center in general. “These data centers pull a lot of water from the area. And if we don't have runoff going into the ground, legacy deep mines and mine pools like Vintondale Borough number 6 and Wiram could potentially dry up or drop. And that could stop putting surface water into Blacklick Creek. And that's very concerning to a lot of people,” said councilman Mark Ford. We asked Homer City Redevelopment if they would comment on resident concerns related to the discharge areas. They responded, “we take seriously our responsibility and stewardship to ensure the safety of natural areas and resources near our project site, and that they remain healthy and thrive as the site redevelops and transforms.” The Mountain Watershed Association encourages those concerned to reach out to the DEP or Homer City Redevelopment during the comment period --- which lasts until August 10th. Activists are also asking for a public hearing on the topic.

Shapiro Aide: 100 Data Centers Floated in PA, Only 2 Fully Permitted -- Marcellus Drilling News - Ever wonder how many of those breathless AI data center announcements in Pennsylvania are actually real? Somebody in Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office finally counted. Speaking Wednesday (Aug. 12) to the Department of Environmental Protection’s Environmental Justice Advisory Board, Deputy Chief of Staff Sam Robinson walked through the funnel — from roughly 100 projects that have been talked about somewhere, down to just two that have every permit they need to start building phase one. That’s a number every producer, midstream planner, and gas-fired power developer in the Marcellus ought to write down.

Off-Grid Data Center System Runs on NatGas, Makes Its Own Water -- Marcellus Drilling News - Rochester, NY-based Energy Concepts has unveiled a modular natural gas power system called “Plato5X” that lets AI data centers generate their own electricity, make their own water, cool themselves, and capture 90% of their carbon emissions — without touching the local power grid or municipal water supply. Each 5-megawatt module runs on natural gas and is aimed squarely at the exploding AI/data center market, which is straining power grids and water systems across the country (see our extensive coverage of Homer City, Mt. Storm, and other gas-fired plants racing to feed data center demand). This is exactly the kind of “natural gas solves it” story we like — a private company betting that shale gas, not wind and solar, is the answer to AI’s insatiable appetite for reliable power.

Data Center Backlash Widens as Texas Freezes 474 GW Grid Queue - Texas has frozen new data center connections to its power grid pending a statewide audit, adding to growing state scrutiny of hyperscale development just as expected natural gas demand from the sector accelerates. Graph: ERCOT data center load requests rise sharply through 2032, with 2026 submissions reaching 235,888 MW for large and medium loads. At a Glance:
ERCOT queue holds 474 GW requests
Abbott pledges action on data centers
Waha prices erase negative streak

Oracle’s $165 Billion Data Center Plan Hits a Gas Pipeline Delay- Oracle’s proposed $165 billion data center project in New Mexico has run into a decidedly low-tech problem: the natural gas pipeline meant to help power it won’t be ready on time. Energy Transfer subsidiary Transwestern Pipeline pushed the expected in-service date for its Green Chile Project from August 15 to February 1, 2027, according to a regulatory filing Friday. That six-month delay threatens the schedule for Oracle’s Project Jupiter, a proposed data center development in Doña Ana County near the U.S.-Mexico border. The scale is substantial. Project Jupiter could use as much as 2.5 gigawatts of gas-powered fuel cells supplied by Bloom Energy, while Green Chile is designed to deliver up to 400 million cubic feet per day of natural gas to the site. That is equivalent to roughly 0.4% of total Lower 48 U.S. gas production. Oracle warned federal regulators in May that “time is of the essence” and said delays to Green Chile could jeopardize the broader project. New Mexico’s State Land Office has repeatedly declined to approve Energy Transfer’s proposed pipeline route, which crosses a small section of state-owned land. The setback illustrates one of the constraints emerging alongside the AI data center buildout. Developers increasingly want dedicated generation rather than waiting years for grid connections, but behind-the-meter power still requires fuel, pipelines and permits. Energy Transfer is already benefiting from that shift elsewhere. The company began supplying gas this year to an Oracle data center campus near Abilene, Texas, and has signed agreements representing more than 6 billion cubic feet per day of new demand across data centers, utilities and power plants. Oracle shares were down 4% Friday afternoon, while Energy Transfer gained 1.4%

Two Fossil Fuel Companies Are Driving the Data Center Boom --  It’s been a banner year for oil and gas companies. Some of the world’s biggest oil giants have announced billions of dollars in quarterly profits over the past two weeks, boosted largely by the soaring price of oil thanks to the conflict in the Middle East.But the artificial intelligence boom is also giving fossil fuel companies a new industry to sell their gas, pipelines, and power plants to: data centers. Two American oil and gas companies, Williams and Chevron, are presenting that demand to investors as a huge win.Data centers are becoming “a big driver for both power and gas demand in the US,” says Ashish Sethia, the global head of commodities and energy at BloombergNEF. The group published a report last week that found that increased demand for natural gas by the mid-2030s, driven partly by data centers, means that the US would need to increase production by 36 percent.The boom could have big climate implications—even when considering projects that aren’t connected to the larger grid. Just five of the seven data-center-connected gas-fired power plants highlighted in these two companies’ second quarter results could emit as much as 21 million tons of greenhouse gases per year, according to their permit applications. That’s an amount roughly on par with the annual emissions of Guatemala, though the actual emissions may be lower than what’s on the permits.Executives from both Williams and Chevron said on earnings calls that they expect to expand on facilities they are building now for the data center industry for years to come.“The frightening thing about the tech and oil alliance is that this is a lifeline to an industry that we need to be phasing out,” says Lukas Shankar-Ross, deputy director at Friends of the Earth, an environmental nonprofit.While it may not be a household name like Chevron or Exxon, Williams is one of biggest oil and gas infrastructure companies in the US—and it has also created a highly profitable data-center services business. Last year, Williams announced that it would build a power plant and associated pipeline infrastructure in Ohio solely for use by a data center. Building islanded infrastructure like this, also referred to as “behind-the-meter” power, has become an increasingly popular option for tech companies that don’t want to deal with long wait times to connect to the electric grid or impact consumer electricity prices.Williams is now building six behind-the-meter gas plants for data centers across the country, including four projects serving Meta data centers in Ohio. (Meta declined to comment.) In mid-July, Williams announced more than $5 billion in investments for its data center ventures, including money from private equity giant KKR.Williams’ four power plants that have filed permit applications could, according to those applications, emit up to 9.6 million tons of greenhouse gases per year, which is equivalent to the emissions from more than 22 average natural gas plants, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Williams spokesperson Alex Schott tells WIRED in an email that the facilities are “designed to operate well below permitted limits” and comply with state air requirements. The company’s modeling, Schott says, puts actual emissions from these plants at “potentially” two-thirds less than what’s on the permits.The company is also building a 9-mile natural gas pipeline across an Ohio suburb. Williams executives say they envision the pipeline being used not just to serve its power plants for Meta in the area, but also to supply natural gas to the growing number of data centers in that region. In an earnings call in May, Williams president Chad Zamarin said the company “overbuilt the capacity” of a pipeline serving one of its Meta-affiliated power plants to “be an energy artery along which other projects could be developed.”The largest behind-the-meter gas power plant Williams is building for Meta in Ohio is just under 700 megawatts. But Williams isn’t the only company betting big on providing data centers with power, and that project pales in comparison to the size of the 2.67-gigawatt project Chevron is building for a Microsoft data center in Texas. The oil giant reported its best quarterly profits in six years on Friday, and highlighted the partnership in all of its investor materials. In June, Chevron confirmed that it had signed an agreement with Microsoft. The companies signed a power purchase agreement—an arrangement to purchase electricity at an agreed-upon price for a set period of time—that lasts for 20 years. (Williams’ agreements with Meta for its data center power are between 10 and 12.5 years.) Chevron says the project is the only “multi-[gigawatt]” project with such a “long-term” contract in place. As WIRED reported in April, the power plant quietly applied for a school district tax break worth millions, which was finalized by the state late last month.The Chevron and Microsoft plant, according to its permit, could produce more than 11.5 million tons of carbon-dioxide-equivalent emissions per year. Chevron spokesperson Paula Beasley says the power plant is designed to comply with federal and state environmental requirements.“Kilby's approach focuses on natural gas generation for reliable capacity, with the possibility of adding renewable generation in the future,” she says.Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment. While Williams and Chevron are early movers, Sethia thinks that “multiple players” stand to benefit from building pipeline infrastructure for data centers. “One of the patterns we are seeing is a lot of the new data center announcements are starting to cluster around areas which have gas pipelines,” says Sethia.  Building islanded power plants at the scale and speed that the AI industry requires is a relatively new phenomenon. With utility bills rising and helping to fuel the national backlash against data centers, the Trump administration is actively encouraging tech companies to figure out ways to keep their projects from impacting the grid, which includes bringing their own power.Whether these massive plants will stay serving data centers only, or if they will eventually be connected to the grid is “a massive question for the future of power prices in the country,” Sethia says. While Chevron’s investor materials indicate that it expects to connect the Microsoft power plant to the grid sometime after 2030, Texas’ grid is facing significant delays for interconnection. Beasley says that an interconnection application for the plant has already been submitted. “Future interconnection could enable export of surplus power and provide additional system redundancy, if achieved,” she says.Schott, the Williams spokesperson, says that the company is looking into technologies to increase the efficiency of their gas plants. “Future interconnection opportunities could be evaluated once the long-term load profile and system needs are better understood,” she says.Large gas plants are long-term investments that can outlast the shorter-term political whims of presidential administrations. Building more fossil fuel infrastructure to power data centers now, Shankar-Ross points out, could delay the renewable energy transition that may pick back up if political winds shift.“If, 20 years from now, there’s a public grid dominated by renewables, and a private grid dominated by fossil gas, Microsoft will bear some of the responsibility here,” he says.

Democratic governors turn to nuclear power as response to energy crunch - Democratic governors seldom see eye to eye with President Donald Trump when it comes to energy policy. A notable exception: expanding nuclear power. Kathy Hochul of New York, Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and JB Pritzker of Illinois are among a growing list of Democratic governors who have taken steps this year to encourage nuclear development. Their motivation differs from Trump — whose desire to add 10 new reactors has nothing to do with climate change or reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But the effect is the same: Democratic officials are embracing nuclear energy in a way that would be unthinkable even a few years ago. Nuclear power “will provide clean, reliable energy at scale for generations to come and meet our growing energy demands,” Sherrill said last month in a press release. The embrace of nuclear energy by Sherrill and other Democratic leaders is being driven in part by circumstance. Governors of both parties are trying to keep pace with galloping demand for electricity — much of it from a surge of data centers. Some Democrats see nuclear power as a way to meet that demand over the long term while still achieving goals to eliminate power sector carbon emissions. While renewable energy is still key to those plans, many states are struggling to add enough new wind and solar energy and face a slowdown in federal funding for clean energy projects. The converging trends have pushed Democratic to lean into nuclear power, despite concerns about the potential impact on consumers and the environment.  Even so, states such as Illinois still see promise in nuclear power. Illinois is part of the nation’s largest power market, PJM Interconnection, where energy demand is rising faster than new power projects are being plugged into the grid. There, Pritzker has signed an executive order seeking to bolster what’s already the nation’s largest nuclear fleet.  In New Jersey, a bill Sherrill signed last month began an effort to add more than a gigawatt of new nuclear generation to the state’s power mix with a mid-2028 deadline for state regulators to approve a project. Not to be outdone, Hochul of New York wants 5 GW of new nuclear power online by 2040.  This spring, six New England governors, including four Democrats, signed onto a joint statement calling for support of existing nuclear plants and exploration of advanced nuclear energy technologies. In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) has gotten behind efforts to build a pair of small modular reactors at the site of the Palisades nuclear plant, which is being recommissioned after shutting down in 2022.

Jellyfish swarms force repeated shutdowns at French nuclear plant (slides) Gravelines nuclear plant in northern France halted multiple reactors in August after jellyfish clogged cooling water intake systems for the second year in a row.A large number of barrel jellyfish (Rhizostoma octopus) entered the seawater intake systems at the Gravelines nuclear power plant. This caused the automatic shutdown of units 2, 3, and 4. The jellyfish clogged the intake systems, disrupting normal reactor operations.  The jellyfish incident, combined with heat and drought, left 20.4% of France’s nuclear capacity offline, affecting 13 of 57 reactors.Local fishermen were called in to clear more than 26 tonnes of jellyfish from the intake channels at Gravelines during the latest incident. The removal was part of an immediate response to a sudden influx of jellyfish affecting the facility's operations.  Scientists say warming seas, overfishing, and pollution are fueling larger and more frequent jellyfish blooms, threatening coastal energy infrastructure.

It’s getting so hot that nuclear plants are being forced to power down -Nuclear energy is often touted as an ultra-efficient alternative to dirtier energy sources like coal or natural gas. Expanding the world’s capacity for atomic power is the key to avoiding a cascading climate disaster, some of the industry’s proponents say — but what if it’s too late? With record setting heatwaves scorching Europe, water levels in the continent’s major rivers are reaching all-time lows. While receding water levels are a huge boon for European archeologists as ancient ruins surface for the first time in centuries, the situation is causing massive headaches for nuclear engineers, who have had to scramble to power down nuclear energy facilities across the continent.As German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported, facilities like the two gigawatt Paks nuclear plant in Hungary have come close to powering down completely, as a critical lack of water flowing from the Danube threatened the facility’s ability to cool its reactors. That’s a major crisis, because in any given year, the Paks plant generates nearly half of the country’s total electricity supply. The Hungarian government is now scrambling to keep things running, ABC reported, mobilizing engineers to deliver some 145,000 cubic meters of rocks into the riverbed to manually slow the current and conserve water upstream. The situation isn’t much better in Romania, where the state-owned nuclear power producer may be forced to completely shut down its last remaining reactor, per Reuters. That’s not for lack of trying: earlier this month, the Romanian navy detonated 180 kilograms of explosives meant to redirect water from the Danube to cool its nuclear reactors.Meanwhile in France, a combination of extreme drought and a recurring jellyfish invasion have reduced the nation’s nuclear energy production by 20 percent, though a more diversified energy grid means the situation isn’t quite as hairy as those in Hungary or Romania.With yet another heat wave already on the horizon, Europe’s nuclear energy woes may really just be the tip of the iceberg.

Gavin Newsom says he won’t extend operations for California’s sole nuclear power plant - California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday said that he will not move this year to extend operations at Diablo Canyon, California’s only nuclear power plant, beyond the current expiration date. What happened: During a press conference in Oakland, POLITICO asked Newsom (D) whether the state should act this year to keep Diablo Canyon open beyond 2030. “That will be the determination of the next administration, a determination made by policymakers [who] will be here a lot longer than I will,” Newsom said. “I have a sell-by date in five months.” Why it matters: Newsom’s comments mark the first time the governor has taken a position on whether the state should extend operations at its lone nuclear power plant. His remarks are a major blow to Pacific Gas & Electric, which operates the plant and has made it clear that it wants to see action this year.

Thousands of acres of land in Wayne National Forest to be opened up to oil and gas drilling  — A Trump administration plan to lease lands in the Wayne National Forest for oil and gas development has raised the ire of environmentalists. On July 17, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced the agency’s intention to offer 41 oil and gas parcels totaling 2,840 acres for lease.The BLM completed scoping on these parcels in January. This was followed by a public comment period that closed in June, though a 30-day public protest period will remain open until Aug. 17. While the BLM allowed for comments to be submitted online during the public comment period, all comments submitted during the public protest period must be submitted by mail, Cathy Cowan Becker, co-leader of Save Ohio Parks, explained.The lease sale for the 41 oil and gas parcels in the Marietta Unit of the Wayne National Forest is scheduled to take place Sept. 15.  No lands in Athens County would be impacted by the lease, with all leased lands being located in Washington, Noble and Monroe counties, Becca Pollard, the executive director of Buckeye Environmental Network, explained.“They probably know that they would get a lot more pushback if they were to try to do this in Athens County, where there’s a larger population [and] more people visit that unit of the forest,” Pollard said. “These parcels that are being auctioned off are all in an area that has a long history of extraction [and] I think they don’t expect to have a lot of opposition there.” While the initial lease is for 2,840 acres, this represents a small portion of a much larger proposal approved by both the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service.The proposal could see as much as 40,000 acres of land in the Wayne National Forest leased out for oil and gas drilling, Nathan Johnson, the senior attorney for land and water at the Ohio Environmental Council, explained. This would be larger than Cuyahoga Valley National Park and would also represent a substantial chunk of the Wayne National Forest’s roughly 250,000 acres, Johnson added.Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the federal government has sought to increase the production of natural resources from public lands.The Trump administration’s efforts to lease lands in the Wayne National Forest for oil and gas drilling began during President Trump’s first term, Pollard explained.These efforts were stymied as a result of a lawsuit by the Ohio Environmental Council, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club and Heartwood against the BLM for its failure to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). “The leasing was halted and the Bureau of Land Management was told that they had to do an updated environmental assessment [because] their environmental assessment did not comply with the National Environmental Policy Act,” Pollard said.The BLM subsequently released an updated environmental assessment, but this fell short of the rigorous survey the Ohio Environmental Council and its partners were hoping for, Pollard explained.  Rather than an environmental assessment, which is less thorough, the Ohio Environmental Council and its partners wanted the BLM to conduct an environmental impact statement.The revised environmental assessment completed by BLM remains largely unchanged and because of this, the BLM is still out of compliance with NEPA, Johnson explained.“The environmental review that was completed and released by the Trump administration raises a whole host of questions. It’s obviously unlawful [and] fails to adequately review a number of environmental impacts that we’re really concerned about,” Johnson said. As a result of the lawsuit filed by the Ohio Environmental Council and its partners, an injunction was ordered mandating that the BLM would need to comply with NEPA in order to move forward with oil and gas leases.Despite this injunction, the BLM is moving forward with its plans to lease lands in the Wayne National Forest for oil and gas drilling, which has resulted in additional litigation by the Ohio Environmental Council and its partners, Johnson explained.“We’ve been litigating the underlying environmental reviews since 2017. Right now we’re in court asking the court to enforce the injunction on the underlying environmental review and agency activities in the interim,” Johnson said.One major flaw of the environmental assessment completed by the BLM is that the estimate of how much air pollution the agency thought could result from the project likely represents a significant undercount.The BLM left out Washington County from their air pollution estimates on the grounds that the land leased would be in Monroe County, even though half of the project area studied was in Washington County, Johnson explained.“Washington County is a Clean Air Act maintenance area. It has a history of air pollution problems, violations relating to ozone and fine particulate matter,” Johnson said. “If you look at the numbers the agency provided, they’re going well above and beyond thresholds of concern.”

Big Green Runs Back to Court to Block Drilling in Ohio’s Wayne NF -- Marcellus Drilling News - Here we go again. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) finally issued three permits to drill on Wayne National Forest (WNF) land in Monroe County, Ohio, back in May — the first new drilling permits in Ohio’s only national forest in years. Predictably, the same coalition of green groups that has kept a lid on WNF for the better part of two decades ran straight back to federal court to try to stop them. Read More

Fracking is not ‘responsible development’ of Ohio’s state parks and public lands -
Commentary by Melinda Zemper -  Ohio’s oil and gas industry continues to spread one of its cruel, bald-faced lies.Industry spokespeople claim fracking oil and gas from state parks and wildlife areas is “responsible development” of Ohio public lands.But parks don’t belong to one supermajority political party to lease, industrialize, monetize, and destroy. Ohio public lands belong to all Ohioans across generations.  We have a collective responsibility to steward them wisely.  Muckraker Upton Sinclair said it well: “It’s difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding.”Climate scientists, the United Nations and International Protocol on Climate Change have pleaded for decades for a fossil fuels energy phase-out. That phase-out has begun because energy markets want it.Renewable energy is on course to meet almost half global electric demand by 2030, with solar leading the pack. Wind and solar are now cheaper, reliable with battery storage and have zero-carbon footprints. This is great for Ohio pocketbooks, renewable energy jobs and hope for a livable planet. It’s not great for a greedy industry eager to lock in fossil fuel energy markets allowing them to power polluting AI data centers for the next 20 to 30 years. Wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Iran have damaged gas and oil production and transportation infrastructure throughout conflict areas. The Strait of Hormuz is now a flashpoint.  India, Pakistan and Australia, which experience some of the worst droughts and highest temperatures as the planet warms, are racing toward renewables. And Germany, a longtime energy innovator, has embraced balcony solar.Gov. Mike DeWine and Republican Party lawmakers captured by gas and oil and their 19th-century fossil fuels energy policy and are beginning to be exposed.  Save Ohio Parks research shows Ohio’s supermajority quashed the equivalent of 5.3 GW of renewable energy over the last 12 years while simultaneously creating or amending energy laws to expand natural gas fracking.  This is intentional. And it’s killing our state and planet. See how this works?Since 2010, the oil and gas industry has donated the vast majority of its donation dollars to GOP candidates. Utility donations keep the GOP in power in Ohio, too— in gerrymandered voting districts the Republican Party selects. Supermajority lawmakers, including Gov. Mike DeWine, support and pass laws to frack Ohio. The Oil and Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) has rubberstamped fracking 22,000 acres of Ohio state parks, wildlife areas, and public rights-of-way since DeWine’s 2022 reelection as governor. Fracking pollutes the air; depletes and destroys our fresh water; endangers biodiversity; and increases greenhouse gas emissions that supercharge climate warming.The question is, have voters had enough?Interestingly, Ohio’s AI data center explosion has elevated public consciousness of industry threats to Ohio’s air, water and lands.  Fracking used to be a NIMBY issue for Appalachian Ohio. Now, because of hyperscale centers using fracked gas plants and gas fuel cells across Ohio, it’s in everyone’s backyard.  Yet the GOP is slow-rolling regulation of Ohio’s 240 already-sited data centers. Most will run on gas fracked from public lands.This is a seminal election. The public needs to understand this. If we want clean air, fresh water and pristine parks, we need to vote only for candidates dedicated to protecting them. Fracking’s Achilles heel: what do we do with the waste?The public is just realizing fracking’s true, irrevocable harms: billions of gallons of toxic, radioactive wastewater are inexplicably deposited each year into U. S. injection wells for storage. Last month, Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) shut down four Class II injection wells in Washington County because pressurized toxic, radioactive wastewater brine migrated miles away from injection sites and contaminated conventional oil wells.Frack waste now poses a serious threat to drinking water aquifers for tens of thousands of people in Marietta and surrounding communities— while lawmakers and regulators remain willfully oblivious to the looming catastrophe. Instead, the industry and lawmakers hope the toxic waste will stay underground. But it doesn’t. Search for terms like “Dimock contamination,” “Gasland” or “Texas Groundwater Contamination” to learn how fracking and reckless waste management in Ohio and other states have destroyed or threaten to destroy drinking water across the country.To claim fracking public lands is “responsible” is a horrifying lie. Cheaper, reliable and zero-carbon wind and solar works for the rest of the world. It will work for Ohio, too.

Undisclosed Settlement Ends Mineral Rights Case That Had Been Headed To Trial - Ohio property owners and a drilling company, the parties that remained in a mineral rights case first filed in a federal court in Ohio in 2018, jointly stipulated to dismissal with prejudice after notifying the court that they negotiated an undisclosed settlement.  The joint stipulation of dismissal in the case over horizontal drilling into the Utica Shale and Point Pleasant formations was filed in the U.S. ...   Attached Documents

• Joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice
• J&R Passmore, et al.’s trial brief
• Rice Drilling’s trial brief
• J&R Passmore, et al.’s second amended complaint

Gulfport Aiming to Expand Utica Shale Position Under New CEO - Natural Gas Intelligence -Gulfport Energy is aiming to grow its Utica Shale footprint during the remainder of 2026 after its new CEO announced the launch of a “discretionary acreage acquisition program” to spend $140 million to bolt-on more assets in Ohio. Graph: NGI Appalachia regional average daily natural gas prices ranged from about $1.75 to $2.90/MMBtu from April through early August 2026.  At a Glance:
Builds on recent acquisition
Could boost Utica inventory 20%
Marcellus delineation adding locations

Ohio Utica's Ascent Resources Has 'Flexibility' for Big-Ball M&A - Hart Energy  Ascent Resources is adding more leasehold to its 402,400-net-acre position in Ohio’s Utica Shale, picking up another 4,000 net in three deals for roughly $40 million, or $9,900 per acre.  Privately held E&P Ascent Resources is a top producers of gas and oil in the Ohio Utica Shale.

Infinity Natural Resources Q2 Earnings Call Highlights -  Key Points

• Strong second-quarter performance: Infinity Natural Resources increased production 75% year over year to 348 Mcfe/d and posted record adjusted EBITDAX of $115 million. Oil output more than doubled, while gas and NGL production also grew substantially.
• Utica development is progressing: The company brought 10 Ohio wells online, advanced multiple Utica pads and said the first three wells from its Antero acquisition are meeting or exceeding expectations. Infinity is also improving drilling and completion efficiency while expanding use of its owned midstream system.
• Outlook reaffirmed despite leadership changes: Infinity maintained its 2026 production guidance of 345–375 Mcfe/d and development capital spending guidance of $450 million–$500 million. CFO David Sproule will depart, with Cary Baetz succeeding him and Andrew Judge joining as senior vice president of finance.

Infinity Natural Resources (NYSE:INR) reported second-quarter production growth of 75% year over year and record adjusted EBITDAX of $115 million, while advancing development of recently acquired Ohio Utica assets and reaffirming its full-year outlook.Net production averaged 348 million cubic feet equivalent per day (Mcfe/d) during the quarter. Oil production rose 102% from a year earlier to about 12,400 barrels per day, natural gas production increased 73% to approximately 217 MMcf/d, and NGL production climbed 57% to roughly 9,500 barrels per day.

CPK Update: Utica Gas to Data Centers, Marcellus Gas to Delmarva -- Marcellus Drilling News -   Chesapeake Utilities Corporation (NYSE: CPK) is a Dover, Delaware utility holding company that most folks in our patch have never heard of — which is a shame, because CPK owns two systems that Marcellus and Utica molecules flow through every single day. The company posted second quarter results Aug. 6 and held its analyst call Aug. 7. Buried inside the slides are updates on an Ohio data center pipeline, a nearly finished LNG plant on the Delmarva Peninsula, and a fresh $100 million bump to this year’s capital budget. Here’s CPK’s M-U story.

Akron’s B&W Buys 1 GW of Turbines for Gas-Fired Data Centers - Marcellus Drilling News - - Babcock & Wilcox — the 159-year-old boiler maker headquartered in Akron, Ohio — announced yesterday that it signed an agreement with Siemens Energy to start work on 20 steam turbine generator sets totaling 1 gigawatt (GW) of capacity for gas-fired data center projects. Here’s the part that caught our eye: B&W hasn’t announced signed customers for all of them. The company is buying the factory slots first and lining up buyers second. That’s a real bet on gas-fired power demand — and it’s being made by a company sitting right on top of the Utica.

$105M in Shale Money Headed to Ohio Wildlife Areas -The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) will ask the state Controlling Board on Monday, August 17, for authority to spend $105 million of oil and gas lease money on Ohio’s wildlife areas — construction, renovation and grants, on a budget line that currently has zero dollars appropriated for the year. It’s the biggest single deployment of shale money since Ohio started leasing public land, and it’s a good moment to revisit what the opposition told Ohioans would happen instead

OH Point Pleasant Deep Rights Case vs. Rice Ends Days Before Trial - One of the biggest landowner-vs.-driller cases in Ohio shale history just ended — with no verdict, no dollar figure, and a two-page piece of paper. On July 29, a group of Belmont County mineral owners and Rice Drilling D LLC (owned by EQT) jointly asked a federal judge to throw out the case for good, roughly two months after it was supposed to go in front of a jury. Eight years, 580 docket entries, and one of the most consequential lease questions in the Utica — settled behind closed doors.

Miles Road waterline project remains stalled after series of gas line strikes - - Work remains paused on part of the Miles Road waterline replacement project as Enbridge Gas Ohio continues verifying the location of underground gas lines after multiple strikes in recent weeks.  For roughly a week, crews have been unable to resume excavation east of Brainard Road.   “Enbridge Gas Ohio crews are providing additional verification of our underground utilities due to conditions encountered during the project,” the company said in a statement. “We anticipate the waterline replacement project will be able to proceed next week as safely as possible.”

Miles Road waterline project in Orange Village to resume after 3 gas line strikes in 15 days -  Officials say Enbridge Gas has located and marked known gas lines east of Brainard Road and will provide an onsite response team when work resumes Thursday. — Construction on the waterline replacement project on Miles Road in Orange Village will resume later this week after a pause was put into place due to repeated gas line strikes. In a joint release, officials in Solon and Orange Village announced that Terrace Construction will restart the project on Thursday amid an agreement "by all parties." "Enbridge Gas has conducted and completed a comprehensive effort to locate and mark all known gas lines in the area east of Brainard Road," the release stated. "Enbridge will provide an onsite response team to coordinate with Terrace in taking all proper precautions." The pause in construction, announced on July 30, came after three separate gas line strikes during a period of 15 days, leading to road closures and shelter-in-place orders. The first incident happened on July 15, when according to Orange Village Mayor Jud Kline, a utility-locating contractor incorrectly marked underground utilities before crews began installing new water lines. As crews excavated based on those markings, they struck a gas line, prompting evacuations, shelter-in-place orders and the temporary closure of U.S. 422 near the Miles Road overpass. On July 29, a gas leak occurred when construction crews struck a gas line, prompting the temporary closure of Miles Road between Brainard and Miles Market. One day later, another gas leak was reported as crews were installing a new waterline along Miles Road. Police and fire personnel from Orange Village and Solon responded to the scene along with Enbridge Gas and construction crews to secure the area and facilitate repairs. "Officials from both municipalities, alongside representatives from the waterline replacement project and utility providers, are convening for a comprehensive coordination meeting as soon as possible and before work is permitted to continue," Orange Village Fire Chief Larry Genova said in a statement after the third gas leak was secured. "The goal of this meeting is to address the recent incidents, review safety protocols, and outline clear corrective measures to prevent further disruptions." That afternoon, Solon and Orange Village officials announced that excavation work for the waterline project would be put on hold while Enbridge located and marked all known active and inactive gas lines in the area. Once that work was completed, Terrace Construction was to perform "additional hand digging and other verification measures to confirm the location of underground utilities before excavation continues." "Orange Village and the City of Solon appreciate the patience and understanding of residents and businesses affected by the incident and the temporary traffic disruptions," Tuesday's joint release added. "Orange Village and the City of Solon remain committed to completing this important water infrastructure improvement project safely and will continue working closely with Terrace Construction, Enbridge Gas, and our public safety partners throughout the remainder of the project."

Putnam County crews respond to ruptured gas line on SR 190 - (WLIO) - Area agencies working together after a natural gas line was struck in Fort Jennings. The Putnam County Office of Public Safety says that crews were dispatched to the area of the 17000 block of SR 190 around noon on Tuesday after a four inch natural gas line was struck by a bulldozer with an ODOT crew working on a new drainage system. Residents in a half mile radius of the scene are advised to shelter in place until crews can manage the situation. The work is expected to take several hours. August 12, 2026, Press Release from the Putnam County Office of Public Safety: At approximately 12:06 p.m., emergency crews were dispatched to the 17000 block of State Route 190 in Fort Jennings after a 4-inch natural gas line was struck. The Fort Jennings Fire Department, Putnam County Sheriff’s Department, EMA, EMS, Ottoville EMS, and the gas company are currently on the scene working to manage the incident and ensure the safety of residents and the surrounding community. Residents within a one-half-mile radius of the incident are asked to shelter in place until further notice. The shelter-in-place order is expected to remain in effect for several hours until the situation is managed. Additional information will be provided as it becomes available.

Enbridge Wants $163M More From Ohio Gas Customers, Regulators Push Back -Enbridge Gas Ohio is asking state regulators for permission to raise natural gas rates by roughly $163 million a year, a request that would add about $7.60 to $9.49 to the average residential customer's monthly bill. But a staff investigation at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio has recommended a much smaller increase, setting up a fight over just how much of that cost households across northern and eastern Ohio should actually have to cover.According to WKTN, Enbridge's formal application sought a $163,072,527 annual revenue increase, a 17.28% jump, but PUCO staff instead recommended an increase somewhere between $112,646,190 and $129,447,541 — 11.86% to 13.63% — which would trim the estimated average residential monthly bill impact down to $5.90. That gap between what the company wants and what state auditors think is justified sits at the heart of the case now working its way through Columbus.As reported by FOX 8 Cleveland WJW, Enbridge Gas Ohio spokesperson Stephanie Moore said the proposed increase is needed to manage financial pressures on multiple fronts. The company points to higher operations and maintenance costs, higher construction expenses for meters, pipelines and related work, and a need to recover costs tied to previous system investment. Enbridge also says it needs to reconcile tax accounts related to post-retirement plans, and Moore has said natural gas remains one of the most affordable energy sources, adding that Enbridge customers benefit from the company's robust system and supply sources and currently have some of the lowest natural gas rates in Ohio.This is not the first time PUCO has taken a skeptical view of Enbridge's numbers. In the utility's previous base rate case, decided in June 2025, the commission rejected Enbridge's requested $211 million annual revenue hike and instead ordered a $26.3 million annual rate reduction for residential customers, according to the Ohio Energy Report. That recent history helps explain why state staff are again recommending far less than what the company has asked for this time around.The current proceeding is made up of four consolidated dockets filed December 31, 2025: Case Nos. 25-1097-GA-AIR for the rate increase itself, 25-1098-GA-ALT for an alternative rate plan, 25-1099-GA-AAM covering accounting methods, and 25-1100-GA-ATA for tariff revisions, per the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. Alongside the base rate request, Enbridge's alternative rate plan application seeks approval to modify and continue its Pipeline Infrastructure Replacement and Capital Expenditure Program riders, mechanisms that let the utility pass pipeline capital investment costs to customers outside of a traditional rate case, the Daily Standard reported.The proposed hike has already generated visible backlash from customers. Fox 8 Cleveland WJW reported that at a PUCO public meeting at the Akron Public Library, resident Robert Adams said Enbridge reported profits of about $1.4 billion in the last quarter, pointing to the figure as he objected to the company's request. PUCO Commissioner John Williams told the outlet that affordability will be weighed heavily during consideration of the proposed increase, and that customer concerns will be factored into the commission's final decision, which is expected around the end of the year.PUCO planned three public meetings across the service area to hear customer comments on the case. In addition to the Akron session, the commission will hold a public hearing on August 19 at the Frank J. Lausche State Office Building at 615 W. Superior Ave. in Cleveland, and another on August 31 at the Lima Public Library at 650 W. Market St. in Lima. Williams said the public can offer comments or concerns about the case, and customers can also submit comments online through the PUCO website.The Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel has issued public alerts opposing the rate increase, warning that raising fixed monthly distribution charges disproportionately hurts low-income households and seniors because those fixed fees cannot be reduced through energy conservation, according to the Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel. Unlike usage-based charges, a fixed monthly fee stays the same no matter how much a household cuts back on gas use, which advocates say strips away one of the few tools lower-income customers have to control their bills.The Ohio Consumers' Counsel also notes that Enbridge's filing is part of a broader wave of utility rate requests moving through PUCO in 2025 and 2026, including a $212 million request from Columbia Gas of Ohio along with separate filings from Duke Energy, AES Ohio and FirstEnergy. That pattern means many Ohio households could be facing compounding increases across both their gas and electric bills in the coming year.

8 New Shale Well Permits Reported for PA-OH-WV Aug 3 – 9 - Marcellus Drilling News - The Marcellus/Utica region received 8 new drilling permits last week, August 3 – 9, down 7 from two weeks ago. Pitiful. (Cue Linda Ronstadt’s “Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me“) It’s actually a little worse than that. Two weeks ago, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources didn’t issue a report. One of the Ohio permits from last week is actually from two weeks ago. Pennsylvania only issued 2 new permits, Ohio issued 6 (5 new + 1 tardy), and West Virginia was a big, fat goose egg. The drillers who received new permits were: Apex Energy (4), Ascent Resources (1), EOG Resources (1), and Expand Energy (2)  Apex Energy | Ascent Resources | Bradford County  | EOG Resources | Expand Energy | Guernsey County | Monroe County |

Mineral Buyers Say Ohio Is Easy Pickings, West Virginia Isn’t - Marcellus Drilling News - Two panels at THE SUMMIT: Appalachia on July 28 were aimed squarely at the money side of the business — one on minerals and non-operated working interests, one on capital markets. If you own minerals in Ohio or West Virginia, or you’ve been getting letters offering to buy your royalty, the first panel explains exactly who is sending them and why. And both panels landed hard on a financing structure that has quietly moved $15 billion into oil and gas — with several speakers predicting it blows up. MDN was an advertising partner for the event and obtained the transcripts with the organizer’s permission. This is the fourth and final of four articles chronicling the event

NextEra Inks Final Deal, Gets $3.3B for 4.3-GW SWPA Gas Plant -- Marcellus Drilling News - - Back in March, we brought you news that the Trump administration had announced “South Mon,” a $17 billion, 4.3-gigawatt (GW) natural gas-fired power hub headed for southwestern Pennsylvania, funded as part of Japan’s $550 billion U.S. investment commitment (see Trump Admin Announces $17 Billion Gas-Fired Power Plant for SWPA). At the time, we grumbled that there were “precious few details” — no location, no contracts, no money changing hands. Just a handshake at the White House. On Tuesday, NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE) announced the handshake has become a signature. The company has executed definitive agreements with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Government of Japan covering up to 10 GW of gas-fired generation across Pennsylvania and Texas — and, more importantly, an initial $3.3 billion tranche of funding has been released. That money buys turbines. Real ones.

MDN Sleuths Out Location of New 200 MW PA Gas Data Center Project - Marcellus Drilling News - - A Nasdaq-listed company you’ve almost certainly never heard of says it has signed a binding term sheet to buy roughly 1,800 acres of unleased Marcellus mineral rights in “northern Pennsylvania,” drill a dozen wells on it, burn the gas in on-site turbines, and run a 200-megawatt AI data center behind the meter — with a stretch goal of 1 gigawatt. The company, Alpha Compute Corp. (Nasdaq: ALP), never says which county. We think we’ve figured it out: Tioga County. Here’s what’s actually known, what we deduced, and what nobody should be printing as fact yet.

Q2 2026 Earnings Calls: MPLX Continues to Execute on Wellhead-to-Water Strategy | RBN Energy -- MPLX's latest earnings call, on August 4th, reinforced that the partnership remains focused on expanding its natural gas and NGL value chain rather than pursuing major crude oil infrastructure projects. Management highlighted continued strong producer activity across the Marcellus, Utica and Permian basins, driving high utilization rates at its gathering systems, processing plants and takeaway pipelines. Project execution remains the central theme for 2026. During the quarter, MPLX placed the 200 MMcf/d Secretariat I processing plant (red diamond in Fig. 1) in the Delaware basin into service and recently started up Harmon Creek III, 300 MMcf/d, in the Utica/Marcellus. The partnership also confirmed that additional sour gas processing capacity, gas gathering expansions and NGL projects are scheduled to enter service over the balance of the year. These include an expansion of the Permian NGL pipeline, BANGL(blue line) to 300 Mb/d, incremental sour gas treating in the Delaware basin at the Titan processing complex (blue diamond). Along with the Q4 startup of the WhiteWater Midstream operated 2.5 Bcf/d Blackcomb pipeline (white/black dashed line). MPLX owns a 34% stake in Blackcomb.Gas projects still in the pipeline include a mid 2028 start for the 3.7 Bcf/d Eiger Express pipeline (yellow/black line in Fig.1). MPLX owns a 22% stake in Eiger. The 2.6 Bcf/d Bay Runner Pipeline (red/black) extends the Whistler system from Agua Dulce to NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG terminal (orange triangle) and forms part of the Rio Bravo/Bay Runner twin-pipeline project (purple/black). Combined the Bay Runner system will be capable of supplying ~5.3 Bcf/d of feed gas to NextDecade LNG by the end of this decade. Further out on the horizon is the development of MPLX’s Texas City NGL and JV with ONEOK LPG assets. Maryann Mannen President, CEO & Chairman of the Board of MPLX GP LLC said “We expect the first 150 Mb/d fractionator, the 400 Mb/d JV LPG export terminal and the associated purity pipeline to be in service in 2028, followed by the second 150 Mb/d fractionator in 2029.”Looking ahead, management emphasized that its development pipeline remains heavily weighted toward fee-based natural gas and NGL infrastructure, with opportunities extending beyond processing plants to include gathering expansions, compression, fractionation and downstream connectivity. The company continues to see sustained demand from producers seeking reliable takeaway and processing capacity, particularly as LNG export growth and rising domestic natural gas demand support long-term production increases.

Cove Point's Winter Gas Premium Is Really an M-U Pipeline Story - Marcellus Drilling News Forward natural gas prices for this coming winter at the Cove Point LNG terminal in Maryland have gone parabolic — and if you produce, gather, or transport Marcellus/Utica gas, you should care, because the pipes behind this story are the same pipes you use every day. A quick primer: a 'forward price' is what buyers and sellers agree today to pay for gas delivered on a future date — think of it as locking in a price months ahead of time. When forward prices spike, it means the market is already betting on tight supply or high demand down the road.

Millennium’s Two New Expansions Set Up Enbridge’s Project Beacon -- Marcellus Drilling News - A new report from RBN Energy fills in a piece of the Project Beacon puzzle we haven’t fully covered: two separate Millennium Pipeline expansions — one already sanctioned, one still on the drawing board — that DT Midstream and TC Energy are advancing to feed New England’s growing appetite for Marcellus/Utica gas. One is moving fast. The other needs New York State’s blessing, which is never a sure thing.

NY Banned Fracking, Now Data Centers. Is PA Dumb Enough to Copy? -- Marcellus Drilling News - - Pennsylvania got off easy in the 2026-27 budget. Only one data center bill made it into law, and it was a toothless one. But the Pittsburgh Business Times reports Harrisburg is loading up for another round this fall — and this time the antis have a working blueprint to copy. It’s called New York, where Gov. Kathy Hochul banned new hyperscale data centers last month, and where the anti-fracking crowd has already spent a decade proving what happens when a state tells industry to go away.

Step by Step – Northeast Gas Projects Move Forward, One Step at a Time - Efforts to move more natural gas into gas-starved New England are picking up steam. Enbridge recently said the open season for its Project Beacon, an expansion to the Algonquin Gas Transmission (AGT) system into and through New England, fared better than expected and remains a top priority. At the same time, DT Midstream is moving ahead with one expansion of its Millennium Pipeline, which moves Marcellus/Utica gas to a key AGT interconnection, as it weighs a much larger one. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll update Project Beacon’s status and dig into the two Millennium projects that will help boost supplies to New England. As we discussed in Movin’ Out, Marcellus/Utica producers have wanted to send more gas into New England for years. But most big expansion projects have, until relatively recently, hit massive resistance. Regulators and elected officials are now more open to brownfield projects that build on existing infrastructure, especially if they help reduce the need for diesel-fired power during peak winter demand. The nearby Marcellus/Utica still has plenty of gas to meet rising demand, but more production only matters if the pipeline capacity exists to move that gas to market. (For a deep dive into the Northeast gas market and how it may be poised for a reawakening, see our recently published Drill Down report, Wake Me Up.)Let’s start with a bit of background. In September 2025, Enbridge, owner of the 3.1-Bcf/d AGT system that stretches from New Jersey to eastern Massachusetts (purple lines in Figure 1 below), sanctioned the development of the AGT Enhancement. The project, scheduled for completion in late 2028, is designed to ease constraints along the 1,130-mile system and increase its capacity during peak-demand periods by 75 MMcf/d. This project involves:

• Installation of about 3 miles of new 36-inch-diameter looping pipeline (i.e., parallel piping; yellow boxes in Figure 1 below) along the AGT system near Burrillville, RI
• Replacing more than 8 miles of existing 16-inch pipeline in Massachusetts’s Norfolk and Worcester counties and Rhode Island’s Providence County with 36-inch pipe (green boxes)
• Adding more than 2 miles of 12-inch looping pipeline in Newport County, RI (dark-blue boxes)
• Making software improvements to AGT’s existing compressor station in Cromwell, CT (orange boxes)

In February, Enbridge asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to use its pre-filing process to expedite the project’s review. The commission approved that request. The company’s formal filing for a FERC Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) to build the project is in the works. Also, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) has approved the 10-year precedent agreements between AGT and two New England utilities (NSTAR Gas and Eversource Gas of Massachusetts) that underpin the project.That brings us to Project Beacon. Enbridge’s AGT Enhancement project is the opening act for this much larger project. Project Beacon could add another 300 MMcf/d of capacity to the system (and possibly more) by late 2030 through a series of physical and operational improvements. (Enbridge hasn’t provided specifics, but Project Beacon may well include replacing existing pipe with larger-diameter pipe, installing looping along parts of the system, and adding compression.)In its Q2 earnings call on July 31, Enbridge CEO Greg Ebel said the company’s Project Beacon open season, which ran through July 1, “significantly exceeded our initial expectations.” (Click here for a primer on open seasons.) While this is positive news for Enbridge, there is a lot of work to do. Ebel said the company is working with utility, power and data-center customers to advance the project toward binding commitments while also moving through the permitting process, with more updates expected later this year.Given its potential size and scope, Project Beacon will be a test of how open New England officials are to expanding pipeline capacity in the energy-challenged region. Our bet is that AGT’s likely approach of limiting system improvements to its existing rights of way — combined with New England’s clear need for more inbound capacity — will help the project win needed approvals, though the effort is unlikely to be friction-free. Akman said permitting remains the biggest obstacle: “Of course, there's a lot of hurdles to pass. As you all know, permitting is the #1 thing there.” He said the company will stay disciplined and keep the permitting risk manageable as it advances the project. Project Beacon may be the clearest test case for how New England’s gas constraints are beginning to translate into new infrastructure. Project Beacon is expected to get a good bit of its incremental supply needs from DT Midstream’s Millennium, the 1.9 -Bcf/d, 266-mile pipeline (see blue line in Figure 2 below) that runs across New York’s Southern Tier (just above the New York/Pennsylvania state line) from the Corning/Independence area to the Ramapo, NY, interconnect in Rockland County, where Millennium connects into AGT (pink line).The Millennium Pipeline, which is 52.5% owned by DT Midstream and 47.5% by TC Energy (formerly TransCanada), is advancing one expansion while continuing to evaluate a second. The 70-MMcf/d Repurposing to Ramapo (R2R) expansion reached a final investment decision (FID) earlier this year and remains on schedule for service in Q1 2027. The project is supported by long-term contracts with two utilities and an existing power plant.Millennium is also developing Millennium PRO, a larger expansion that would add looping and new compression, although that project remains in the early planning stages, with no FID or construction schedule announced. Keep in mind that Millennium PRO requires New York state regulatory approval. As we discussed in All We Are Saying ... Is Give (NESE) a Chance, New York finally approved Williams Cos.’ long-stalled Northeast Supply Enhancement project last year, but the Empire State is still a particularly challenging place to get major energy projects permitted.When asked about Millennium PRO on the recent earnings call, DT Midstream’s Slater described it as being complementary to Project Beacon. “You can almost think of the two projects as tandem projects. … As Beacon commercializes, that's going to drive incremental opportunity on Millennium.”In addition to Project Beacon and the Millennium expansions, there are a couple other projects worth keeping in mind:

• The Iroquois Gas Transmission System, which moves Canadian gas south across upstate New York to New England (and New York’s Long Island) is moving ahead with its Expansion by Compression (ExC) which received New York air permits in 2025 and is designed to add about 125 MMcf/d of capacity on the existing system through the addition of more compression, with service targeted for 2027-28.
• The bigger wildcard is the Wright Interconnect Project (WIP), which Iroquois is seeking to reauthorize as part of Williams’s effort to revive the long-stalled Constitution Pipeline. (WIP would enable the northern terminus of Constitution to tie into both Iroquois and the Tennessee Gas Pipeline system, the latter of which also flows into New England.) Constitution and WIP were originally certificated by FERC in 2014 but never built.

For New England, this extra capacity could mean fewer winter price spikes and a more resilient power grid heading into a period of rising data-center demand. If Beacon and the Millennium expansions stay on track, they would mark a shift from years of stalled greenfield proposals toward a more pragmatic, brownfield-led approach. We’ll be watching closely as Enbridge moves Beacon from open-season success to binding commitments and as DT Midstream advances its Millennium projects through the permitting process.

Gas Transmission Work Doubles at Pipeline Builder ESOA - Marcellus Drilling News - - When a pipeline construction contractor tells you its gas transmission work has more than doubled in a single year, that’s not a stock story — that’s a leading indicator. Energy Services of America (Nasdaq: ESOA), the Huntington, WV-based contractor that actually digs the ditches and welds the pipe across Appalachia, reported fiscal third quarter results Monday afternoon. Revenue hit $130.0 million, up 25.5% from $103.6 million a year ago. But the number that matters for our readers is buried in the fine print of the 10-Q: revenue from Gas & Petroleum Transmission work jumped from roughly $9.7 million to $21.2 million — an increase of about 120%.

FERC Green-Lights $5.2B Kinder Morgan Southeast Gas Push - Marcellus Drilling News - -We missed one, and it’s a big one. On July 31, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) handed Kinder Morgan certificates of public convenience and necessity for BOTH of its blockbuster Southeast projects — the Mississippi Crossing Project (MSX) on Tennessee Gas Pipeline, and the South System Expansion 4 Project (SSE4) on Southern Natural Gas and Elba Express. Put together, that’s roughly 500 miles of new steel, about $5.2 billion of capital, and something on the order of 3.8 million dekatherms per day of new firm transportation capacity aimed squarely at the fastest-growing gas market in the country. FERC issued the order right on time — the FAST-41 schedule said “no later than July 31,” and the Commission delivered on the last possible day.

The 1938 Law Running Your Pipeline Projects Was Never Updated -- Marcellus Drilling News - The last 18 months have been about as good as it gets for anyone who moves Marcellus and Utica molecules. President Trump’s Executive Order 14154 killed the Biden LNG export pause on day one. FERC rewrote its environmental review procedures in June 2025 to speed things up. And FERC finally drove a stake through Order No. 871, the Biden-era rule that let Big Green freeze construction on an approved pipeline just by filing an appeal (see FERC Upholds Eliminating Order 871 – Pipeline Challenge Rule). Here’s the uncomfortable part, and a new Congressional Research Service report (full copy below) lays it out plainly: not one of those wins is written into law. Every single one is an executive order or an agency policy choice. Which means a different president and a different FERC can undo all of it — using exactly the same authority.

Midstream Companies Expand Natural Gas Pipelines as LNG & AI Demand Grows - Several midstream energy companies are expanding their natural gas pipelines through new acquisitions and project developments as they look to capture growing demand for natural gas driven by liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and data centers.
    ◾Williams Companies (WMB) announced a $5.5 billion acquisition of Momentum Midstream alongside its $1.5 billion Delta Access Expansion project.
   ◾Enbridge (ENB:TSE) and MPLX (MPLX) sanctioned the 2.6 Bcf/d Bay Runner Twin Pipeline to supply Permian gas to the Rio Grande LNG export terminal.
   ◾TC Energy(TRP:TSE) and DT Midstream (DTM) secured expansion initiatives directly tied to regional gas-fired power generation and AI data center loads.

This year has seen midstream operators deploy capital to consolidate high-demand pipeline corridors. Leading the charge, Williams Companies (WMB) is set to acquire Momentum Midstream for $5.5 billion. The acquisition adds 4.05 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of capacity across three take-or-pay pipelines. The pipelines are positioned to serve growing Gulf Coast LNG, power, and industrial customers. Alongside the acquisition, Williams announced its $1.5 billion Delta Access Expansion. This 2.25 Bcf/d take-or-pay project along its Transco corridor will move Haynesville natural gas to growing Gulf Coast markets starting in early 2029. Decades-long contractual commitments are common in the midstream space, helping offset risk. A joint venture, including Enbridge Inc. (ENB:TSE) and MPLX LP (MPLX), officially sanctioned the Bay Runner Twin Pipeline. The project is designed to deliver 2.6 Bcf/d of Permian gas supply to NextDecade’s (NEXT) Rio Grande LNG facility. Furthermore, the take-or-pay pipeline is scheduled to enter service by 2030.  This project will add to the original 2.6 Bcf/d Bay Runner Pipeline, which is slated to begin service in the third quarter of this year. Hyperscale AI data centers are rapidly emerging as key consumers of natural gas power generation. TC Energy Corporation (TRP:TSE) sanctioned two expansion efforts backed by 20-year take-or-pay contracts. These include the $300 million Central Virginia Capacity Project (0.4 Bcf/d targeting 2028–2030) and the $100 million Clark Project (0.3 Bcf/d targeting 2028). Both serve natural gas-fired utilities catering to regional data centers. Similarly, DT Midstream Inc. (DTM) commercialized a new 380 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) interconnect on its NEXUS pipeline. The pipeline addition directly supplies a newly constructed AI data center in Ohio.

Williams Clinches $5.5B Momentum Midstream Deal to Dominate Haynesville-to-LNG Corridor -- Williams Cos. plans to acquire Momentum Midstream for up to $5.5 billion, giving the pipeline operator a larger position connecting Haynesville Shale production with the nearby natural gas demand growing along the Gulf Coast.

Two Fossil Fuel Companies Are Driving the Data Center Boom --  It’s been a banner year for oil and gas companies. Some of the world’s biggest oil giants have announced billions of dollars in quarterly profits over the past two weeks, boosted largely by the soaring price of oil thanks to the conflict in the Middle East.But the artificial intelligence boom is also giving fossil fuel companies a new industry to sell their gas, pipelines, and power plants to: data centers. Two American oil and gas companies, Williams and Chevron, are presenting that demand to investors as a huge win.Data centers are becoming “a big driver for both power and gas demand in the US,” says Ashish Sethia, the global head of commodities and energy at BloombergNEF. The group published a report last week that found that increased demand for natural gas by the mid-2030s, driven partly by data centers, means that the US would need to increase production by 36 percent.The boom could have big climate implications—even when considering projects that aren’t connected to the larger grid. Just five of the seven data-center-connected gas-fired power plants highlighted in these two companies’ second quarter results could emit as much as 21 million tons of greenhouse gases per year, according to their permit applications. That’s an amount roughly on par with the annual emissions of Guatemala, though the actual emissions may be lower than what’s on the permits.Executives from both Williams and Chevron said on earnings calls that they expect to expand on facilities they are building now for the data center industry for years to come.“The frightening thing about the tech and oil alliance is that this is a lifeline to an industry that we need to be phasing out,” says Lukas Shankar-Ross, deputy director at Friends of the Earth, an environmental nonprofit.While it may not be a household name like Chevron or Exxon, Williams is one of biggest oil and gas infrastructure companies in the US—and it has also created a highly profitable data-center services business. Last year, Williams announced that it would build a power plant and associated pipeline infrastructure in Ohio solely for use by a data center. Building islanded infrastructure like this, also referred to as “behind-the-meter” power, has become an increasingly popular option for tech companies that don’t want to deal with long wait times to connect to the electric grid or impact consumer electricity prices.Williams is now building six behind-the-meter gas plants for data centers across the country, including four projects serving Meta data centers in Ohio. (Meta declined to comment.) In mid-July, Williams announced more than $5 billion in investments for its data center ventures, including money from private equity giant KKR.Williams’ four power plants that have filed permit applications could, according to those applications, emit up to 9.6 million tons of greenhouse gases per year, which is equivalent to the emissions from more than 22 average natural gas plants, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Williams spokesperson Alex Schott tells WIRED in an email that the facilities are “designed to operate well below permitted limits” and comply with state air requirements. The company’s modeling, Schott says, puts actual emissions from these plants at “potentially” two-thirds less than what’s on the permits.The company is also building a 9-mile natural gas pipeline across an Ohio suburb. Williams executives say they envision the pipeline being used not just to serve its power plants for Meta in the area, but also to supply natural gas to the growing number of data centers in that region. In an earnings call in May, Williams president Chad Zamarin said the company “overbuilt the capacity” of a pipeline serving one of its Meta-affiliated power plants to “be an energy artery along which other projects could be developed.”The largest behind-the-meter gas power plant Williams is building for Meta in Ohio is just under 700 megawatts. But Williams isn’t the only company betting big on providing data centers with power, and that project pales in comparison to the size of the 2.67-gigawatt project Chevron is building for a Microsoft data center in Texas. The oil giant reported its best quarterly profits in six years on Friday, and highlighted the partnership in all of its investor materials. In June, Chevron confirmed that it had signed an agreement with Microsoft. The companies signed a power purchase agreement—an arrangement to purchase electricity at an agreed-upon price for a set period of time—that lasts for 20 years. (Williams’ agreements with Meta for its data center power are between 10 and 12.5 years.) Chevron says the project is the only “multi-[gigawatt]” project with such a “long-term” contract in place. As WIRED reported in April, the power plant quietly applied for a school district tax break worth millions, which was finalized by the state late last month.The Chevron and Microsoft plant, according to its permit, could produce more than 11.5 million tons of carbon-dioxide-equivalent emissions per year. Chevron spokesperson Paula Beasley says the power plant is designed to comply with federal and state environmental requirements.“Kilby's approach focuses on natural gas generation for reliable capacity, with the possibility of adding renewable generation in the future,” she says.Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment. While Williams and Chevron are early movers, Sethia thinks that “multiple players” stand to benefit from building pipeline infrastructure for data centers. “One of the patterns we are seeing is a lot of the new data center announcements are starting to cluster around areas which have gas pipelines,” says Sethia.  Building islanded power plants at the scale and speed that the AI industry requires is a relatively new phenomenon. With utility bills rising and helping to fuel the national backlash against data centers, the Trump administration is actively encouraging tech companies to figure out ways to keep their projects from impacting the grid, which includes bringing their own power.Whether these massive plants will stay serving data centers only, or if they will eventually be connected to the grid is “a massive question for the future of power prices in the country,” Sethia says. While Chevron’s investor materials indicate that it expects to connect the Microsoft power plant to the grid sometime after 2030, Texas’ grid is facing significant delays for interconnection. Beasley says that an interconnection application for the plant has already been submitted. “Future interconnection could enable export of surplus power and provide additional system redundancy, if achieved,” she says.Schott, the Williams spokesperson, says that the company is looking into technologies to increase the efficiency of their gas plants. “Future interconnection opportunities could be evaluated once the long-term load profile and system needs are better understood,” she says.Large gas plants are long-term investments that can outlast the shorter-term political whims of presidential administrations. Building more fossil fuel infrastructure to power data centers now, Shankar-Ross points out, could delay the renewable energy transition that may pick back up if political winds shift.“If, 20 years from now, there’s a public grid dominated by renewables, and a private grid dominated by fossil gas, Microsoft will bear some of the responsibility here,” he says.

U.S. Propane Stocks Climb as East Coast Leads the Build  - The EIA reported that total U.S. propane/propylene inventories increased by 1.9 MMbbl for the week ended August 7, approximately 800 Mbbl above industry expectations for a 1.1-MMbbl build but 272 Mbbl less than the average build for the week of 2.1 MMbbl. Stocks reached 105 MMbbl (red line in the chart below), standing 16.4 MMbbl, or 19%, above the same week in 2025 (blue line). Inventories were also 14.4 MMbbl, or 16%, above the previous five-year maximum and 24.4 MMbbl, or 30%, above the five-year average (green line). Stocks reached their highest level since October 2025. The 1.9-MMbbl nationwide build was broad-based but led by PADD 1 (East Coast), which added 1.2 MMbbl and accounted for nearly two-thirds of the increase. East Coast stocks reached 8.1 MMbbl (red line in the chart below), representing approximately 8% of total U.S. inventories. Inventories were 579 Mbbl, or 8%, above last year (blue line) and 775 Mbbl, or 11%, above the five-year average (green line) but remained 48 Mbbl, or less than 1%, below the previous five-year maximum. PADD 3 (Gulf Coast), by comparison, contributed only 251 Mbbl, or about 13%, of this week’s build but remained the primary source of the elevated national inventory position. Gulf Coast stocks reached 66.9 MMbbl (red line in the chart below), representing approximately 64% of total U.S. inventories. Inventories were 13.6 MMbbl, or 26%, above last year (blue line); 12.1 MMbbl, or 22%, above the previous five-year maximum; and 20.9 MMbbl, or 45%, above the five-year average (green line). Taken together, the regional data reveal a clear divergence, with the East Coast driving this week’s nationwide build while the Gulf Coast remained the foundation of the country’s elevated inventory position.

US Strategic Petroleum Reserve drops below 300 million barrels, lowest since 1980s -The U.S.’s emergency oil reserve has fallen below 300 million barrels of oil for the first time since it was being filled decades ago. New Energy Department data shows that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) contained 298.7 million barrels as of Friday. The last time the level was below 300 million barrels was in the early 1980s. The drop is not a surprise, as the Trump administration announced in March that it would release 172 million barrels from the reserve over the course of 120 days. The U.S.’s war in Iran has put a crunch on global oil supplies because Iran has been able to limit oil shipping through the nearby Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint. This has resulted in higher prices for consumers at the pump. Low levels in the federal oil reserve are generally a separate matter from private oil stocks and consumer fuel availability, though releases and purchases from the reserve can impact available supplies on the market. The SPR was created in 1975 after oil-producing countries imposed an embargo against the U.S., triggering a supply shock. While the reserve is authorized to hold up to 714 million barrels, its actual total has fluctuated over the years as various administrations and Congress have used the country’s spare barrels to fill supply gaps or pay for expenses. The Biden administration also released 180 million barrels in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent oil prices spiking. Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, noted in a post on the social platform X that SPR declines “are likely for a few more weeks before the authorized release is complete.”

Crude Awakening: U.S. Net Imports Skyrocket to 14-Month High | RBN Energy - According to the EIA’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report (WPSR) released this morning for the week ended August 7, net imports surged 1.8 MMb/d to 4.3 MMb/d (red dashed oval in chart below), their highest weekly level since June 2025. Put simply, net imports measure the amount of crude entering the U.S. minus the amount shipped overseas. When net imports rise, more barrels are effectively staying at home, adding to the domestic crude supply available to refiners or storage.  Last week the U.S. crude balance was a reprieve from fears in recent months of a global crude shortage, with imports jumping and exports sinking. As discussed in this week’s Crude Oil Billboard, imports soared 1.1 MMb/d to 7.4 MMb/d, the highest volume since November 2024. Meanwhile, as discussed in this week's Crude Voyager, exports plunged just 3 MMb/d. The swing was especially dramatic on the Gulf Coast, where PADD 3 imports leapt nearly 800 Mb/d to 1.9 MMb/d. With more crude pouring in and fewer barrels heading offshore, PADD 3 inventories ballooned by 15 MMbbl, accounting for the lion’s share of the nationwide crude stock build.   Canadian imports rose to 4.4 MMb/d, their highest since March 2025, while Venezuelan flows skyrocketed 80% to nearly 750 Mb/d, marking their strongest week since August 2017. Imports from countries outside the U.S.’s major crude trading partners also surged by more than 600 Mb/d to 1.1 MMb/d, adding another sizable slug of supply. The sharp jump in net imports means substantially more crude was left on U.S. shores last week. That influx, coupled with the export pullback, helped flip the domestic balance looser and fueled the massive inventory build of over 17 MMbbl.

Trump Administration Extends Jones Act Waiver Another 90 Days -   On Monday, August 10, the Trump Administration extended its temporary Jones Act waiver for another 90 days, keeping the exemption in place through mid-November as the War in Iran continues to disrupt global crude and refined-product flows and pressure U.S. energy costs. The administration first issued a 60-day waiver on March 17 (see Me and Mrs. Jones), followed by a 90-day extension in mid-May (see Let It Go, Let It Flow). Unlike those broader waivers, however, the latest extension comes with additional guardrails: qualifying voyages will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, with the Pentagon required to consult the U.S. Maritime Administration on the availability of U.S.-flagged, -owned and -operated vessels. Eligible commodities have also been narrowed, primarily to energy products including crude oil, gasoline, jet fuel, naphtha and LNG.Even with those restrictions, foreign-flagged tankers can continue to move U.S. crude between domestic ports when approved, providing valuable flexibility as disruptions to Strait of Hormuz flows reshape global trade patterns and increase competition for alternative barrels. As discussed in this week’s Crude Voyager, the waiver has already enabled otherwise uncommon Gulf Coast-to-West Coast movements and increased Gulf Coast-to-East Coast shipments, allowing domestic crude to compete with imports without the substantially higher transportation costs and limited vessel availability associated with Jones Act-compliant shipping. Voyage-by-voyage approval may temper that flexibility, but extending the waiver through mid-November gives Gulf Coast producers, refiners and traders another outlet for balancing regional supply and demand while Middle East disruptions continue to scramble traditional crude flows.Because of the added costs, the Jones Act shapes the movement of crude and products between U.S. coasts and refineries (green-shaded areas in map above). The dark- and light-blue dashed lines on the map show the routes Jones Act-qualified barges and tankers take to move barrels between ports such as Corpus Christi, Houston, New York Harbor and the West Coast. The pink dashed line illustrates foreign-flagged tankers that transport barrels of Gulf Coast crude through international waters to destinations like Eastern Canada, as this route is less costly than complying with Jones Act restrictions (these barrels could be refined and re-exported to the U.S.).The bigger question is what happens when the waiver expires. The current stretch of relief, now the longest and broadest waiver of the Jones Act since at least 1950, has effectively provided a real-world test of how access to lower-cost foreign-flagged vessels can affect U.S. coastal crude and product flows. If domestic movements remain economically attractive over the next three months, pressure for additional relief could build, intensifying the longstanding tug-of-war between energy-market participants seeking greater transportation flexibility and the U.S. maritime industry seeking to preserve Jones Act protections.

Jones Act Waiver Supports PADD 1 Propane Balance | RBN Energy -- According to U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) data, on August 1, the France-flagged vessel Champagny, delivered 313.2 Mbbl (~10 Mb/d) of propane from Energy Transfer's Marcus Hook terminal in Pennsylvania to the Sea-3 terminal in Rhode Island (RI), pictured below. Since the Jones Act waiver was issued on March 17, 2026 there have been six movements of propane under the waiver including this latest cargo. All propane shipped under the Jones Act waiver thus far had been from either Houston or Marcus Hook to Puerto Rico, with this latest inter-PADD 1 transfer marking the first instance of propane moving within the lower-48 states under the waiver.Under the 90-day waiver extension in-effect August 17, qualifying voyages will now be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and the Pentagon will now be required to consult MARAD on the availability of Jones Act vessels. Eligible commodities have also been narrowed, with reports from major news outlets citing White House officials mentioning the new waiver will only apply to certain energy resources but cover most products that were covered previously. It's not clear at this time if propane is included in that list, but given the waiver's use to support Puerto Rico, and now New England propane supply, it would be a surprise if it was excluded.The Sea-3 RI import terminal was purchased along with the rest of Blackline Midstream's assets by EQT last month. The $77 million deal closed July 21, 2026 and includes the RI terminal which received the cargo, as well as the other Sea-3 import terminal in New Hampshire (NH). The RI terminal imports propane by sea, while the NH terminal can import propane by rail as well. The product is then transported by truck or railed out to serve PADD 1 consumers, mainly for residential heating and commercial use. The Sea-3 RI terminal has a storage capacity of 16 MMgal (381 Mbbl) and the NH site can store up to 23.5 MMgal (560 Mbbl) of propane. These two facilities are the only large-scale refrigerated propane storage operations in New England and serve a critical role in balancing the PADD 1 propane market.

Q2 2026 Earnings Calls: Genesis Energy Notes Dip in Volumes, But Touts 'Multi-Generational' Gulf Operations | RBN Energy - Genesis Energy said its Offshore Pipeline Transportation segment performed slightly below expectations during Q2 2026 as some operators experienced operational challenges and unplanned downtime at several fields connected to its offshore infrastructure, CEO Grant Sims said during the company’s earnings call August 6.Sims said the Genesis pipeline network was available more than 99% of the time during the quarter but that fluctuations in production volumes were beyond its control, mainly resulting from changes in the timing of new wells coming online or wells needing intervention or remediation. He emphasized that deepwater Gulf operations were “multi-decade, if not multi-generational plays.”“Putting aside the near-term noise and production nuances, the longer-term story in our Offshore Pipeline Transportation segment remains fully intact,” he said.As an example, Sims cited BP’s decision to expand activity at its Atlantis production facility, which came online 19 years ago. BP, along with its partners Chevron and Woodside, will add two new subsea and water injection wells to help increase the pressure of target reservoirs, unlocking additional barrels to be recovered. The project is expected to add about 10 Mboe/d of production and tens of millions of barrels of additional ultimate recoveries, Sims said. All crude through the Atlantis facility moves on Genesis’ CHOPS pipeline.Genesis noted several updates in its Offshore Pipeline Transportation segment:

• The first Monument well was successfully drilled; it is expected to be completed and producing in late 2026.
• The second Monument well is expected online in early 2027, followed by new wells at Shenandoah and Shenandoah South.
• Four Phase 1 Shenandoah wells are now online. A rig is on-site to perform remediation work on one of the wells.
• A fourth Salamanca well is online with sustained production of 40-42 Mb/d. A fifth well should be online as early as Q4 2026 at 50-60 Mb/d.

Shenandoah, operated by Beacon Offshore Energy, began production in July 2025 through Genesis’s SYNC pipeline. Monument and Shenandoah South are separate subsea developments operated by Beacon and tied back to the Shenandoah floating production unit (FPU), with Monument’s two wells expected online by early 2027 and Shenandoah South targeted for 2028. The Salamanca FPU, operated by LLOG, began production in September 2025 and flows through Genesis’s SEKCO and Poseidon systems.

Plaquemines Expansion to Anchor East End of Williams’ Delta Access - Venture Global LNG confirmed the planned expansion of its Plaquemines terminal would be connected to additional feedgas supply from Williams’ newly sanctioned Delta Access pipeline, giving the fully contracted 2.25 Bcf/d project a major export anchor. At a Glance:

• Delta Access to move 2.25 Bcf/d
• Cloud Connector to span 165 miles
• Both projects target 2029 startup

Q2 2026 Earnings Calls: Cheniere Making Progress on LNG Capacity, Dealing with Nitrogen | RBN Energy - Cheniere has been the largest producer of LNG for export in the U.S. since Sabine Pass began producing LNG a decade ago. But export capacity is still growing, as the company discussed during its earnings call on Thursday. Firstly, the firm gave an update on Corpus Christi Stage 3, saying that construction on the entire project is now 98% complete. Train 6 has been substantially complete since June and Train 7 is expected to be complete in a few months. The company is also working on mid-scale trains 8 and 9 and the associated debottlenecking of pipelines to feed those trains, with construction on those projects now reported as 48% complete. Altogether, trains 7-9 are expected to add 6 mtpa in capacity (0.8 Bcf/d in feedgas) to Cheniere’s already hefty export portfolio, as seen in the graph below. CEO Jack Fusco said that this news “reinforces Cheniere’s execution track record for bringing LNG capacity online ahead of schedule and on budget.”Cheniere also spoke about the Phase 1 expansion of Sabine Pass, touting contracts signed with Bechtel and Baker Hughes that aim to turn that project into reality. The expansion will be a single large-scale liquefaction train capable of producing 6 mtpa (roughly 0.8 Bcf/d of LNG feedgas capacity). Cheniere plans to reach final investment decision (FID) on this project by early 2027.Also during the earnings call, Cheniere addressed the issue of nitrogen content and how they plan on dealing with it, particularly with the start of new pipelines coming out of the Permian. Fusco mentioned that the facilities have the ability to “sub-cool the LNG” in order to “liquefy the nitrogen in the process and evacuate it.” They also divert substantial amounts of nitrogen-rich gas to the Gregory Power facility north of Corpus Christi. Cheniere confirmed that nitrogen content has stabilized at around 1.5% of all gas coming from the Permian Basin, and they have been able to blend it with gas from other sources to keep it at a reasonable level.

Big LNG Quarter at Cheniere Means Big Demand for M-U Gas - Marcellus Drilling News - - America’s biggest LNG exporter just had a monster quarter — and raised its full-year forecast for the second time this year. Cheniere Energy (NYSE: LNG) shipped 184 cargoes in the second quarter and is now building toward a platform that could eventually swallow more than 10 billion cubic feet of gas a day. Appalachian producers should be paying attention. Cheniere Energy reported second quarter 2026 results on Aug. 6, and the numbers were eye-popping. Revenues hit $5.73 billion, up 24% from a year ago. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA came in at $1.80 billion, up 27%. Net income was $3.07 billion, up 89% — though a big chunk of that is non-cash accounting noise we’ll get to in a minute

Venture Global 2Q26: Record $2.5B EBITDA, 127 LNG Cargoes Shipped - Marcellus Drilling News - - Venture Global (VG), the Arlington, Virginia-based LNG exporter that operates the Calcasieu Pass and Plaquemines liquefaction plants in Louisiana — and is building a third, CP2 — reported second quarter 2026 results Tuesday that were, by any measure, a blowout. Revenue hit $4.6 billion (up 48% from 2Q25), net income came in at $1.3 billion (up 266%), and consolidated adjusted EBITDA reached $2.5 billion (up 79%), the largest quarterly EBITDA in company history. VG shipped 127 cargoes in the quarter and raised its full-year EBITDA guidance to $8.7-$9.1 billion, up from the $8.2-$8.5 billion it guided to in May. The company also passed its 1,000th cargo overall and jacked up its quarterly dividend by 122%. Why do we care in Appalachia? Because Plaquemines is fed by pipelines that carry Marcellus/Utica molecules south — and VG is planning to nearly double in size.

Q2 2026 Earnings Calls: Venture Global Updates on LNG Progress | RBN Energy - Venture Global gave an update on its existing and proposed LNG facilities during its earnings call this week. The company – which is the U.S.’s second largest producer of LNG for export – currently operates the Calcasieu Pass and Plaquemines export facilities in Louisiana. Construction is also underway on CP2, which is on Monkey Island in the middle of the pass, while the original Calcasieu Pass facility is on the mainland. The initial CP2 project will take 3.2 Bcf/d in feedgas and is scheduled to reach First LNG in the second half of 2027. In the latest update from Venture Global, 16 out of 36 liquefaction trains have been delivered and 36% of on-site construction is complete. CEO Michael Sabel said that the facility is “progressing as well as any LNG facility has ever progressed.” In addition to what is currently under construction, the company is planning “bolt-on expansions” at CP2 and Plaquemines. The CP2 expansion is a brownfield project on Monkey Island next to the rest of CP2 and will take roughly 1.3 Bcf/d in feedgas. Venture Global filed for a non-FTA export permit for this bolt-on last month, and they are targeting FID in early 2027. The firm is also planning Phase I of a bolt-on expansion at Plaquemines, which would take 0.9 Bcf/d. They are targeting the first half of 2027 for FID on this project, which is more specific than the previous timeline. With regard to the Plaquemines expansion, Sabel said that “customer demand can comfortably support” FID early next year, and that “timing of the offtake contracts” would not be an impediment to reaching FID. The company touted its new or increased offtake agreements during the second quarter with TotalEnergies, Vitol, Atlantic-See LNG and EnBW.

Faster Builds Push Venture Global Toward Shorter LNG Contracts -Venture Global LNG is continuing to shift its model away from a reliance on 20-year contracts that financed the first two waves of US LNG export capacity to shorter deals as hastened construction timelines unlock more flexible opportunities. NGI forward curves compare Henry Hub basis with Waha, SoCal Border, Houston Ship Channel and Cove Point through September 2028. At a Glance:
32 Mt/y uncommitted across portfolio
Brownfield builds cut timeline to 18 months
Waha runs $1.45 below Henry Hub

Golden Pass LNG Nominations Overshoot, Clouding Natural Gas Demand Signals -Golden Pass LNG has been walking back an average 36% of its first-cycle nominations since July 30 as commissioning work leaves the Southeast Texas terminal’s early demand signals running well ahead of the feedgas it takes. Graph: Golden Pass LNG feedgas nominations and final scheduled deliveries fluctuate from April-August 2026, reaching roughly 600,000 Dth/d. At a Glance:
Timely nominations soar before sharp fades
Intraday cuts reach 43% fleet share
Freeport’s share of cuts falls to 16%

Q2 2026 Earnings Calls: Sempra Discusses LNG Facilities, Increased Texas Electric Demand | RBN Energy  -  Utility giant Sempra is in the process of reducing its ownership of Sempra Infrastructure (SI) from its current 70% controlling interest to an ownership level of just 25%. The private equity firm KKR will become the majority owner of SI when the partial divestment closes in the third quarter of 2026. Nevertheless, the current parent company gave an update on SI’s two LNG export projects. For the Port Arthur project, CEO Jeffrey Martin announced that “both Phase 1 and Phase 2 are on time and on budget.” This facility will be able to take 3.7 Bcf/d in feedgas when fully online. However, for the LNG export facility on the Pacific coast of Mexico, Energia Costa Azul (ECA), the situation has been more complicated. Executive Vice President Justin Bird recounted how SI shipped the first cargo from ECA in July, but then discovered “damage to equipment connected to the plant’s mixed refrigerant compressors” during maintenance. They are now working with the equipment vendor and their procurement contactor on a solution and expect to reach substantial completion of the facility in the fourth quarter of 2026. ECA is much smaller than Port Arthur and is expected to take only 0.3 Bcf/d in feedgas. As Sempra partially divests from SI, it is increasingly focusing on its utility business. This includes the Texas utility Oncor, where Sempra is expanding its transmission capability, as seen in the map above. Martin noted that ERCOT reached a record for daily electric load last month. However, the company also noted that there is increasing political opposition to long-distrance transmission lines. The transmission buildout is aimed at meeting increasing load led by data centers. The company noted ERCOT’s Batch Zero process and the large queue of potential data center projects awaiting approval.

August Natural Gas Burn Outpaces Every Week of Record-Setting July Heat --North American LNG feedgas flows reached 17.37 million Dth on Aug. 12, 2026, led by Sabine Pass, Plaquemines and Corpus Christi. A look at the global natural gas and LNG markets by the numbers:

• 52.53 Bcf/d: US natural gas-fired generation consumed more natural gas over the past week than during any week of July, despite record heat. Power burn averaged 52.53 Bcf/d in the seven days through Wednesday, according to NGI’s Entropic Analytics data, edging past July's strongest seven-day stretch. Power burn peaked Monday at 55.56 Bcf/d, the most since July 27. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed in a recent report that July was the warmest month in a 132-year record, set by overnight lows that averaged a record 64.2 while daytime highs ranked only sixth warmest. Injections into storage had shrunk to 28 Bcf by the week ended July 24 from 61 Bcf in early July. Forecasters give the Southern Plains a better than 50% chance of above-average August temperatures.
• 18.13 Bcf/d: US LNG feedgas demand rebounded Wednesday, recovering nearly all of a one-day drop that had pushed volumes to their weakest level since Aug. 1. Flows totaled about 18.13 Bcf/d, according to Entropic Analytics data, up roughly 980 MMcf/d day/day and about 300 MMcf/d above a week earlier. The seven-day average climbed to 18.07 Bcf/d from 17.51 Bcf/d the previous Wednesday, reversing the prior week's slide. Volumes peaked Sunday at 18.44 Bcf/d, the strongest gas day since July 9.
• 493 MMcf/d: Golden Pass LNG feedgas nominations rose for a fifth consecutive day Wednesday to about 493 MMcf/d, the terminal's strongest gas day since early July. Nominations averaged 373 MMcf/d over the past seven days, against 296 MMcf/d the prior week excluding two days when volumes collapsed below 155 MMcf/d. The terminal shipped about 0.14 Mt in July, roughly double each of the three preceding months, and has moved about 0.43 Mt since its first cargo departed in April, according to Kpler data. Wednesday's nomination was about 300 MMcf/d short of the 790 MMcf/d Train 1 could draw at full output, based on NGI calculations.

EIA Slashes Natural Gas Price Forecast as Storage Swells Near Record Pace -Lower 48 natural gas prices are expected to hold below $3.00/MMBtu until November as LNG terminal maintenance and record production build the largest storage cushion heading into winter in a decade, according to US Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates.US natural gas prices compare Henry Hub and residential prices from 2022 through 2027, including NGI forward prices and EIA forecasts. nAt a Glance:

• 3Q Henry Hub forecast falls 50 cents
• Freeport LNG work trims feedgas demand
• Texas data center pause trims load forecast

Haynesville Natural Gas Production Sets New Weekly Record -- Haynesville natural gas production climbed to a new record last week and continues to rise. For the week ending August 10, Haynesville production averaged about 16.5 Bcf/d (dark green line below), up 0.06 Bcf/d from the previous week. Output declined slightly on the Louisiana side of the basin but was more than offset by higher production in Texas, according to our NATGAS Haynesville Report.  LNG feedgas demand strengthened last week as the final train at Corpus Christi Stage III began ramping up, providing additional support for basin growth. RBN expects Haynesville production to continue climbing through year-end as LNG demand increases and new export capacity comes online. Haynesville production is expected to exceed 17 Bcf/d by year-end, supported by growing LNG feedgas demand. While feedgas demand has been somewhat lackluster this summer, it is expected to pick up heading into the winter peak season and as additional LNG export capacity comes online.

Q2 2026 Earnings Calls: Western Midstream Growth Flows Through Water Business | RBN Energy – On its Q2 2026 earnings call, Western Midstream (WES) emphasized water handling is now its fastest-growing business, with throughput up roughly 85% this year, and CEO Oscar Brown put it plainly: in the Permian, "crude oil and natural gas flow assurance does not happen without a solution for produced water." Pathfinder, a 42-mile, 30-inch pipeline moving more than 800 Mb/d of water out of the busiest parts of the Delaware Basin to disposal wells in eastern Loving County, Texas, is expected to enter service in Q1 2027. Occidental's anchor contract covers just under a third of it.On natural gas, management noted some Delaware customers curtailed volumes in Q2 when Waha prices went negative, but curtailments ended by quarter's end as the GCX expansion and Hugh Brinson started up. With the added relief of Blackcomb later this year, management mentioned some customers are shifting 2027 wells into late 2026. North Loving II, a 300 MMcf/d processing plant due online early in Q2 2027, will expand the company's West Texas complex to about 2.5 Bcf/d, though Brown said the site is now full, so the next plant would have to go elsewhere. The $1.6 billion Brazos Delaware II deal, closed in mid-June, shows what spare processing capacity is worth. Brazos adds 460 MMcf/d from its Comanche complex and 470,000 dedicated acres to the WES portfolio.

Q2 2026 Earnings Calls: Permian Technology Becomes ExxonMobil's Next Growth Lever - -- While ExxonMobil delivered another quarter of record Permian production at more than 1.8 MMboe/d, management made it clear that future value creation will depend less on adding volumes and more on improving recovery and capital efficiency. In their Q2 2026 earnings call, the company highlighted significant progress deploying extended-reach laterals, AI-driven drilling optimization, advanced completion designs, and enhanced recovery technologies across its acreage. During the first half of 2026, ExxonMobil drilled more than 80 four-mile laterals, supported by its Houston-based remote operations center and real-time data analytics, while management noted it now has more than 1,200 horizontal wells exceeding three miles, roughly three times the count of its nearest competitor. These longer laterals reduce surface infrastructure requirements, lower development costs per barrel, and improve capital productivity.The next challenge is proving these technologies can consistently deliver higher recoveries at basin scale. Management reiterated that its portfolio of more than 40 recovery-enhancing technologies is largely "stackable," allowing multiple innovations, including surfactants, advanced proppants, and AI-enabled optimization, to be deployed on the same well. According to the company, the portfolio is progressing toward its long-standing goal of doubling recovery rates while requiring fewer wells to access the resource. If ExxonMobil can successfully commercialize these technologies across its acreage, the Permian could transition from a production growth story to one centered on structurally lower capital intensity, higher recovery factors, and stronger free cash flow generation, providing a durable competitive advantage even as industry-wide shale growth begins to mature.

Q2 2026 Earnings Calls: All Systems Are a-Flow for ONEOK | RBN Energy - ONEOK’s 2Q26 call emphasized accelerating volumes across its integrated system and a sizable slate of mostly brownfield infrastructure. In the Permian, ONEOK recently added the 150 MMcf/d Midland Basin Shadowfax processing plant, expects another 110 MMcf/d of Delaware capacity in 3Q26 as a result of expansions, and upsized its mid-2027 Permian Bighorn plant from 300 to 400 MMcf/d; total Permian processing capacity should reach nearly 2.4 Bcf/d (see table below). It also started construction on the 120-MMcf/d Cutter 2 plant in the Powder River Basin due online in 1Q28. Management said G&P volumes increased both sequentially and year over year, with particularly good visibility in the Permian, and separately secured a 1-GW gas-fired power-generation supply agreement requiring just over $100 million of capital. Several potential data-center gas projects are in late-stage discussions, although commercialization is taking longer than ONEOK initially expected. NGLs were one of ONEOK's standout stories: raw-feed throughput rose 7% YoY to a record, helped by stronger ethane recovery. Going forward, Medford Phase 1 will add 100 Mb/d of Midcontinent fractionation in 4Q26 and Phase 2 follows in 1Q27. The new LPG export facility has reached its 80% contracting threshold on 200 Mb/d of capacity.  West Texas LPG can handle up to 740 Mb/d without another near-term expansion, and more than 50 Mb/d of legacy EnLink NGL volumes currently moving on a third-party pipeline will migrate onto ONEOK’s system as contracts expire from late 2026 through 2028. The caveat is that record NGL volumes do not translate one-for-one into earnings: incremental ethane carries lower T&F rates than C3+.Crude and refined products throughput, shown below, grew also. Refined-product shipments increased 8% YoY, Seabrook crude-export throughput rose about 20% sequentially, and Midland crude-gathering volumes rose 10% sequentially. The new Denver expansion adds 35 Mb/d of firm take-or-pay refined-products capacity plus a direct DIA jet-fuel connection. In Q&A, ONEOK revealed that it had installed a 16-inch line capable of potentially ~200 Mb/d, leaving roughly 165 Mb/d of latent capacity and positioning it for additional PADD 4/Salt Lake City flows.

Q2 2026 Earnings Calls: Plains Says Permian Gas Relief Is Unlocking Crude Growth | RBN Energy - On its Q2 2026 earnings call, Plains All American (Plains) raised its Permian Basin oil production forecast to growth of 100-200 Mb/d on an exit-to-exit basis for 2026 versus 2025, up from a prior forecast of roughly flat, although the firm is primarily in the midstream business, the company produces fundamental analysis of the basin. Plains attributed the change mostly to new natural gas takeaway capacity arriving ahead of schedule. Commercial chief Jeremy Goebel said the basin has "a very favorable path to get to north of 7 MMb/d," with 8 MMb/d requiring better recoveries and supportive prices, though "it's not an unreasonable scenario."A newly sanctioned expansion of Cactus III (formerly EPIC), the Permian-to-Corpus Christi crude pipeline acquired last year, to 725 Mb/d is expected to come online at the end of August. Management pegged the cost in the tens of millions of dollars and said future phases now look cheaper than underwritten at acquisition, though they'll wait on shipper commitments. Behind that, Plains is extending Permian gathering into newly dedicated Midland and Delaware acreage, and in Canada, the company is expanding the gathering system around its Rainbow assets in the Clearwater play and Rangeland system in the Duvernay, both backed by producer commitments.In the Q&A session, CEO Willie Chiang mentioned that in Q2, the U.S. market "had record crude exports out of the Gulf Coast," and went on to say with global inventories drawing down, "this is really shifting to a demand-pull market." Goebel mentioned that the added 75 Mb/d on Cactus III "won't change the market, and our outlook for production is substantially higher than 75 Mb/d, so the market from a supply and demand takeaway [perspective] will be net tighter."

Q2 2026 Earnings Calls: Targa Loads Record LPG Exports as Buyers Turn to U.S. Supply | RBN Energy -Targa's Permian natural gas volumes hit a record 7.2 Bcf/d in Q2, up 450 MMcf/d from Q1, "almost two plants worth of gas in one quarter," as CEO Matt Meloy put it, and that came despite 200–400 MMcf/d shut in on any given day because of week Waha natural gas prices. With Hugh Brinson Phase 1 and the Gulf Coast Express expansion now moving gas out of the basin, management mentioned most of those shut-ins returned in July. Regarding their NGL business, the company reported record NGL pipeline throughput of 1.1 MMb/d, record fractionation volumes of 1.2 MMb/d, and record LPG exports of 14.8 million barrels per month (~490 Mb/d) at Galena Park. Management attributed export growth to the Middle East conflict pushing buyers toward U.S. barrels and noted more butane heavy cargoes.Speedway, a roughly 500-mile, 500 Mb/d NGL pipeline from the Permian to Mont Belvieu, expandable to 1 MMb/d by adding additional pump stations is on-schedule to start up in Q3 2027 alongside the Galena Park expansion that will lift LPG export capacity to 19 million barrels per month (~625 Mb/d). The 275 MMcf/d East Driver processing plant entered service in Q2, earlier than expected. Frac train 11 (150 Mb/d) and the 500 Mb/d Delaware Express Y-grade pipeline, which takes processing plant outlet volumes from the TX Delaware across the Permian to the company's larger Y-grade takeaway system, also entered service in Q2.  When asked about how long processing plants take to construct from sanctioning to start-up, President of Gathering and Processing Patrick McDonie mentioned "Lead times definitely have gotten extended...18 to 24 months is the kind of timeframe we look at." He went on to mention, "lead times on compression, lead times on certain components of plants certainly are extended, but it hasn't affected our ability to perform in any way." Other project details including gas processing plants, fractionators and natural gas pipelines are tabulated below, with currently in-service projects denoted with a (1) superscript.

Energía Costa Azul LNG Already Impacting Western US Natural Gas Prices, Supplies -A historic wave of natural gas demand projected for broad swaths of the country has natural gas buyers and those that serve them in western markets on edge after years of abundant and cheap supplies. At a Glance:

• EPNG prices fluctuate
• Rockies flows hit record
• More volatility likely

Alaska LNG Bill Again Fails to Gain Traction, Hindering Project’s Path Forward -- The Alaska legislature has again failed to advance a bill to provide tax exemptions for the massive pipeline that would feed Glenfarne Group’s proposed 20 Mt/y Alaska LNG project. Legislative leaders said a bill put forward by Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy did not have the support for a vote due to disagreements over a tax relief provision. There are no plans to address the potential tax exemptions after the latest bill failed during a third special session to address them.

Q2 2026 Earnings Calls: LNG Canada Phase 2 Could Be Shell’s Next Major LNG Growth Leg | RBN Energy - Shell’s strong second-quarter 2026 results were helped by an increasingly diversified LNG portfolio, but management’s comments suggest the bigger story may be what comes next in Canada. LNG Canada Phase 1 reached full capacity during Q2 2026, only about a year after shipping its first cargo, and has already loaded more than 100 cargoes. That performance helped Shell offset some of the LNG volumes lost from Qatar during the quarter. The next test is whether Shell and its partners sanction LNG Canada Phase 2. Management said the joint venture is targeting a final investment decision (FID) before the end of 2026, subject to required approvals. If sanctioned, Shell sees Phase 2 as another layer of free-cash-flow growth beginning in the 2030s, on top of its existing $25-$30 billion/year base of free cash flow and the roughly $1.5 billion/year contribution expected from the ARC Resources acquisition. Shell said its existing Groundbirch acreage already underwrote Phase 1 and provided some gas for a potential second phase. ARC would give Shell enough additional gas to underpin Phase 2 if the partners move forward, although management emphasized that Phase 2 was not included in the base economics used to justify the ARC acquisition. In other words, Shell views the expansion as upside rather than something required to make the acquisition work.The challenge is timing. Shell expects roughly 180 million metric tons/year of new LNG supply to enter the global market by 2030, potentially creating a more competitive market just as the company considers another large Canadian LNG investment. At the same time, Shell remains bullish on the longer-term demand picture, forecasting LNG demand growth of about 65% through 2050, with Southeast Asia, Europe, transportation and gas-fired power among the important demand drivers.LNG Canada Phase 2 could become the bridge between two major pieces of Shell’s strategy: expanding its North American gas resource position through ARC and growing its global LNG portfolio. The project would give Shell additional Pacific Coast LNG supply backed by Western Canadian gas and its global trading operation. But sanctioning the expansion into a wave of new LNG capacity means the economics will matter more than simply adding volume. The key milestones to watch through year-end are whether the partners reach FID, the eventual size and cost of Phase 2, and how Shell plans to use the expanded ARC resource base to supply the project. If those pieces line up, LNG Canada could evolve from a successful new asset into one of Shell’s more important LNG growth platforms for the 2030s.

Shut Up and Drive – Slow to Start on LNG Exports, Canada Now Has Its Pedal to the Metal | RBN Energy -- LNG Canada, Canada’s first large-scale LNG export terminal, didn’t load its first cargo of liquefied natural gas until June 2025, more than nine years after Sabine Pass LNG was up and running in Louisiana. But while the U.S. Gulf Coast had a big head start — and is now in the midst of another wave of LNG export project development — Canada is finally firing on all cylinders, with plans to more than triple its current export capacity of 14 MMtpa (1.8 Bcf/d) by the early 2030s. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll begin an examination of several planned projects on Canada’s west coast and why the U.S.’s northern neighbor is, at long last, building a lot more LNG export capacity.There are at least a few reasons why the U.S. went “from zero to 60 in 3.5” (as Rihanna put it in “Shut Up and Drive”) in developing LNG export projects in the mid-to-late 2010s. For one thing, the Gulf Coast in particular had a stockpile of LNG import terminals that had been constructed just a few years earlier, when the U.S. thought it would soon need to start shipping in LNG from overseas. Those terminals (and the natural gas pipelines built to move their imported gas to market) provided a good bit of the infrastructure that would be needed for LNG export terminals. Also, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and state regulators along the Gulf Coast were (and still are) supportive of LNG export development, and getting new pipelines built in Texas and Louisiana was (and still is) easy-peasy.     It was a different story in Canada, which had no LNG import terminals along the British Columbia (BC) coast to repurpose for exports and next-to-no gas pipeline capacity from its primary gas production region (the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, or WCSB) to potential export sites. In addition, LNG export projects needed to clear a number of Canadian and BC regulatory hurdles and were opposed by many indigenous First Nations groups whose ancestral lands would be impacted by pipeline and/or terminal development.It took a long time — 14 years from project announcement to first cargo — but the 14-MMtpa (1.8 Bcf/d) first phase of LNG Canada (see photo below) was finally commissioned 14 months ago by co-owners Shell (a 40% stake and the project operator), Petronas (25%), PetroChina Co. Ltd. (15%), Mitsubishi Corp. (15%) and Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS, 5%). And it took almost 12 years for TC Energy (a 35% stake) and its financial partners (KKR and AIMCo; 32.5% each) to complete the 2.1-Bcf/d first phase of their Coastal GasLink system, a 416-mile pipeline that runs from the gas-rich Montney Formation in northeastern BC to the LNG Canada site in Kitimat.But things have been changing up north. For one thing, the Canadian government, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney since March 2025, is now hell-bent on energy-trade diversification — that is, moving beyond what had been the country’s near-total dependence on U.S. buyers. Last year’s Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy Act, states that federal government reviews of large-scale projects determined to be in Canada’s national interest will be completed within two years. “This will include working with provinces and territories to eliminate project assessment duplication and build a more efficient and timely system,” the government said in explaining the measure.Also, First Nations have taken equity positions in most of the new projects now underway in BC — in one case, a majority stake — thereby speeding their regulatory approvals and minimizing the legal challenges that dogged many earlier projects. Further, the international LNG trade has continued to evolve in recent years. Now, destination optionality and location swaps (aka geographic displacement or time/location arbitrage) can enable, say, a Canadian LNG producer with a long-term contract to deliver gas to a customer in Europe to execute an agreement with an LNG portfolio trader under which the Canadian-sourced LNG is shipped to Asia and the portfolio trader ships LNG to the European customer from a much closer export terminal.With that as background, we’ll start our discussion of existing and planned Canadian LNG export projects with a look at the one that got things rolling: LNG Canada. As we said in the introduction to today’s blog, the two-train 14-MMtpa (~1.8 Bcf/d) first phase of the project has been sending out cargoes since June of last year. It hasn’t been all smooth sailing, however. The facility has experienced equipment and operational problems and feedgas flows (see Figure 1 below) have fluctuated over the past several months, falling to an estimated 1 Bcf/d in July, when only nine LNG carriers appear to have been loaded, the lowest count since December 2025. (We estimate flows will rebound to an average of 1.5 Bcf/d in August.) Still, plans for a two-train, 14-MMtpa-plus second phase of LNG Canada are well underway, with a final investment decision (FID) targeted for later this year and (if that happens) the start of commercial operations in 2031-32. It hasn’t been revealed yet if all of the companies that co-own the existing facility would participate in the development of Phase 2, but it seems likely that at least a few will. No offtaker commitments for the project’s output have been announced; instead, the co-owners of the second phase — each of them a global LNG marketer or LNG buyer — would probably be entitled to output shares matching their equity stakes. Shell would almost certainly be the operator. On August 1, France-flagged vessel Champagny, delivered 313.2 Mbbl (~10 Mb/d) of propane from Energy Transfer's Marcus Hook terminal in Pennsylvania to the Sea-3 terminal in Rhode Island (RI). This is the sixth movement of propane under the Jones Act waiver issued March 17, and recently extended on August 10. It is notably the first instance of propane moving within the lower-48 states under the waiver, as all shipments until then had been destined for Puerto Rico.As evidence the project is likely to advance, the LNG Canada team and the co-owners of Coastal GasLink announced in March that they had entered into commercial agreements regarding Coastal GasLink Phase 2. That project, which would be needed to supply the second phase of LNG Canada with feedgas, would increase the pipeline’s capacity to at least 4.2 Bcf/d (and possibly as much as 5 Bcf/d) by adding compression. Under the agreements, Coastal GasLink would remain the owner, operator and permit holder for the pipeline but LNG Canada would serve as “execution manager for construction” on the pipeline expansion project.One more thing regarding LNG Canada Phase 2: In July, the LNG Canada team unveiled an “equity option agreement” with MNT Investments LP, a limited partnership of the economic development organizations of five First Nations neighboring LNG Canada’s operations: Gitga’at First Nation, Gitxaała Nation, Haisla Nation, Kitselas First Nation and Kitsumkalum. The agreement provides MNT Investments the opportunity to invest up to C$1 billion (about US$720 million) to acquire a majority equity ownership interest in a special purpose entity that would purchase a planned LNG storage tank to be built as part of the second phase. The asset would then be leased back to LNG Canada for the operational life of the project.Figure 2 above identifies:

• The lone LNG export facility in operation in BC: LNG Canada Phase 1 (solid-orange diamond), in Kitimat.
• Cedar LNG (striped-pink diamond), a planned 3.3-MMtpa (0.4 Bcf/d) floating LNG project now under construction, also in Kitimat.
• Woodfibre LNG (striped-green diamond), a planned 2.1-MMtpa (0.3 Bcf/d) LNG terminal now under construction near Squamish, BC.
• LNG Canada Phase 2 (checkered-orange diamond), a 14-MMtpa (1.8 Bcf/d) add-on to Phase 1 that — as we said just above — is closing in on a possible FID in late 2026.
• Ksi Lisims LNG (checkered-purple diamond), a proposed 12-MMtpa (1.6 Bcf/d) floating LNG facility planned for a site near Prince Rupert, BC.

The map also shows the Coastal GasLink pipeline (yellow line) from the Montney Formation to the LNG Canada and Cedar LNG sites in Kitimat as well as other gas pipelines (existing and planned) that will serve the other LNG export projects in BC. We will discuss Cedar LNG, Woodfibre LNG and Ksi Lisims — and their status — in more detail in an upcoming blog.

Mexico Bans Fracking in Key Shale Basin - -- Mexico has ruled out fracking in a key shale basin, drawing a line through a resource-rich area even as the country looks for ways to cut its dependence on U.S. natural gas. President Claudia Sheinbaum said hydraulic fracturing will not be allowed in the Tampico-Misantla basin beneath Veracruz and Tamaulipas. The government cited the basin’s dense population, indigenous communities and freshwater reserves. Sheinbaum ordered a panel to examine whether unconventional gas could help reduce imports from the United States. Mexico buys more than 6.5 billion cubic feet per day of pipeline gas from its northern neighbor, covering roughly 75% of domestic demand. The commission recommended boosting conventional gas production first. Even with the proposed measures, Mexico’s reliance on U.S. supply would fall only to about 50%, according to Sheinbaum. Mexico would need unconventional gas to push that figure lower. The panel said future fracking should be limited to basins containing salt water rather than freshwater, leaving northern shale formations in play. Sheinbaum campaigned as a critic of fracking and its environmental costs. Energy math has since become less cooperative. Natural gas fuels much of Mexico’s power sector and industry, while domestic production has failed to keep pace. Seven combined-cycle power plants are coming online, with five more planned, adding to the demand for gas. Pemex expects to lift domestic production to just over 4 billion cubic feet per day by 2030, still nowhere near enough to eliminate imports. The state oil company is also under pressure to reverse falling output while carrying a mountain of debt. Mexico holds an estimated 141.5 trillion cubic feet of unconventional gas resources, mostly in northern basins. The Tampico-Misantla ban shows how carefully the government is trying to thread the needle: more domestic gas, fewer imports, less water risk and no political explosion in communities sitting above the resource.

Mexico Pulls More US Natural Gas as Texas Storage Levels Drop - Mexico has had a strong summer of imports of US natural gas, with demand growing as the Energía Costa Azul (ECA) LNG export terminal in Baja California moves toward commercial operations.NGI Agua Dulce, Waha bidweek prices versus US natural gas pipeline exports to Mexico from August 2023-August 2026. At a Glance:
Mexico imports average 7.80 Bcf/d
North Baja flows exceed pre-expansion levels
ECA commissioning jolts Western market

Latin America LNG Imports Hit 3-Year High as El Niño Takes Effect - Latin America imports of LNG and vessel traffic through the Panama Canal leapt to three-year highs in July, according to Kpler data. NGI Latin America DES LNG prices for September-November 2026 across terminals in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Panama.  At a Glance:
Colombia imports record LNG volumes
US supplies most regional cargoes
Chile pays above $20

YPF Eyes Year-End Pipeline FID as Vaca Muerta Natural Gas Expansion Advances -- Argentina’s national oil company YPF is advancing natural gas midstream infrastructure and is eyeing a potential final investment decision (FID) on a flagship LNG project by the end of the year, executives said in an earnings call. Argentine natural gas production rose from 2020 to 2025, led by Neuquén as output climbed to nearly 140 million cubic meters/day. At a Glance:
Shale gas offsets conventional declines
Pipeline finance targets 3Q closing
San Matías adds 27 MMcm/d capacity

ADNOC’s XRG Bets on Venezuelan Offshore Natural Gas as Regional LNG Links Take Shape - XRG is making one of the most significant new foreign investments yet aimed at unlocking Venezuela’s vast offshore natural gas resources for international markets, taking a stake in the 4 Tcf-plus Loran field as the country looks to establish a more direct path for its gas into the global LNG trade. At a Glance:

• Project could access existing infrastructure
• Venezuela pursues LNG export deals
• Loran holds more than 4 Tcf

Out of Gas – Is Europe on the Brink of Another Natural Gas Crisis? | RBN Energy - It has been a volatile spring and summer for global natural gas markets as the war in Iran has dragged on, seemingly causing prices to jump — or falter — with every headline. From an LNG perspective, the focus has been centered around the loss of Qatari LNG, which has created a global supply shortage that disproportionately affects Asia compared to other end markets. Asia’s pull for additional cargoes, however, has created a lingering and worsening problem for Europe. Low inventories there mean that high global gas prices will not only outlast the war, they could rise further if Europe struggles to keep pace with its peak demand period. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll discuss Europe’s gas storage woes and the potential ramifications as time runs out to refill inventories.The current conflict in the Middle East began at the end of February with strikes by the U.S. and Israel on Iran, followed by Iran’s blockage of the vital Strait of Hormuz. The strait is a key passage for oil, refined products, LNG and NGLs, and its blockage left large volumes of energy commodities stranded. As a result of the blockage, Qatar, the second-largest LNG exporting nation (only the U.S. exports more), declared force majeure and shut-in LNG production, effectively reducing global supply by about 20%. In mid-March, Iran struck the two LNG trains co-owned by ExxonMobil at QatarEnergy’s Ras Laffan complex, taking 12.8 million tons per annum (MMtpa; ~1.7 Bcf/d) of LNG offline for years. (See Eyes of the Ranger for more on the conflict and its impact on LNG.)NATGAS Permian is a weekly natural gas fundamentals analysis focusing entirely on the key market drivers within the Permian basin. The report contains details and forecasts around natural gas production, demand, pricing, and a summary of pipeline outflows and capacities from the Permian to neighboring regions.Backing up a bit, while we colloquially refer to Asia, Europe and other LNG-consuming countries as the “global gas market,” it’s important to note that Europe and Asia are very different when it comes to gas consumption. In Asia, “gas” essentially just means LNG, but Europe features a robust pipeline grid and underground gas storage, similar to the U.S., albeit on a smaller scale. Europe has a small amount of domestic production (although primarily from Norway, which is outside the European Union, or EU) and imports LNG. It also piped in gas from Russia prior to the 2021-22 crisis (see Beyond the Sea).At the end of last winter, global gas prices, using the Japan-Korea Marker (JKM, blue line in Figure 1 below) and the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF, yellow line) were in the $10-$11/MMBtu range, but immediately shot up to the high teens after the war with Iran began. Since then, prices have largely bounced between $15-$20/MMBtu, with a few blips just above or below that range. The volatility in prices has been headline driven, falling each time it looks like peace talks may succeed, then climbing when the headlines turn the other way. U.S. gas prices (Henry Hub; orange line) have not been impacted by the war, continuing to trade on U.S. market fundamentals and remaining in the $2.50-$3.35/MMBtu range. While global gas prices will fall when the conflict ends and the Strait of Hormuz returns to normal traffic, it might already be too late for Europe to stave off a storage crisis heading into this winter.

Nuclear Outages, Searing Heat Deepen Europe's Call on US LNG --Two tropical systems are easing cooling demand across Japan and eastern China through the middle of the month as US export volumes climb and Europe's refill window narrows. NGI chart compares daily mean temperatures with normal levels in Northwest Europe, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo through Aug. 10, 2026. At a Glance:

• Tokyo, Beijing could see cooler weather
• Natural gas demand centered in Korea
• US feedgas rises to early-July levels

TTF Upside Strengthens Amid Bleak EU Natural Gas Storage Outlook The Europe Union’s (EU) natural gas inventories continue to lag historical levels as summer nears an end and supply disruptions caused by the Iran war persist. Graph: EU natural gas storage was 58.8% full at 664.97 TWh on Aug. 8, 2026, 187.6 TWh below the five-year average.  At a Glance:
Inventories at multi-year lows
Supply situation could worsen
More spot LNG likely needed

Transgaz Weighs Stake in Argent LNG as European Strategy Expands - Argent LNG has added another potential European partner on its path to commercialization with a tentative deal with Romania’s Transgaz that could give the pipeline system operator an equity stake in the proposed 25 Mt/y Louisiana project.  At a Glance:

• Argent expands tentative European portfolio
• Project targets 25 Mt/y export capacity
• First LNG cargoes targeted for 2030

Global Natural Gas Prices Rebound as Iran Hardens Terms for Hormuz Reopening - Global natural gas prices snapped back Monday after Iran attached a list of sweeping conditions to reopening the Strait of Hormuz, unwinding a week of optimism that peace agreements could be moving forward.Map of Persian Gulf LNG import and export terminals in Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, including the Strait of Hormuz.At a Glance:

• Zero Hormuz LNG exports in August
• Iran issues list of demands
• TTF recovers weekly losses

Asia Pulling in More US LNG Amid Iran War, but Europe Still Top Destination -The United States continues to send most of its LNG to Europe even though the Iran war has severely disrupted Asian supplies of the super-chilled fuel and sent prices there to multi-year highs. US LNG exports by destination rose 25.4% in 2025 before falling 31.1% year to date in 2026, with Europe remaining the top market. At a Glance:
Shipments to Asia outpace 2025 levels
56% of US LNG shipped to Europe
Competition could intensify

Diesel prices surge on tightening global supply - (Reuters) - U.S. and European diesel prices rose sharply on Monday after attacks on refineries in Russia and Saudi Arabia added to supply disruptions, raising ​concerns for farmers in need of the fuel for the planting season ‌in the Northern Hemisphere and harvesting season in the Southern Hemisphere. The U.S. ultra-low sulfur diesel futures contract rose 7.4% to settle at $4.19 a gallon on Monday, the biggest gains since July 13. European ​diesel refining margins, measured as the difference between the price of fuel ​and the cost of crude oil, rose nearly 10%. The surge followed confirmation of ⁠an attack by Ukraine on a refinery in Russia's Tatarstan region and another attack by ​Yemen's Houthis on the Jazan refinery in Saudi Arabia. The Jazan refinery has been ​shut since July 27 due to an earlier strike by the Houthis, and plans to restart it have been postponed from August 15 to August 30, according to industry monitor IIR Energy. "The refinery attacks have ​taken substantial amounts of diesel off the market," Mizuho analyst Bob Yawger said in ​a note. Crude oil is the biggest driver for fuel prices, but the gains in diesel futures ‌outpaced U.S. ⁠West Texas Intermediate futures and Brent futures, both of which settled up about 5% as hopes of reopening the Strait of Hormuz appeared to fade with the United States and Iran trading demands for compensation. The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in the ​ongoing Iran war has sharply ​cut global diesel ⁠supply by choking the flow of both the fuel and crude oil from the Middle East. Ukraine has also intensified attacks on ​Russian energy infrastructure in recent months, prompting Moscow to ban exports of ​both gasoline ⁠and diesel until the end of January 2027, further tightening global supply. U.S. inventories of distillate fuels, which include diesel and heating oil, stood at 107.2 million barrels as of July ⁠31, ​the lowest for this time of year in three ​decades. Analysts expect the U.S. distillates stockpile to have decreased again last week by around 1.6 million barrels, according ​to a preliminary poll by Reuters.

Global Diesel Crunch Worsens Ahead of Peak Winter Demand --  - As peace in the Persian Gulf remains elusive and Ukrainian drones keep raining on Russian refineries, a global fuel crisis is looming larger by the day as demand is set to increase in the coming months, especially for diesel. Shortages are already reality in some parts of the world. In Southeast Asia, Reuters reported last week, palm oil farmers are seeing diesel supply shortages and spiking prices. In the United States, diesel fuel exports hit an all-time high in the first week of August, running at an average daily rate of 1.9 million barrels. Meanwhile, Russia, the world’s number-two diesel exporter, has banned exports in order to deal with the local supply squeeze caused by Ukrainian drone attacks on refineries. The situation is quite far from perfect for large fuel importers such as the European Union because it is now facing new competitors such as Brazil and Turkey, which previously took in a lot of Russian diesel fuel. Still, with that gone, they have to compete with U.S. barrels as supply from the other big refining hub in the Middle East remains severely disrupted. In the European Union, as many as 30 refineries closed between 2009 and 2024, with another 400,000 barrels daily in capacity set for closure in 2025 amid Brussels’ tightening emission reduction rules that have raised costs for refiners substantially—and made the originally trade-focused bloc a lot more vulnerable to global market disruptions. “Europe has a tremendous diesel problem,” Eugene Lindell, head of refined products at consultancy FGE NexantECA, told Bloomberg. “It will get ugly in the sense that you will probably see extremely high flat prices.” These high prices will spread to everything from consumer goods to services and, according to FGE’s Lindell, translate into pressure on political circles. “We’re in a diesel supply crunch right now because none of the Persian Gulf refineries can get product out,” Rabobank senior energy strategist Joe DeLaura said, as quoted by the Wall Street Journal earlier this month. “Crude oil is just the input, but diesel is the everything the industrial economy runs on,” he also said. “Everything in agriculture, everything in construction, everything in mining. Also everything on the supply and distribution side runs on diesel.” Big Oil majors have also been sounding the alarm on a supply squeeze in fuels that is a lot more serious than the squeeze in crude oil, but it has led to nothing but an attack on the industry by President Trump, who told Exxon and Chevron they were making too much money and had to pass some of it on to consumers. Meanwhile, those record diesel exports are costing the United States. These have been running at rates of 1.5 million barrels daily for five weeks in a row before rising to the record high, according to Bloomberg. Because refineries cannot produce more diesel at the moment, fuel sellers have been dipping into inventories. As a result, these are now at the lowest since 1996, Bloomberg reported, with peak demand season right around the corner and refinery maintenance season even closer. Prices are, as usual, a good indicator of the supply security of diesel fuel. In Europe, the price of diesel has gone up by 40% since mid-June, while the price of crude oil has only added 5% over the same period, Bloomberg said in its report on the state of diesel supply from last week. Inventories of the fuel in the EU have shrunk by 30% since March—and the EU has cut off its access not only to Russian fuels but to fuels made from Russian crude in third countries. This would leave European fuel importers even more exposed to U.S. supply, but that is not going to remain at record rates, according to some analysts. “Gulf Coast refiners can’t keep exporting diesel to Northwest Europe indefinitely. They have their own fish to fry,” Kpler’s head of clean petroleum products Zameer Yusof told Bloomberg. Asia, meanwhile, has its own fuel supply problems and will not be in a rush to share its diesel, such as it is, with the Europeans. “We never fully recovered from refining losses in the Middle East, and have also lost Russian capacity,” oil analyst June Goh from Sparta Capital said, as quoted by the publication. “The misery of Europe is not an immediate crisis, but one down the line.” If we add natural gas to diesel, the crisis becomes a lot more severe. The EU’s gas stocks are much lower than the seasonal average, analysts are concerned shortages might emerge by winter, and no one is doing anything about it as gas buyers wait for lower LNG prices—which are rather unlikely at the moment. Unfortunately for large energy importers, relief in global diesel supply is also rather unlikely for the time being.

Oman oil spill: Caroline Bezengi leak spreads across protected Arabian Sea reserve - India Today - Satellite images reviewed by The Associated Press show that the sanctioned tanker Caroline Bezengi, carrying nearly a million barrels of oil, appears to be sinking further into the water off the coast of Oman after being grounded there for weeks. The vessel is also leaking increasing amounts of crude oil into the surrounding sea. The spill has spread quickly in recent days and reached the shores of Qibliyah Island off Oman’s south-west coast. By August 7, it covered nearly 800 square km, according to Wim Zwijnenburg, an environmental expert with the Dutch organisation PAX, which tracks environmental damage in conflict zones. Greenpeace Germany also said the spill was growing sharply, pointing to a worsening condition of the vessel. “Satellite imagery analysis suggests that the oil spill covered 45 square km up until July 26. By August 2, it had expanded to around 150 square km, and imagery from August 4 indicates that it now extends across roughly 600 square km,” said Nina Noelle, an environmental disaster expert at Greenpeace Germany. The affected area is part of the Arabian Sea reserve, a marine protected area that is home to wildlife including endangered petrels and the rare Arabian Sea humpback whale. The 247-metre Caroline Bezengi has been grounded off Qibliyah Island for two months. Media reports said the crew had reported an explosion on board on June 8. The tanker is believed to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” and has been sanctioned by the British government and the European Union for carrying Russian oil. According to geospatial data tracking company SynMax Maritime, it left the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in May. Greenpeace and other reports said the vessel’s owners are believed to be based in Shanghai. Satellite images dated August 5 showed an oil sheen stretching to the north-east of the tanker and around the island, while the vessel appeared more submerged than in an image taken on July 31. July and August are the peak monsoon months in the area. It remains unclear whether any rescue or salvage effort is under way. On Thursday, the Oman government said it was responding to the incident, but it was not immediately clear whether authorities had reached the tanker or were trying to stop the leak. A statement carried by the Oman News Agency said authorities were monitoring the area through satellite imagery, field surveys and technical models, and that teams were ready “to implement necessary procedures” to deal with possible effects on marine life and navigation safety. Greenpeace Germany warned on Wednesday of an “imminent risk of an unprecedented oil disaster from a broken tanker with devastating consequences for the region’s coastlines and marine ecosystems”, and urged all concerned bodies to act immediately to assess ways to contain the spill, while calling on Oman to seek international assistance if needed. The latest satellite assessments indicate that the grounded Caroline Bezengi is leaking more oil as it sinks further off Oman’s coast, with the spill spreading across a protected marine area and concerns growing over the environmental impact and the absence of a clear salvage response.

Leaking grounded oil tanker off Oman sinks further | Borneo Bulletin Online - (AP) – A sanctioned tanker carrying nearly one million barrels of oil appears to have become further submerged in waters off the coast of Oman where it has been grounded for several weeks, satellite images reviewed by The Associated Press showed. Crude oil has been leaking and spreading quickly in recent days from the Caroline Bezengi and has reached the shores of Qibliyah Island, off Oman’s southwest coast. As of August 7, a spill of oil sheen covered nearly 800 square kilometres (km), according to environmental expert for PAX Wim Zwijnenburg, a Dutch organisation that tracks environment in conflicts. Greenpeace Germany, which has also been monitoring the situation, said the spill is increasing, indicating deterioration of the vessel’s condition. “Satellite imagery analysis suggests that the oil spill covered 45 square km up until July 26. By August 2, it had expanded to around 150 square km, and imagery from August 4 indicates that it now extends across roughly 600 square km,” said environmental disaster expert at Greenpeace Germany Nina Noelle. On Saturday, Zwijnenburg said the oil sheen was barely visible in new satellite images and appeared to have been diluted and dispersed by weather conditions. The affected area is part of the Arabian Sea reserve, a marine protected area and host to endangered wildlife, including petrels and the rare Arabian Sea humpback whale. The 247-metre Caroline Bezengi has been grounded off Qibliyah Island in southwest Oman after its crew reported an explosion on board on June 8, according to media reports. The vessel had left the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in Russia, in May, according to geospatial data tracking company SynMax Maritime. The vessel’s owners are believed to be Shanghai-based, according to Greenpeace and other reports. The latest satellite images, dated August 5, appear to show an oil sheen trailing northeast of the tanker, aground off the rocky coastline, and surrounding the island. In the images, the vessel appears to be partly submerged, noticeably more so than on a photo taken on July 31. July and August are peak monsoon season in the area. Oman’s government said it was responding to the incident. It was not immediately clear if the authorities have reached the tanker and whether there are efforts to salvage it or stop the leaking crude oil. The statement published by the Oman News Agency said authorities were observing the area through satellite images, field surveys and technical models. It said teams were ready “to implement necessary procedures” to handle potential impacts on marine life and navigation safety in the area. Greenpeace German warned in a statement of an “imminent risk of an unprecedented oil disaster from a broken tanker with devastating consequences for the region’s coastlines and marine ecosystems”. It urged all concerned bodies to act immediately to assess options to contain the spill, calling on Oman to request international assistance if needed.

Oman trying to contain extensive oil spill from stricken tanker | Environment News | Al Jazeera - Oman says it is working to contain an oil spill off its southern coast that covers almost 400 square kilometres (150 square miles) from a stricken tanker stranded for more than a month inside a protected marine area.The Oman Environment Authority said on Monday that the ongoing spill was within an estimated 7km (4.4 miles) of the coast, according to its most recent analysis.Environmental group Greenpeace last week estimated the slick at around 600 square kilometres (230 square miles), citing analysis of satellite imagery.The Caroline Bezengi loaded at Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in April and passed through the Suez Canal at the end of May, ship-tracking data shows. An investigation by the AFP news agency found that the tanker had been stranded since early June near Oman’s al-Qibliyyah Island after it was rocked by an explosion, causing water to enter several sections of the vessel.The slick was concentrated around Oman’s Hallaniyat archipelago, where Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said established a marine reserve last year to protect sensitive ecosystems home to diverse marine life, including rare sea turtles.The country’s environment authority said rapid action was needed to protect the area’s biodiversity, including “coral reefs, turtle nesting areas, marine habitats and coastal areas of ecological importance”.A report in the state-backed Oman News Agency quoted an official with the Transport Ministry as saying authorities were conducting aerial surveillance and had deployed divers.The official said authorities were in the early stages of developing a plan to transfer the vessel’s oil cargo “to reduce the risks arising from the incident, ensure navigational safety and protect the marine environment”.Omani authorities have not yet identified the cause of the spill.  Greenpeace and Dutch peace organisation PAX told AFP that the spill was on the verge of causing an “environmental disaster”, saying the tanker was carrying around one million barrels of crude bound for Asia.  The ship is believed to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet”, which Moscow uses to circumvent Western sanctions on its oil exports, with ships sailing under the flags of various nations to obscure their true ownership.The fleet includes ageing vessels that have faced criticism over maintenance, insurance and safety standards.The Caroline Bezengi is subject to sanctions imposed by the European Union, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Canada and Switzerland. Tankers have been frequently targeted in the Gulf region since the US-Israel war on Iran began at the end of February.

Oman oil spill from grounded tanker spreads across 400km2- A crude oil spill from the grounded tanker Caroline Bezengi has spread across almost 400km2 off Oman’s coast, according to a statement by the Omani government. The vessel, carrying nearly one million barrels of Russian oil destined for Asia, encountered problems in June 2026 while sailing off the coast of Yemen, reported Reuters. Maritime security sources have indicated that initial inspections pointed to an onboard explosion, although no party has claimed responsibility for an attack. Oman’s Environment Authority announced that the spill, estimated at about 390km2 (150 square miles), is located near the Hallaniyat Islands. The authority relayed through the state news agency that there is currently no threat to local facilities, including desalination plants or tourism infrastructure. The slick, extending northeast from the islands, is within approximately 7km of the coastline. Hallaniyat Islands were declared a nature reserve last year by royal decree from Sultan Haitham bin Tarik. The protected area is home to wildlife such as Arabian Sea humpback whales and Socotra cormorants. The Omani government stated it is working to manage the environmental impact caused by the leak. Greenpeace, an environmental organisation, previously estimated the spill covered around 600km2, using satellite imagery analysis. According to data cited by Reuters, the Caroline Bezengi departed from Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in April and transited the Suez Canal at the end of May. The vessel was reportedly operating as part of a fleet of older tankers that do not hold Western insurance and often use different national flags to conceal ownership. Shipping records identify Caroline Bezengi as flying the Cameroon flag, though it was one of 39 tankers recently removed from the Cameroonian registry. The ship is under sanctions imposed by the European Union, Ukraine, the UK, Canada, and Switzerland. LSEG data lists Rentoor Shipmanagement as the registered owner and Villar Shipmanagement as manager, with both firms believed to be based in China.

Huge oil spill in Arabian Sea reaches Oman coast - Oman’s National Emergency Management Committee met Thursday to discuss the government’s response to an oil spill in the Arabian Sea, the day after confirming that oil from the spill arrived on Oman’s shores. The oil was expected to pollute a roughly 25-mile stretch of the coast within a few hours, according to state-aligned Oman News. It would also soon reach some beaches of Oman’s Al Masira Island further north, officials said.The spill on Wednesday covered over 772 square miles of ocean, Reuters reported. It comes from a disabled tanker, the Caroline Bezengi, which reported an explosion and ran aground near Oman’s Al Qibiliya island in late June, according to Euronews.com.The tanker is suspected to be part of Russia’s shadow fleet, which is under international sanctions, with a gradual leak of its oil cargo into the sea. The Ambrey maritime risk firm said Thursday that it was assisting in operations to salvage the tanker, despite monsoon weather. It shared a photo of the vessel mostly submerged. Specialists were trying to stabilize the tanker’s cargo, the firm said.Omani government teams were working to reduce the spread of the spill, especially in environmentally sensitive areas, officials said. Government agencies asked fishermen to avoid the polluted areas. They were also testing local seafood and asking fishermen to report any new spread of the spill, Oman News reported.The Greenpeace environmental activism organization recently said the spill would likely cause severe consequences for local wildlife and a marine protected area. The oil could harm the rare Arabian Sea humpback whale, along with fish, seabirds, and turtles, it said.

The pollution that outlives war - War is measured first in lives lost, families uprooted and neighbourhoods reduced to rubble. But there are also deadly consequences that are often ignored. Pollution caused by war can settle over cities, contaminate water and soil, and shape public health long after the fighting is over. This is the case with the Iran war. The six weeks of bombardment in Iran and the Gulf that saw attacks on energy infrastructure have already taken a toll. Burning fuel tanks send toxic particles into the air, while debris, run-off and oil residues threaten coastal waters and marine ecosystems across the Gulf, where pollution can spread far beyond the immediate strike zone. The region has seen before how long such damage can last. During the 1991 Gulf War, retreating Iraqi forces set fire to more than 600 Kuwaiti oil wells. For months, dense smoke covered the skies, causing widespread air pollution, contamination of soil and groundwater across the Gulf – and a generation of health consequences. The United Nations later treated much of that destruction as compensable harm: Through the UN Compensation Commission, Iraq ultimately paid more than $50bn for damage linked to oil fires, marine pollution and ecosystem loss. Ukraine offers another terrifying example. The ongoing war has created a toxic legacy, with attacks on fuel depots, industrial sites, chemical warehouses and energy infrastructure contaminating air, rivers and farmland across large parts of the country. UN agencies and Ukrainian organisations have documented thousands of incidents of environmental harm since the invasion began, including fires at oil facilities, deforestation, contamination from damaged industrial sites, and widespread risks to water systems. Fossil fuel systems are especially vulnerable in war because they concentrate combustible fuels and hazardous chemicals. When oil depots, refineries or pipelines are struck, they ignite fires that release toxic gases, carcinogenic particles and residues, contaminating surrounding land and water for years. Conflict also erodes oversight. When governance collapses, environmental regulation and corporate accountability often collapse with it, leaving communities living in the shadow of fossil fuel infrastructure to absorb pollution and health harms long after headlines fade. Routine maintenance on oil pipelines, for example, has become difficult in volatile security environments in Yemen and Sudan, resulting in contaminated water and farmland. In Yemen, years of conflict left the FSO Safer tanker without maintenance, threatening to cause one of the world’s worst potential oil spills before an emergency transfer operation finally took place in 2023. The climate dimensions compound the harm. Militaries themselves were responsible for an estimated 5.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, largely from the burning of high-emitting fossil fuels. Yet military emissions are not comprehensively included in international climate accounting – an exemption long pushed for by the United States. As military spending surges globally, so too does its largely uncounted carbon footprint. Conflict also drives environmental harm beyond energy systems. When electricity collapses and fuels become scarce, households often turn to charcoal and firewood, accelerating forest loss in fragile areas. Researchers tracking conflict zones have found that deforestation frequently rises where governance weakens and fuel alternatives disappear. Sudan has seen this dynamic around Khartoum and other urban areas, with significant loss of tree cover since the war began in 2023 – tree cover that serves important ecosystem functions, including retention of groundwater. War also creates hazards beyond fossil fuels themselves. Bombardment pulverises buildings, roads and industrial sites, releasing dust laced with silica, heavy metals, and other toxins into the air. These particles can scar lungs and aggravate chronic respiratory illness. Rebuilding destroyed cities adds another climate burden: Cement and steel production are among the most carbon-intensive industrial processes in the world, meaning reconstruction often generates another surge of emissions embedded in new concrete and infrastructure. Renewable energy systems can also be damaged in conflict, but their environmental footprint is fundamentally different. A destroyed solar installation does not spill crude into rivers, and a damaged wind turbine does not ignite refinery-scale fires or release toxic benzene into nearby neighbourhoods. That matters when countries rebuild. Energy systems reconstructed around oil storage, gas transport and centralised fuel infrastructure remain vulnerable both to pollution and to global price shocks whenever conflict threatens major supply routes such as the Strait of Hormuz. More distributed renewable grids cannot remove the risks of war, but they can reduce both the toxic aftermath and the global economic shock that follows. Wars will continue to destroy infrastructure. Whether they also leave behind decades of pollution depends in part on what kind of energy systems are rebuilt when the fighting stops.

Huge oil slick hitting Oman's shoreline as agencies warn of disaster (Reuters) - A vast oil spill from a leaking tanker has started to ​hit Oman's coastline, its environment agency confirmed on Wednesday, in what threatens to become one of the world’s worst in years after spreading largely unchecked for ‌weeks. The oil could end up impacting 40 km (25 miles) of coast near Ras Madraka as well as Masirah Island, the agency said. The slick now covers an area of more than 2,000 square km, said John Amos, an oil spill specialist who reviewed satellite imagery obtained by Reuters. The Caroline Bezengi tanker, carrying an estimated 800,000 barrels of Russian oil and under international sanctions, ran aground on ​June 30. It is leaking near an island that is part of an Omani marine nature reserve that is home to wildlife including Arabian Sea humpback whales and ​Socotra cormorants. The tanker first reported difficulties off Yemen on June 8 after what maritime sources said appeared to be a blast. No party has claimed an attack, but ⁠the vessel was navigating two separate wars on its journey from Russia to India. In April it sailed from the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea, a flashpoint in ​the Russia-Ukraine war. Ukraine has carried out assaults on a so-called shadow fleet carrying Russian oil, which the Caroline Bezengi is part of. It then passed through the Suez Canal ​at the end of May, ship-tracking data shows, before sailing past Yemen, where the Iran-aligned Houthi militants have entered a wider regional war between the United States, Israel and Iran. A web of complex war- and sanctions-related rules governing shipping and oil spills is already hampering efforts to respond and could yet get in the way of halting an impending disaster, insurers ​and analysts say. The IOPC Funds, an intergovernmental agency dealing with tanker spills compensation, told Reuters it would not be involved in clean-up costs because the incident was being treated ​as an "act of war" rather than a simple accident. The 25-year-old tanker is also not insured by any recognised Western insurance provider. "A nightmare scenario is there's no adequate response to keep the worst ‌from happening," ⁠said the oil spills specialist Amos, CEO of SkyTruth, a nonprofit organisation aiming to strengthen environmental conservation through the use of satellite images. Amos said that in this case, the vessel would "continue to break up under the steady onslaught of wind and waves and to lose the entire cargo and that could be a spill upwards of 40 to 50 million gallons." Amos said this would rival the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in sheer size. The ship is similar in size and capacity to the Sanchi, an Iranian ship ​that collided with a freighter off China ​in 2018 in the world's worst oil ⁠tanker disaster in decades. The U.N.'s International Maritime Organization said that seasonal monsoon conditions had limited access to the tanker and delayed salvage operations. "Oil spill contingency planning is in place," an IMO spokesperson told Reuters. Oman said on Monday the slick covered almost 400 square km. It has not elaborated on ​the containment efforts, but said it had used booms to try to stem the spread. Environmental agencies and oil spill specialists estimated ​its size as far ⁠larger, noting the spread has accelerated dramatically since the beginning of August. "The affected area went from around 45 square km by the end of July, to 150 at the beginning of August. And then within two days, it quadrupled to 600 by the 4th or 5th of August," said Hanen Keskes, political campaigns lead for Greenpeace in the Middle East. SkyTruth's Amos said that ⁠measures required, ​beyond the use of booms, included stabilising the tanker and transferring whatever crude oil was left onboard to another vessel. "The longer we ​wait, the more damaged and decrepit that tanker gets, the more complicated and difficult and potentially dangerous that salvage operation is going to be," he said.

Oil Prices Rise as Uncertainty Persists Over Reopening of Strait of Hormuz Oil prices rose on Monday as uncertainty continued over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said an agreement with Oman on establishing new shipping routes was in its final stages, but stressed that the United States still needed to meet additional conditions. Brent crude futures rose $1.20, or 1.44%, to $84.79 a barrel by 22:06 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained $1.12, or 1.08%, to $79.29 a barrel. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that there were no direct talks with the United States, but rather an exchange of messages through intermediaries. Mehr News Agency quoted Araghchi as saying that there would be no negotiations as long as what he described as U.S. violations of the interim agreement continued. Araghchi said negotiations with Oman over establishing a new maritime route through the Strait of Hormuz were progressing positively and had reached their final stages. He confirmed that the existing routes through the Strait of Hormuz would be replaced with new routes as part of the negotiations with Oman, adding that experts were working on maps. Araghchi explained that reaching an agreement with Oman would not necessarily mean the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, as additional conditions would need to be met. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Iran would continue to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed until the United States accepted “all” of its conditions. On the other hand, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance said Iran had informed Washington that it would not impose fees on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz and would allow oil to flow through the waterway at maximum capacity. However, he stressed that the United States did not trust these assurances until they were tested in practice. Vance added that Washington was working on a plan to ensure the safe passage of vessels, including an Iranian commitment not to open fire. He said the main problem was mines that Iran had laid in the strait at the beginning of the war, adding that the United States was working to establish a safe navigation system. Oman, for its part, said negotiations on navigation arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz were taking place in a “positive and constructive” atmosphere, and called for avoiding any actions that could affect the talks and the progress achieved so far.

Global Oil Prices surge as Hormuz Uncertainty grips global markets - Global oil markets opened higher on Monday as lingering uncertainty over reopening of Strait of Hormuz sent fresh jitters through energy markets. After weekly market holiday, Asian trading resumed with crude prices climbing as investors remained focused on developments surrounding the key maritime chokepoint and the prospects for its reopening. In the latest trading, Brent crude rose 91 cents per barrel to $84.46, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 61 cents to $78.79 per barrel, reflecting renewed concerns over potential disruptions to global oil supplies. The latest gains come after both major international benchmarks slumped by more than 7% last week, as hopes grew that an agreement between Iran and Oman could pave the way for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen. The renewed uncertainty now reversed some of that optimism, putting the Strait of Hormuz back at the center of global energy-market concerns. The waterway is a critical route for international oil shipments, meaning any prolonged uncertainty surrounding its reopening can quickly ripple through crude markets and raise concerns about supply security. The conflicting signals from the oil market, a sharp decline last week followed by fresh gains at the start of the new trading week, underscore how heavily prices are being driven by developments surrounding Hormuz. For traders, the key question remains whether diplomatic efforts involving Iran and Oman will produce a breakthrough capable of restoring traffic through the waterway, or whether uncertainty will continue to keep a risk premium embedded in global crude prices.

Oil prices steady as Strait of Hormuz talks stall over Iranian demands -Oil prices showed little movement on 10 Aug, Monday, after early gains faded, as progress on talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was clouded by continued demands from Iran, reported Reuters.By 06:43 GMT Brent crude futures were largely flat at $83.54 per barrel, down by $0.1.Meanwhile, US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slipped $0.15, or 0.2%, to $78.03 per barrel.Both oil benchmarks fell by over 7% last week as expectations grew that Iran and Oman were nearing an agreement on reopening the Strait of Hormuz.Before the conflict began, the waterway carried about one-fifth of global oil shipments.However, Iran stated that negotiations with Oman were in the “final stages”, but made clear that any reopening of the Strait depended on the US meeting additional demands, including compensation for what Tehran described as widespread US attacks. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday that no talks were underway between Iran and the US, and that Tehran would not enter discussions as long as Washington remained in breach of the interim deal signed in June.Elsewhere in the region, Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group said it had attacked Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery on Sunday, reported Reuters. The incident took place two days after Saudi Arabia entered a defence agreement with Turkey and Pakistan, aiming to reinforce collective security amid ongoing tensions stemming from the US-Israeli conflict with Iran.Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry said the refinery fire was quickly extinguished and no injuries were reported, though it did not disclose the cause of the incident.In a separate development, the UAE’s ADNOC reported on Friday that 15 of its vessels had been attacked while passing through the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the conflict. The Houthis also declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea last month, a claim that Saudi officials have denied.

Oil Prices Surge 5% as U.S.-Iran Compensation Demands Dim Hopes for Strait of Hormuz Reopening - The oil market ended the session 5% higher on Monday after Iran and the U.S. traded demands for compensation, cutting hopes for a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz soon. Over the weekend, Iran called on the U.S. to meet certain conditions, including compensation and an end to sanctions and military threats, before the strategic waterway is reopened. Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, said on Sunday that Iran will not start talks with the U.S., while Washington is in breach of an interim deal signed in June. The oil market posted a low of $77.79 in overnight trading before it continued on its upward trend. The market was further supported after President Donald Trump indicated that he was in no rush to sign a peace deal as Iran deals with high inflation. He said he will demand that Iran pay the U.S. compensation for “all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded.” The crude market extended its gains to over $4.10 as it rallied to a high of $82.32 ahead of the close. The September WTI contract settled up $3.95 at $82.13 and the October Brent contract settled up $4.17 at $87.72. Meanwhile, the product markets ended the session higher, with the heating oil market settling up 28.74 cents at $4.1898 and the RB market settling up 15.01 cents at $3.1354. The White House said President Donald Trump has extended for 90 days a waiver allowing foreign-flagged ships to transport oil and other commodities between U.S. ports. White House spokeswoman, Taylor Rogers, said the 90-day extension ensures the U.S. military and key industries maintain uninterrupted access to critical resources. Under the new terms, the administration has narrowed the scope of the relief, requiring individual voyages to undergo case-by-case review rather than allowing foreign ships to receive blanket exemptions from the Jones Act. The waiver was set to expire on August 16 without the extension. It is the longest suspension of the more than a century-old law in its history. According to a Reuters survey, OPEC oil output increased further in July, as Gulf members restored supplies that were shut due to the Iran war and effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Output by the 11-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries increased by 1.17 million bpd month-on-month to 19.85 million bpd. That extended the recovery from May, which was the lowest monthly figure since at least 2000 and also well below the levels seen during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when demand collapsed. The survey showed that Iraq had the biggest increase of 850,000 bpd to 2.85 million bpd, followed by Kuwait, with an increase of 300,000 bpd to 1.95 million bpd. Iran also increased exports although the resumption of a U.S. blockade on Iranian ports in mid-July slowed shipments again. Saudi Arabia’s supply was down 100,000 bpd to 6.9 million bpd. IIR Energy said U.S. oil refiners are expected to shut in about 141,000 bpd of capacity in the week ending August 14th, increasing available refining capacity by 22,000 bpd. Marathon Petroleum reported that a leaking threaded connection on a pressure gauge was discovered at its 631,000 bpd Galveston Bay, Texas refinery. Phillips 66 reported a unit start up at its 345,000 bpd Wood River, Illinois refinery. IIR reported that Saudi Aramco has delayed the tentative restart of its 400,000 bpd Jazan oil refinery by about two weeks to August 30th. Yemen’s Houthi militants said on Sunday they had attacked the refinery, which has been shut since July 27th following a previous Houthi attack.

Oil Jumps 5% as Hormuz Uncertainty Grows (DTN) -- Crude futures jumped about 5% Monday as uncertainty increased over whether the United States and Iran will reach a deal to increase shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, reversing some of last week's steep losses. NYMEX WTI crude for September delivery settled up $3.95, or 5.1%, at $82.13 bbl, rebounding after the U.S. crude benchmark fell 9% last week for a second consecutive weekly loss. WTI's intramonth spread remained in strong backwardation despite falling $0.020 on the session to $1.010 bbl. The spread has traded around $1 bbl or higher since July 22, signaling continued strength in prompt crude supplies relative to later-dated barrels. ICE Brent crude for October finished the session up $4.37, or 5.2%, at $87.72 bbl, following a 9% decline last week. Among refined products, NYMEX ULSD for September delivery surged $0.2874, or 7.4%, to settle at $4.1898 gallon after the diesel futures contract fell 5% last week. NYMEX RBOB for September climbed $0.1501, or 5%, to finish at $3.1354 gallon, recovering some of the previous week's roughly 4% decline. Monday's rally came as uncertainty increased over prospects for an agreement between Washington and Tehran that would allow more vessels to transit the Strait of Hormuz, the key waterway that in normal times handles around 20 million bpd of global energy liquids. Expectations for an agreement had pressured crude prices over the previous two weeks, with traders anticipating that a deal could restore more normal shipping through the waterway. Those expectations weakened Monday as uncertainty surrounding negotiations increased, returning a geopolitical risk premium to crude and refined product markets.

Oil prices surge above one-week high amid Hormuz tensions | News.az -Oil prices rose more than 2% to their highest levels in more than a week as hopes for a US-Iran agreement to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz faded after President Donald Trump demanded compensation from Tehran. Brent crude futures rose by $1.73, or 1.97%, to $89.45 a barrel by 08:33 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained $1.91, or 2.33%, to $84.04 a barrel, Al Jazeera reports. Both benchmarks were trading at their highest levels since July 31. Prices continued to rise after both contracts jumped more than 5% on Monday, following Trump’s response to Iran’s conditions for a peace deal. Trump demanded that Iran pay compensation for Americans killed in the war, attacks and protests, demands that are likely to complicate efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Later in the day, Trump said the United States had control of the strait and had cleared the strategic oil route of Iranian mines.

Oil Dips as Iran, Oman Advance Talks on Strait of Hormuz -- (DTN) -- Crude futures dipped Tuesday morning following media reports that negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman have reached an advanced stage. By 9:25 a.m. EDT, NYMEX WTI crude for September delivery was down $0.30, or 0.4%, to $81.83 bbl. ICE Brent crude for October slid $0.44, or 0.5%, at $87.28 bbl. Among refined products, NYMEX ULSD for September delivery fell $0.0567, or 1.4%, at $4.1331 gallon. NYMEX RBOB for September retreated by $0.0282, or 0.9%, to $3.1072 gallon. The U.S. Dollar Index eased 0.008 points to 99.695 against a basket of currencies. The modest pullback came after both Brent and WTI crude contracts surged more than 5% on Monday, Aug. 10. That rally was driven by escalating rhetoric as U.S. President Donald Trump demanded financial compensation from Iran, while Tehran countered with demands for reparations and the complete removal of sanctions before reopening the waterway. Market participants remain concerned that prolonged supply disruptions through the key transit route could reignite inflationary pressures and prompt further monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve. Conflicting narratives regarding shipping conditions persist, with Washington asserting the channel is open while Tehran claims it remains blocked by mines and drones. The elevated geopolitical tensions have unwound optimism from late last week when preliminary reports of a potential agreement sent energy prices sharply lower. Qatar's Foreign Ministry assuaged some of those concerns by reporting Tuesday that an imminent Iran-Oman deal on the Hormuz could lay the foundation at least for the reopening of the Hormuz, pending U.S. cooperation. Despite the ongoing standoff over the waterway, ship tracking data reported by media indicated that four commercial vessels, including two clean product tankers, traversed the strait on Monday.

Oil Prices Rise as Strait of Hormuz Talks Advance but U.S.-Iran Disputes Stall Reopening The oil market traded higher as the market weighed the latest developments regarding talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. While Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said talks between Oman and Iran over shipping in the Strait of Hormuz are at an advanced stage, there has been no real meaningful progress, with Iran stating that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed as long as the U.S. does not change its behavior and accept Iran’s conditions to end the war. This followed an exchange of demands between the U.S. and Iran, which are complicating efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains low, with six vessels moving through the waterway on Monday, compared with a 10-day average of about 11 vessels. The crude market rallied to a high of $84.61 in overnight trading before it sold off to a low of $81.27 by mid-morning amid the Qatari statement. However, the market bounced off its low and settled in a sideways trading range. The September WTI contract ended the session up $1.07 at $83.20 and the October Brent contract settled up $1.19 at $88.91. The product markets ended the session higher, with the heating oil market settling up 6.27 cents at $4.2525 and the RB market settling up 12 points at $3.1366. The EIA forecast 2026 global oil output of 100.8 million bpd, down 1.1 million bpd from a previous forecast and sees 2027 output of 109.7 million bpd, down 100,000 bpd from a previous estimate. It expects ongoing disruptions to Mideast crude output of about 600,000 bpd to continue through the end of 2027. It said Mideast oil output shut-ins averaged 5.5 million bpd in July. U.S. oil output in 2026 is expected to total 13.8 million bpd, up 20,000 bpd from a previous estimate, while 2027 output is forecast at 14.15 million bpd, up 120,000 bpd from a previous forecast. The EIA sees 2026 world oil demand of 102.7 million bpd, down 100,000 bpd from a previous estimate, while 2027 oil demand is expected to increase to 105 million bpd, which is up 200,000 bpd from a previous forecast. U.S. oil demand is estimated to total 20.6 million bpd, up 100,000 bpd from a previous estimate, while demand in 2027 is seen at 20.8 million bpd, unchanged on the month. The EIA reported that WTI crude spot prices will average $80.88/barrel in 2026, up from a previous forecast of $76.26/barrel. The price of Brent crude is expected to average $86.81/barrel in 2026, compared with a previous forecast of $81.91/barrel. Pemex reported the continuation of work activities that may cause flaring at its Deer Park, Texas refinery. Work activities began on August 4th. Phillips 66 reported emissions at its 149,000 bpd Borger, Texas refinery. Libya’s National Oil Corporation said it could declare force majeure and completely halt operations at the 120,000 bpd Zawiya refinery if drone attacks on oil assets in the city continued, after reporting a third such attack on Sunday and Monday.

Oil Prices Rise As Red Sea Ship Attack, Hormuz Uncertainty Heighten Supply Risks – Oil prices rose on Wednesday as deadly attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Oman heightened concerns over the security of major global shipping routes. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark, gained about 0.88% to $89.69 per barrel as of 2:13 a.m. ET, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures advanced 0.91% to $83.96 per barrel. The gains came after Iran-backed Houthi rebels killed six people in an attack on a cargo ship in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Tuesday, marking the first reported fatalities from attacks on Red Sea shipping in more than a year. Hours later, US forces said they fired missiles at a container ship that allegedly attempted to breach Washington’s blockade of Iranian ports in the Gulf of Oman. The incidents have underscored the growing impact of the nearly six-month-old conflict on two strategically important global shipping routes, raising concerns over potential disruptions to energy supplies and international trade. The developments come even as diplomatic efforts aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz appear to be making progress. Pakistan has expressed optimism that Washington and Tehran could reach an agreement over the reopening of the strategic waterway. Torres said markets were still awaiting concrete evidence of progress, noting that investors had been expecting a deal for several weeks. “Investors have been awaiting a deal for a few weeks, and tangible progress is likely required for yields to fall significantly and stocks to rally further at this juncture,” he said in a note late Tuesday. He also pointed to the rise in oil prices as an indication that concerns over supply disruptions linked to the conflict had yet to ease. The Strait of Hormuz remains a critical artery for global energy supplies, with any prolonged disruption capable of affecting crude oil flows and putting further upward pressure on international energy prices

WTI Dips After Massive Crude Inventory Build, Big SPR Drain, Surge In Imports - Oil prices are marginally lower this morning as OPEC again cut its forecast for global oil-demand growth for this year, but stalled talks to reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz waterway and risks in the Red Sea prolong disruptions to global supplies. Physical disruptions are spreading beyond Hormuz. Refinery attacks and fires have hit Russia and Libya, while the Houthis claimed another attack on Saudi Aramco’s Jazan complex. The Red Sea has become a key alternative export route for the Kingdom, and Houthi attacks are putting that release valve under pressure. Overnight saw API report a huge crude inventory build and API

• Crude +9.1mm
• Cushing +1.6mm
• Gasoline -1.5mm
• Distillates -600k

DOE:

• Crude +17.4mm (-1.4mm exp) - biggest build since Jan 2023
• Cushing +1.61mm
• Gasoline -968k
• Distillates -10k

After API's reported large build, the official data showed an almost unprecedented 17.4mm barrel build in crude stocks (the biggest since Jan 2023), Cushing saw another build while products saw draws for the second week in a row... The massive oil stock build was driven by imports which rose to the highest level since November 2024. The US imported over a million barrels a day of oil last week, in part driven by a rise in Venezuelan imports and a return of Saudi Arabian oil. This is a sharp reversal from only a few months prior when oil was flowing abroad in massive quantities. Net Imports at their highest since June 2025 (thanks in addition to a big slump in US crude exports to the lowest since Nov 2025) ... Stocks at the critical Cushing Hub are limping off 'tank bottoms'... As we detailed here, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve saw drawdowns re-accelerate last week (with 6.1mm barrels leaving the caves of salt), back below $300 million barrels to its lowest level since January 1983. Nevertheless, total commercial crude stocks rose 11.3mm barrels last week - the largest since February... A total of 117 million barrels of crude has been taken out of the SPR since late March under a program to release 172 million barrels as part of a relief plan coordinated by the IEA aimed at lowering energy costs. US Crude production also limped higher near record highs as the rig count continues to rise... The oil stock build comes even as refiner runs rose and are sitting at the highest seasonal level since 2019. Fuel makers have signaled they intend to run harder-than-usual through the third quarter, a time when plants typically go down for maintenance. WTI dipped back below $83 after the official data, holding gains from Friday's close around $77... Interestingly, Bloomberg points out that US gasoline demand continued to remain resilient in the face of elevated gasoline prices. US retail gasoline prices are averaging over $4 per gallon, almost $1 per gallon (29%) higher than last year’s level at this time, according to data from the American Automobile Association. However, this week’s gasoline demand is only 36,000 barrels per day -- 0.4% lower compared to last year. Finally, as we noted yesterday, quoting Bloomberg macro strategist, Michael Ball, market structure reflects that stress better than outright prices. Brent and WTI curves remain backwardated and refining cracks are elevated, signaling near-term scarcity. Options are less aggressively bullish, with 25-delta call skews in both benchmarks dropping to their least bullish levels since July 10. That points to a market vulnerable to spot disruptions while increasingly pricing a path toward de-escalation.

Oil prices edge up as investors weigh US-Iran talks deadlock against lower demand(Reuters) - Oil prices rose slightly on Wednesday as attacks on ships in the Middle East continued and talks to end the Iran war hit an impasse. However, ‌the gains were limited after forecasters cut global oil demand projections for 2026. Brent futures settled up 7 cents ‌at $88.98 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 7 cents to $83.27. Prices rose after a senior Iranian source told Reuters there were no ​discussions between Iran and the U.S. to extend their ceasefire because, from Tehran's perspective, the deal had no start date and so there was nothing to extend. "The continued strength in oil prices comes as markets grow increasingly doubtful that an agreement can soon be reached to ease disruptions to crude flows from the region or prevent another escalation of the conflict," said ‌Simon-Peter Massabni, head of business development at ⁠brokerage XS.com. The U.S. and Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis reported separate attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Tuesday, two crucial export routes for Middle Eastern ⁠oil and gas in addition to the Suez Canal. Shipping data showed the number of vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz fell to a one-week low of eight on Tuesday. Before the war, 125 to 140 vessels passed through the crucial waterway each day. Futures were under pressure after forecasters revised down ​their oil demand outlooks as U.S.-Iran talks stall. The ‌Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries lowered its world oil demand growth forecast for 2026 to 580,000 barrels per day, it said in its monthly oil market report. The International Energy Agency cut its 2026 demand projections and now expects a 1.6 million bpd contraction this year. However, the Paris-based agency is also predicting a 4.3 million bpd drop in supply this year, and an overall 2026 deficit of around 1.27 million bpd. Simon Wong, portfolio manager at Gabelli, said the ‌demand cut was not surprising, given that refiners, particularly those in Asia, ​have been unable to secure enough crude supplies due to the ​closure of the Strait of Hormuz and have therefore ​reduced refinery runs. The key question, he said, is the extent of the decline and ‌how much reflects temporary demand management versus permanent demand ​destruction. "The question is, after the ​war, how much of that demand will actually come back? I don't think all of it will," Wong said. U.S. crude stocks posted a surprise build and made their largest weekly gain since January 2023 last week ​as exports slumped, the Energy Information Administration ‌said on Wednesday. [EIA/S] Analysts said the inventory build last week was mainly driven by unusually weak crude ​exports and a surge in imports.

Oil Prices Hold Steady as Gulf Shipping Attacks Offset Large U.S. Crude Inventory Build - The oil market posted an inside trading day on Wednesday as the market weighed the lack of progress on a permanent end to the war in Iran and the news of attacks on shipping in the Gulf against the unexpected large build in crude oil inventories and OPEC and the IEA cutting their demand growth forecasts. The market traded higher in overnight trading as it retraced some of Tuesday’s losses after the U.S. and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis reported separate attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The crude market posted a high of $84.35 before it once again erased its gains. The market sold off to a low of $82.40 as the EIA reported the largest crude oil inventory build since January 2023. The market’s losses were limited as a senior Iranian source stated that there were no discussions between Iran and the U.S. to extend their ceasefire because from Iran’s perspective, the deal had no start date and there was nothing to extend. The oil market later settled in a sideways trading range. The September WTI contract ended the session up 7 cents at $83.27 and the October Brent settled up 7 cents at $88.98. The product markets ended the session higher, with the heating oil market settling up 5.15 cents at $4.3040 and the RB market settling up 1.71 cents at $3.1537. The IEA said global oil supply will fall by 4.3 million bpd or around 4% this year, as renewed hostilities in the Middle East since July are set to plunge the world deeper into an oil-market deficit. The 4.3 million bpd supply drop compares with the 3.7 million bpd forecast in the IEA’s July report, and will take total supply to the IEA’s lowest forecast yet for this year at 102.02 million bpd. That would put global oil supply about 1.27 million bpd below demand this year, widening from an 860,000 bpd deficit implied from the IEA’s July forecast. The IEA sees world oil supply 4.61 million bpd above total demand, assuming a de-escalation in the coming months. It expects global demand to contract this year by 1.6 million bpd, steeper than the 1 million bpd decline previously expected. The IEA said world oil refining was 5 million bpd below year ago levels in July as spare capacity was unable to offset product supply bottlenecks. OPEC lowered its forecast for world oil demand growth in 2026 to 580,000 bpd from a previous forecast of 780,000 bpd, marking the fourth straight downward revision. OPEC also raised its forecast for 2027 oil demand growth to 2.16 million bpd from a previous estimate of 1.94 million bpd. OPEC stated that OPEC+ output averaged 37.66 million bpd in July, up about 1.42 million bpd on the month, led by gains in Gulf producers. IIR Energy said U.S. oil refiners are expected to shut in about 141,000 bpd of capacity in the week ending August 14th, increasing available refining capacity by 22,000 bpd. Offline capacity is expected to fall to 8,000 bpd in the week ending August 21st. The latest Trump administration sale of oil and gas drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico attracted nearly $82.7 million in high bids on Wednesday. The Trump administration offered more than 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to drillers as part of an effort to increase domestic energy production with regular offshore lease sales.

Oil Prices Fall as OPEC and IEA Slash 2026 Demand Outlooks --Despite the ongoing stalemate in the U.S.-Iran talks and persistent risks to shipping in the Middle East, oil prices fell in Asian trading on Thursday, weighed down by cuts to 2026 oil demand forecasts from both OPEC and the International Energy Agency. Brent Crude prices dropped by 0.5% to trade below $89 per barrel at $88.56, easing from the Wednesday intraday high of over $89 a barrel, amid demand concerns and a bearish EIA inventory report.The U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, traded 0.60% lower at $82.77 in the Asian session.On Wednesday, both OPEC and the IEA slashed their oil demand forecasts for 2026 due to the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz.The IEA expects in its August monthly report that oil demand will slump by 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) this year. That’s a 510,000 bpd decline from the expected figure in the July report, which had assumed the Strait of Hormuz oil flows would gradually rise.However, the renewed hostilities at the end of July and the deadlock in U.S.-Iran talks have prompted the IEA to project much larger demand destruction due to higher prices than were expected in early July.OPEC also cut its demand forecast for 2026 on Wednesday. Unlike the IEA, the cartel expects demand growth, although its outlook was slashed to 580,000 bpd, down from the 780,000 bpd growth expected in the July report.Also weighing on oil prices was a surprise big build in U.S. crude oil inventories, which saw a massive increase of 17.4 million barrels during the week ending August 7, per data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) out on Wednesday.The increase brings commercial stockpiles to 424.4 million barrels, according to government data, which are now just 2% below the five-year average for this time of year. The large inventory increase was predominantly driven by a 1.14 million bpd increase in crude oil imports week-on-week, while crude exports fell by 627,000 bpd on the week to August 7.

Oil Prices Slip As Demand Forecast Cuts Offset Middle East Supply Risks - Oil prices eased Thursday after a six-session rally as sharply lower 2026 demand forecasts from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and OPEC outweighed continuing supply concerns around the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude fell 42 cents to $88.56 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) dropped 55 cents to $82.72, according to Reuters. The decline followed a 17.4 million-barrel increase in U.S. crude inventories, the largest weekly build since January 2023, according to Reuters. At the same time, the IEA projected a 1.6 million-barrel-per-day contraction in global oil demand in 2026, while OPEC cut its demand-growth forecast to 580,000 barrels per day. The IEA's Aug. 12 Oil Market Report lowered its 2026 global oil demand forecast by 510,000 barrels per day from the previous month's estimate, leaving expected consumption 1.6 million barrels per day below 2025 levels. The agency attributed the revision to the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz and elevated fuel prices. The IEA expects the annual contraction to ease from 4.9 million barrels per day in the second quarter to 2.8 million barrels per day in the third quarter, before global demand returns to growth in the fourth quarter. For 2027, the agency projects demand growth of 2.4 million barrels per day. The demand weakness comes alongside a sharp supply disruption. The IEA said global oil supply increased 2.4 million barrels per day in July to 101.5 million barrels per day but remained 6.3 million barrels per day below July 2025 levels, with 8.3 million barrels per day of Gulf production still shut in. OPEC lowered its 2026 global oil demand-growth forecast to 580,000 barrels per day from 780,000 barrels per day, marking its fourth consecutive downward revision, according to its latest monthly report as reported by Reuters. The figure remains materially above the IEA's forecast of a 1.6 million-barrel-per-day contraction. The different forecasts reflect substantially different assessments of the conflict's effect on consumption. OPEC continues to expect global demand to expand in 2026, while the IEA expects consumption to contract as higher prices, supply disruptions and weaker economic activity reduce oil use. OPEC also expects a stronger recovery in 2027, according to its latest report. The divergence between the two agencies therefore remains a key uncertainty for producers, refiners and investors assessing how quickly the market can rebalance once transportation and production disruptions ease. The Strait of Hormuz remains critical because the EIA estimates that 20.9 million barrels per day of oil moved through the waterway in the first half of 2025, equivalent to about 20% of global petroleum liquids consumption and roughly one-quarter of global maritime oil trade. The IEA reported that regional oil exports, including routes bypassing Hormuz, fell 2.1 million barrels per day in July to 15 million barrels per day after the passageway was effectively closed again in early July. Gulf production remained 8.3 million barrels per day below pre-war levels. The agency also said global oil inventories fell by 69 million barrels in July and had declined by 410 million barrels between the end of February and the end of July. By the end of July, observed stocks had fallen below 7.9 billion barrels for the first time since April 2025. The U.S. inventory increase provided another bearish signal for prices. Reuters reported that U.S. crude stocks rose 17.4 million barrels in the latest weekly data, the largest increase since January 2023. The inventory movement comes as disruptions to Middle Eastern trade routes alter global crude flows. Reuters reported that shipping transparency has also deteriorated because some vessels have switched off tracking signals amid safety concerns, making real-time assessments of regional oil movements more difficult. The combination of higher U.S. inventories and weaker global demand forecasts gives the market a measurable source of downward pressure even as physical supply remains constrained. The IEA projects a 1.8 million-barrel-per-day global oil-market deficit in the third quarter, more than double its previous estimate of about 800,000 barrels per day. Saudi Arabia's crude production rose to 8.24 million barrels per day in July from 7.34 million barrels per day in June, according to the IEA's August Oil Market Report. Despite the increase, Saudi output remained 2.11 million barrels per day below the report's implied target. Total OPEC production increased from 18.96 million barrels per day in June to 20.91 million barrels per day in July, while total OPEC+ production rose to 34.53 million barrels per day from 33 million barrels per day, according to IEA data. The recovery has not restored Gulf supply to pre-conflict levels. The IEA estimates that Gulf production remained 8.3 million barrels per day below pre-war levels in July, leaving the market exposed to further disruptions even as additional barrels return to production. The market is therefore being pulled in two directions: demand forecasts are deteriorating while inventories and physical supply remain under pressure. The IEA expects global oil supply to decline by 4.3 million barrels per day on average in 2026 before rebounding by 8.3 million barrels per day in 2027. The IEA expects the market to return to surplus toward the end of 2026, but it also warned that the urgency of reopening the Strait has increased as available inventory buffers decline. The agency recorded cumulative stock draws of 410 million barrels between the end of February and the end of July. For now, the latest price move shows that weaker demand expectations can outweigh geopolitical risk in day-to-day trading, but the underlying supply deficit and depleted inventories leave crude prices sensitive to any further disruption. The IEA's forecast that demand returns to growth in the fourth quarter and expands by 2.4 million barrels per day in 2027 provides a potential recovery path if Middle East supply flows normalize.

Oil Stays in Red as Demand Worries Cap Hormuz Crisis (DTN) -- Crude and product futures remained in the red Thursday as demand downgrades from global energy agencies clashed with persistent physical supply blockades along the Strait of Hormuz. NYMEX WTI crude for September delivery fell by $2.19, or 2.58%, to settle at $81.08 bbl. ICE Brent crude for October settled down $1.91, or 2.2%, at $87.07 bbl. Downstream, NYMEX ULSD for September delivery slipped by $0.0566, or 1.22%, to close at $4.2474 gallon. NYMEX RBOB for September retreated by $0.0309, or 0.98%, to finish at $3.1228 gallon. By 3 p.m. ET, the U.S. Dollar Index slid 0.049 points to 99.85 against a basket of currencies. Oil prices remained in the red after the International Energy Agency (IEA), in its August supply-demand outlook released Thursday, slashed its annual world oil demand forecast by another 510,000 bpd. It was the agency's latest demand reduction forced by the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz and elevated fuel prices. Combined with earlier reductions, it takes a total of 1.6 million bpd from the IEA'S original demand forecast for 2026. The IEA's revision comes on the heels of OPEC's decision on Wednesday, Aug. 12, to trim demand by 200,000 bpd -- the producer's fourth straight monthly cut -- to project uptake growth at 580,000 bpd. Despite weakening demand projections, physical supply remains tightly restricted as diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran to reopen the Hormuz show no signs of progress. Independent tracking data showed vessel traffic in the transit corridor dropping to eight tankers on Tuesday, Aug. 11, contradicting claims from U.S. officials of expanding regional shipping volumes. Tehran insists the waterway will remain closed until the U.S. pays war reparations and withdraws military vessels; terms U.S. President Donald Trump has firmly rejected. Tensions escalated further Thursday after Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed a drone attack on a Saudi Aramco refinery in Jizan, highlighting broader regional infrastructure risks. Market momentum is also capped by Wednesday's U.S. Energy Information Administration report showing domestic commercial crude inventories surging by 17.4 million bbl to a three-year high. The massive commercial build contrasted sharply with Strategic Petroleum Reserve stocks, which dropped 6.1 million bbl to a 43-year low of 298.7 million bbl.

Oil Prices Fall as Weaker Demand Outlook and U.S. Inventory Build Offset Middle East Supply Risks The oil market traded lower on Thursday as traders weighed the lower demand outlooks by the IEA and OPEC and the large build in crude inventories reported on Wednesday against the lack of progress in talks over the Strait of Hormuz. The market traded sideways in overnight trading, posting a high of $83.30, before it traded lower following Wednesday’s EIA report, which showed the U.S. crude stocks built by the largest amount since January 2023 as exports declined. The crude market sold off to a low of $80.09 by mid-morning. The market was also pressured by the lower world oil demand growth forecasts released by the IEA and OPEC on Wednesday. However, it losses were limited by reports that Yemen’s Houthis had targeted a Saudi Aramco refinery with drones on Thursday, increasing concerns over supply disruptions in an already tight market. The September WTI contract settled down $2.02 at $81.25 and the October Brent contract settled down $1.91 at $87.07. The product markets ended the session lower, with the heating oil market settling down 5.34 cents at $4.2506 and the RB market settling down 2.57 cents at $3.128. LSEG data showed that diesel cargoes are costing more than jet fuel in Europe for the first time in more than a year, as the continent replaces lower Middle East air fuel shipments with other sources of supply, but struggles to secure more diesel for industry and agriculture. Europe has been able to pull in jet cargoes from the U.S. and other countries like Nigeria as prices increased after the start of the Iran war. Global diesel supply tightened even further when Russia banned exports amid Ukrainian attacks on its refineries. Analysts at Goldman Sachs said “We see a higher risk of persistent scarcity pricing in diesel than in crude heading into winter.” According to Kpler, Europe increased imports of jet fuel to 750,000 bpd in June, the highest level since October 2025, and a similar rate in July from 612,000 bpd in January. By contrast, European diesel imports have fallen to 1.56 million bpd in July from 1.97 million bpd in January. LSEG data showed that the price of diesel overtook that of jet fuel this week. Bloomberg reported that gasoline prices and diesel prices are lower than peak levels reached earlier this year, gasoline prices are still over $4/gallon and diesel prices at about $5.40/gallon. Both are at record highs for this time of year. Last year, the price of gasoline and diesel were $3.16/gallon and $3.72/gallon, respectively. The US Department of Energy raised its fuel price forecasts on Tuesday, forecasting gas at an average of $4/gallon in the third quarter and $3.72/gallon in the fourth quarter, still well above seasonal norms. Diesel is seen falling just shy of $5 by year’s end. Bloomberg stated that the price of gasoline and diesel will remain elevated until a lasting deal is struck with Iran. Yemen’s Houthis said they attacked an Aramco refinery in Saudi Arabia’s Jazan with two drones on Thursday. A Houthi military source said the attack was in response to what the group described as Saudi violations of Yemeni airspace and sovereignty in Saada and Hajjah provinces.

Oil prices edge higher after US threatens open-ended blockade of Iran     -Oil prices rose following a U.S. threat to indefinitely blockade Iran, renewing concerns about crude oil supplies. The move came after prices fell in the previous session on expectations of weaker global demand.  Brent crude increased to $87.16 and WTI to $81.29 amid renewed concerns over supply disruptions. Brent crude futures rose 9 cents, or 0.1%, to $87.16 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures gained 4 cents to $81.29 a barrel. Both contracts fell more than 2% in the previous session, giving back some of their gains following six consecutive sessions of increases for Brent and five for WTI. Nevertheless, both were still heading for weekly gains of around 4%. The United States said on Thursday that it could continue its naval blockade of Iran indefinitely and would intensify economic pressure on Tehran amid stalled ceasefire talks. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said: “Look for more announcements next week, because we will impose measures unprecedented in the history of economic isolation of any country.” The latest U.S. threats come as Iran continues to restrict maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20% of the world’s oil passed before the conflict. The restrictions have driven up fuel prices and increased pressure on U.S. President Donald Trump to end a war that is unpopular domestically. The Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported that two tankers belonging to Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), the state-owned oil company, were attacked while transiting the strait on Thursday. The UAE government condemned what it described as an “aggressive Iranian attack.”

Oil climbs on tanker attacks, US-Iran claims about Hormuz control -  Crude oil prices climbed on Friday over renewed attacks on tankers and a war of words between the Trump administration and Iran’s leadership.Brent futures were up 80 cents, or 0.92%, to $87.87 a barrel at 10:48 a.m. CT (1548 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 43 cents, or 0.53%, to $81.69 a barrel.Brent and WTI were on track for weekly gains of 5.09% and 4.37%, respectively.Higher oil prices are a natural result of the latest U.S. approach to Iran, which implies little hope of a near-term resolution, said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB Research.On Thursday, the U.S. said it could maintain a naval blockade of Iran indefinitely and increase economic pressure on Tehran in response to stalled ceasefire talks.“Watch this space for more announcements coming next week because we are going to apply measures like have never been seen in the history of economic isolation of a country,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Newsmax’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight” program.“A return to normal flows out of the Strait of Hormuz is now suddenly without any near-term hopes,” Schieldrop said.As the U.S. and Iran made claims over control of the strait, shipping traffic through the channel fell below the month’s average.Before U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran began in late February, the strait handled about one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.Two vessels from the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company were attacked while transiting the strait on Thursday, the United Arab Emirates’ state news agency WAM said, an incident the UAE government condemned as an Iranian attack.“That’s the headline that pushed up prices: Tankers attacked,”  Crude oil exports from Russia’s Sheskharis terminal at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk were suspended on Friday following a drone attack, three sources familiar with the matter said, adding to disruptions at one of the country’s key export outlets. Flynn said the Ukrainian attack on the port of Novorossiysk was also boosting prices.While Middle Eastern supplies are constrained, OPEC forecasts pointed to weaker demand growth and U.S. crude inventories posted their largest weekly increase in more than 3-1/2 years.“This week’s reports by the IEA and EIA were quite revealing. Storage is holding up much better than feared, which should pull oil prices lower,” said Norbert Rucker, head of economics and next generation research at Julius Baer, referring to the International Energy Agency and U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Oil Prices Rise as Tanker Attacks Return to Hormuz (DTN) -- Crude oil futures rebounded Friday as fresh tanker attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and intensifying rhetoric between Washington and Tehran reignited geopolitical supply fears. The price gains offset earlier pressure from bearish weekly inventory builds and downgraded demand forecasts. NYMEX WTI crude for September delivery rose by $1.15, or 1.42%, to settle at $82.40 barrel (bbl). For the week, the U.S. crude benchmark rose 5%. ICE Brent crude futures gained $1.45, or 1.67%, to close at $88.52 bbl. The global crude benchmark rose almost 6% for the week. Downstream, NYMEX ULSD for September delivery climbed by $0.0323, or 0.76%, to close at $4.2829 gallon. The U.S. diesel benchmark gained nearly 10% on the week. NYMEX RBOB for September advanced by $0.0561, or 1.79%, to finish at $3.1841 gallon. For the week, the gasoline benchmark rose almost 7%. The U.S. dollar index, meanwhile, slipped by 305 points to 99.55 against a basket of currencies. The United Arab Emirates on Friday accused Iranian forces of launching drone strikes against two Abu Dhabi National Oil Company tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday. The UAE foreign ministry condemned the strikes as acts of piracy, adding that both vessels sustained minor damage with no casualties reported. Separately, crude exports from Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiysk were halted Friday following a Ukrainian drone strike on the Sheskharis terminal. The operational shutdown at one of Russia's primary export hubs added further momentum to Friday's market rally. Escalating rhetoric from the White House also dampened prospects for a near-term diplomatic breakthrough over the Middle East shipping corridor. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned Thursday that Washington plans to impose unprecedented economic isolation measures against Iran alongside a continued naval blockade. Shipping traffic through the Hormuz remains severely restricted, with vessel volume slipping below the monthly average as Tehran insists the waterway will remain closed. The channel historically carried roughly 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies before hostilities began. Despite Friday's price gains, broader market upside remains constrained by heavy commercial inventory builds and weakening macroeconomic forecasts. Data released this week showed U.S. commercial crude stocks surging 17.4 million bbl, alongside lowered demand growth expectations from both OPEC and the IEA.

Another UAE ADNOC tanker targeted in Strait of Hormuz -  A tanker belonging to the UAE’s state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) was targeted while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, a day after two other ADNOC vessels came under attack in the strategic waterway. The latest incident occurred on the evening of August 14, according to ADNOC. No injuries were reported, and the situation was brought under control. ADNOC stressed the importance of protecting the safety and well-being of seafarers, maintaining freedom of navigation and safeguarding maritime security. The incident came a day after two ADNOC tankers were targeted while passing through the Strait of Hormuz. No deaths or injuries were reported in that incident either. The attack was the ​third such incident involving ADNOC vessels in less than a week. The UAE had accused Iran of ​being behind the earlier attacks, but ​there was no official comment from the UAE on ‌Friday’s ⁠attack. Qatar and Kuwait condemned the attacks on the ADNOC vessels and expressed solidarity with the UAE. In separate statements, the two Gulf states described the attacks as a blatant violation of international law and freedom of maritime navigation, as well as a breach of UN Security Council Resolution 2817. Qatar also described the attacks as a “tool of pressure” and called on Iran to halt attacks against neighbouring countries. Both countries reaffirmed their “full solidarity with the UAE” and support for measures taken by Abu Dhabi to protect its assets. ADNOC has previously said the ongoing war has had a “significant” impact on its operations but stressed that the safety of its personnel and assets remained its priority. Iran has not publicly responded to the UAE’s latest allegations regarding the tanker attack.

BofA: Hormuz Needs 10 Times More Ships to Stabilize Oil Markets - Bank of America (BoFA) is warning that oil prices could continue climbing into the winter if the U.S. and Iran fail to reach an agreement reopening the Strait of Hormuz, with severe shortages already emerging in diesel, gasoline and global natural gas markets. “We’ve been expecting oil to be in the $70 to $80 a barrel range for Brent on the assumption that we were going to see some resolution,” Francisco Blanch, Bank of America’s head of commodities and derivatives research, told CNBC on Monday. “But if we don’t, we’re going to keep creeping higher into the winter.”The warning comes as negotiations over reopening Hormuz remain unresolved and tanker traffic through the world’s most important oil chokepoint remains a fraction of pre-war levels.Blanch said only around 5 to 10 ships per day are currently passing through Hormuz, compared with roughly 140 before the war. With some crude now being rerouted through Saudi Arabia and the UAE, traffic would need to recover to around 80 to 100 ships per day just to stabilize energy markets.“We have enough crude oil for now, but we have true shortages in diesel markets, gasoline markets and also global gas,” Blanch said. “We have some serious shortfalls in end products in the energy markets right now.”Those shortages are showing up most dramatically in refining margins. Blanch said diesel crack spreads–the difference between diesel and crude prices–have surged to roughly $80-$85 per barrel, meaning the diesel differential alone is now higher than the price of WTI crude. “That’s kind of never happened before except for a few occasions,” he said, adding that gasoline differentials are also extremely high and refining margins have reached record levels.Inventories offer considerably less protection than during previous supply disruptions. “We don’t have the inventories that we used to have,” Blanch said, warning that failure to secure an agreement could bring another escalation.Brent crude was trading at $86.12 per barrel Monday morning, up 3.08%, while WTI was near $80.72, up 3.25%.Bank of America is also urging investors to become more defensive as its bull-and-bear indicator climbs to 9.7, its highest since 2021. Chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett has recommended reducing exposure to risk assets rather than adding to positions, writing that the bank remains in a “Retreat/Rotate not Reload” camp. U.S. equities remain near record highs, leaving investors heavily exposed if another surge in oil and fuel prices spills into inflation and the wider economy.

US, Israel solely to blame for Hormuz insecurity; world should hold Washington accountable: Iran FM --   Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the United States and the Israeli regime are the only parties to blame for the insecurity that has come to affect the Strait of Hormuz. The top diplomat made the remarks on Monday during a telephone conversation with his German counterpart Johann Wadephul. Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global energy chokepoint, closed in response to the unprovoked US-Israeli aggression, days after it was launched on February 28. The US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in June to end the cycle that had resulted from the aggression. The Islamic Republic subsequently reopened the strait, but was forced to reimpose the closure after Washington began interfering with a legal transit mechanism that Tehran had devised for passage through the chokepoint in line with the understanding. “The international community should hold the US government accountable for the security and economic consequences arising from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz,” Araghchi added. He emphasized that ensuring the security of the Strait of Hormuz required an end to the US acts of aggression and unlawful interference, including an illegal maritime blockade that it has imposed on Iran. The Iranian foreign minister also briefed his German counterpart on ongoing consultations with Oman aimed at establishing a safe navigation route for shipping through the strait. Additionally, the two sides discussed and exchanged views on bilateral relations, and stressed the importance of continuing diplomatic consultations on various levels.

US Sending Fresh Aircraft Carrier to the Middle East Amid Reports of Multiple Sailors Attempting to Jump Overboard - -The aircraft carrier USS George Washington is preparing to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln as part of a scheduled Middle East deployment, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, news that comes as families of military personnel aboard the Lincoln have reported that sailors have attempted to jump overboard.The Lincoln has been deployed for more than 250 days and hasn’t made a port call in over 200 days, as part of a deployment initially scheduled to end in May but extended due to the Iran war, straining the crew. For months, the ship has been deployed in the Arabian Sea, where it has been involved in bombing Iran and is currently part of the armada enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports.   Military Times and Stars and Stripes both reported this week that family members are extremely concerned about the strain on sailors and Marines aboard the carrier, and there have been multiple accounts of sailors attempting to jump overboard. On Thursday, CNN reported that one sailor did go overboard earlier this month. US officials told the outlet that the sailor was rescued after an hour and was then medically evacuated off the vessel.Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) has said that he wrote a letter to US War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao about the conditions on the Lincoln. “There have been widespread reports of shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns, and disruptions in the mail system, which have caused many care packages in route to the ship to be lost in transit for months,” Blumenthal wrote.“These reports warrant immediate attention, but they also raise a broader question: whether the Navy can sustain the operational tempo now being demanded of its carrier force, particularly as this Administration repeatedly commits U.S. forces to conflicts of its own choosing and increasingly relies on aircraft carriers to sustain those operations,” the senator added.

Iran Briefs Germany on Hormuz Strait Talks - (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi briefed his German counterpart on Tehran’s ongoing consultations with Oman to establish a safe shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, stressing that insecurity in the waterway stems from US and Israeli military aggression against Iran. In a telephone conversation on Monday afternoon, Araqchi and Johann Wadephul talked about the bilateral relations as well as regional and international developments. The Iranian foreign minister informed his German counterpart about the ongoing consultations with Oman on determining a safe route for maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Araqchi stressed that the insecurity imposed on the Strait of Hormuz is solely the result of the military aggression by the United States and the Israeli regime against Iran, saying the international community should hold the US accountable for the security and economic consequences resulting from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. He further emphasized that ensuring security in the Strait of Hormuz requires an end to US acts of aggression and illegal interventions, including the naval blockade and other violations of US commitments. The two foreign ministers also reviewed several issues related to bilateral relations and underscored the importance of continuing diplomatic consultations between Tehran and Berlin at various levels.

Missile Strike on Ship in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait Kills Four - A missile strike on a commercial ship in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Tuesday killed at least four crew members, Reuters has reported, in an attack blamed on Yemen’s Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis.Ansar Allah hasn’t officially taken credit for the attack, but according to Yemen’s SABA news agency, the media wing of the Ansar Allah-led Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) said that the YAF “targeted a ship transporting Saudi military equipment in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.”The Reuters report said that the Tihamah, a small, Egyptian-owned cargo ship, was hit while it was at anchor near Perim, an island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, and that three Pakistanis and one Indonesian were killed. Ansar Allah has launched multiple attacks on Saudi-linked shipping as part of its enforcement of a new maritime blockade it imposed on Saudi Arabia following Saudi strikes that targeted the Sanaa International Airport in mid-July. If it’s confirmed that Ansar Allah was responsible for the attack, it would mark the first deaths in its attacks on ships since the blockade was first imposed on July 20.Ansar Allah has also been carrying out strikes targeting oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and Saudi-backed forces in Yemen, which have inflicted dozens of casualties. The group announced more attacks on Tuesday targeting what it called “Saudi military buildups” in the Red Sea port city of Mocha, which is near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and in Yemen’s central Marib province.

Ansar Allah Launches More Attacks on Oil Sites in Saudi Arabia, Saudi-Backed Forces in Yemen - Yemen’s Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, launched more attacks on Thursday, targeting oil infrastructure inside Saudi Arabia and Saudi-backed forces in Yemen, according to Yemeni media reports.An Ansar Allah military source told the SABA news agency that two drones targeted an Aramco refinery in Jizan, southern Saudi Arabia, and claimed it was a “precise” strike. Ansar Allah has launched multiple successful strikes on Saudi oil sites in recent weeks, but so far, whether Thursday’s attack caused damage hasn’t been confirmed. Also on Thursday, Aljoumhouriya TV reported that an Ansar Allah drone hit a military camp in eastern Yemen’s Hadramout province. The report said the camp belonged to the Nation’s Shield Forces, a Saudi-funded Yemeni military force led by Salafi commander Bashir al-Madrabi, and that two fighters were killed and 15 were wounded.Over the past week, Ansar Allah has launched multiple attacks targeting Saudi-backed forces in eastern Yemen and in Mocha, a Red Sea port near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that is under the control of the Saudi- and Western-backed government, which is based in Aden, though its leaders are based in Riyadh.The attacks have inflicted dozens of casualties, and Ansar Allah’s military spokesman, Yahya Saree, has said the attacks were launched as the Saudi forces are preparing for an escalation against the “liberated” Yemeni provinces, referring to the areas of Yemen under Ansar Allah control, which is where most Yemenis live.There have been reports that Saudi Arabia is preparing for a major escalation in Yemen that could involve a ground offensive, and Riyadh has formed a new Red Sea coalition meant to confront Ansar Allah. The Saudis reignited the war last month by bombing the Sanaa international airport to prevent a flight from Iran from landing. In response, Ansar Allah announced a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia, a policy it calls a “blockade for a blockade,” and has launched multiple attacks on Saudi shipping.

Iran Condemns Israeli Crimes against Lebanon - (Tasnim) – Spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Esmaeil Baqaei strongly condemned the Zionist regime’s recent attacks on southern Lebanon, which have killed and wounded Lebanese citizens and damaged infrastructure and homes. In a statement on Tuesday, Baqaei strongly condemned the brutal attacks carried out by the Israeli regime over the past several days against areas in southern Lebanon. Referring to the continuation of attacks by the Zionist regime and its violation of Lebanon’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty, the spokesman said the silence and indifference of international bodies, particularly the United Nations Security Council, has emboldened the Israeli regime and led to the continuation of its aggression and crimes. He noted that the US administration, due to its comprehensive support for the Israeli regime, is considered an accomplice and partner in all of the Zionist regime’s crimes in Lebanon, occupied Palestine and the entire region. The Foreign Ministry spokesman also praised the courageous resistance and steadfastness of the Lebanese people in the face of the Israeli regime’s aggression and occupation, stressing Iran’s full solidarity with Lebanon in its path to defend its sovereignty, dignity and independence against Israeli aggression.

Iran Sees Mecca Defense Pact as Sign of Regional Shift -- Tasnim News Agency  (Tasnim) – The spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry described the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement among Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey as a sign of a changing perception among regional states, saying they have realized that security cannot be secured by relying on foreign powers. In comments at a weekly press conference on Monday, Esmaeil Baqaei said the trilateral agreement could be viewed as an indication of a shift in the way countries in the region perceive security. He noted that Iran has consistently called on regional countries to cooperate and strengthen their own security without relying on foreign actors, stressing that the latest development should be taken into consideration. Baqaei said regional countries had, particularly since the start of the genocide in Gaza and Israeli attacks three years ago, increasingly recognized the source of the greatest threat to stability and security in the region and beyond. He pointed to the Zionist regime’s attacks on Lebanon, Palestine and Syria, as well as its threats against other countries in the region, saying such developments have strengthened the understanding that regional states can no longer rely on the US claims to provide security. The Iranian spokesman also said the US itself has contributed to insecurity in the region, arguing that the Israeli regime could not have carried out its actions without American support. He stressed Iran’s view that regional security is indivisible, saying that any initiative that correctly identifies the enemy and the threat could contribute to strengthening security.

Yemen's Ansar Allah Targets Saudi Oil Refinery, Saudi-Backed Forces in Yemeni Port of Mocha - Yemen’s Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, launched attacks on Sunday targeting both an oil refinery inside Saudi Arabia and Saudi-backed forces in the Yemeni port city of Mocha. Ansar Allah military spokesman Yahya Saree said early Sunday that a Saudi Aramco facility in Jizan, a Red Sea port city in southern Saudi Arabia, was targeted with a drone, an attack he said was a response to Saudi drones flying in northern Yemeni provinces. Local officials reported a fire at the facility and said it was extinguished with no casualties.The strike on the oil facility came two days after Saudi Arabia signed a new defense pact with Pakistan and Turkey, which includes a NATO-style security guarantee that says an attack on one will be considered an attack on all, though the details of what that means still need to be worked out.Later in the day, Saree announced a drone and missile attack against what he called the “Saudi enemy’s mobilizations and weapons depots” in Mocha, which is under the control of the Saudi and Western-backed Yemeni government, whose leadership is based in Riyadh. Saree said the attack was in response to “continued mobilization by the Saudi enemy of its tools, reinforcing them with weapons and equipment, and its ongoing assaults in the western coastal region and Taiz Governorate.”He claimed that the strikes “resulted in widespread destruction of that equipment and weaponry, as well as the killing and wounding of dozens, including Saudis.” A medical source in Mocha told AFP that the strike killed 11 people, including eight soldiers and three civilians. The strikes on Mocha came a few days after Ansar Allah launched attacks in central Yemen targeting the Emergency Forces, a military unit recently created by Saudi Arabia that operates under the control of the Saudi military. That attack killed at least 35 fighters. Ansar Allah has also continued strikes on Saudi tankers as it continues to enforce a maritime blockade it imposed following Saudi airstrikes on the Sanaa International Airport, which Riyadh carried out to prevent the landing of a plane from Iran. The plane, which ended up landing in Yemen’s Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, was carrying a Yemeni delegation that attended the funeral of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and US and Saudi officials have claimed it was also carrying weapons and IRGC advisors. President Trump reportedly gave Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman the green light for the strikes on the Sanaa airport, which reignited the conflict between the Saudis and the Houthis after a ceasefire had held relatively well since 2022.

Some Middle East oil output will stay shut through next year, US EIA says -    (Reuters) - Some producers in the Middle East are likely to struggle to restore oil output to pre-conflict levels by the end of 2027, even if trade patterns return to normal by early next year, the U.S. Energy ​Information Administration said on Tuesday.Disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on energy ​infrastructure have forced oil producers across to Middle East to sharply reduce production, reducing global ⁠supply and sending oil prices to multi-year highs. The EIA estimated about 5.5 million barrels per day of Middle ​East oil output, or over 5% of global consumption, was shut-in during July, the agency said in its short-term ​energy outlook (STEO) for August.The EIA now expects flows through Hormuz to be severely constrained through August after renewed attacks on vessels in recent weeks, but it assumes that shipments will start to slowly increase in September. The agency, which is the U.S. Department of Energy's statistical arm, has previously ​issued similar forecasts of an imminent increase in Hormuz shipments, which failed to materialize as the Iran war dragged on.Even ​if most Middle East oil output and global trade recover to pre-conflict levels by early 2027, about 600,000 bpd of production from the ‌region ⁠will be shut-in through the end of 2027, the EIA said in the August STEO.The EIA now expects global oil output will likely average about 100.8 million bpd this year, about 1% below the forecast in July STEO, the agency said. World oil demand, however, is expected to be about 104 million bpd, the same as the July ​forecast.The widening supply deficit prompted ​the EIA to raise ⁠its oil price forecasts for both 2026 and 2027.For 2026, the EIA said it now expects Brent crude oil prices to average $86.81 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas ​Intermediate crude to average $80.88 a barrel. The prior forecast had Brent crude averaging ​under $82 this year, ⁠and WTI just over $76.Prices will decline next year as the EIA assumes Middle East output and global trade to have recovered substantially by early 2027, but it now expects a softer decline as some output will be shut ⁠for longer. ​Brent crude prices will fall 20.1% from 2026 to average $69.39 a ​barrel next year, compared to the prior forecast of a 20.9% decline, while WTI prices will decline 19.1% to $65.39 a barrel, compared to ​the prior forecast of a 20.3% decline, the EIA said.

Israeli Military Declares the West Bank's Last Entirely Christian Village a 'Closed Military Zone' Amid Increasing Settler Violence -  The Israeli military on Sunday declared that Taybeh, the last village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that is populated entirely by Christians, was a “closed military zone” amid rising Jewish settler violence against the town.The IDF said it took the step due to “some violent attacks by Israelis in the region” and that it meant Israelis and other non-residents of the village could not enter.While the step is being taken in the name of protecting the village, Taybeh’s mayor, Suleiman Khouria, said the step further restricts the town’s residents and fails to actually protect them from settlers, calling it an “attempt to further tighten the noose on villagers rather than a measure to protect them.”“Some residents make their living from tourism, making restrictions on foreign entry a direct blow to economic activity and income sources,” Khouria told the Palestinian news agency WAFA. He said that the village never received an official notification from the IDF about the closure and that he only heard about it through media reports.Vatican News on Monday published an interview with Father Bashar Fawadleh, a Catholic priest in Taybeh, who detailed the uptick in settler violence. “Many families across the west, east, and south of Taybeh are suffering from this settler violence. As they always do, they have been setting fire to vacant land,” he said.“Over the last few months, the situation has deteriorated dramatically. Almost daily, we face incursions, attacks on private property, the destruction of farmland, road closures, travel restrictions, and relentless pressure on the population,” Fawadleh added.Fawadleh called for international support for the town and appealed to Pope Leo XIV. “Through your platform, I would like to appeal directly to Pope Leo XIV to intervene for this last Christian village in the West Bank, so that these settler attacks cease and the occupation of our land stops. We simply want to live in peace, with justice and dignity,” he said.Taybeh received international attention last year when settlers set a fire next to the historic Church of St. George, which was first built in the fifth century. In a statement on the attack, Father Fawadleh and the priests from the Melkite Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches in the town noted that Taybeh was known in the Gospel as Ephrahim, the “place to which Jesus withdrew before His Passion.” They said the village’s wholly Christian population “represents a unique presence in the region, a living testimony that dates back to the time of Christ.” Church leaders from the region and foreign diplomats visited Taybeh in the aftermath of the attack and strongly condemned the settler violence against the Christian village, but it has only increased since then, following a pattern across the entire West Bank.

Influential Retired IDF General Says Gaza Should Remain 'Destroyed for Generations' - A retired Israeli general who has had significant influence on Israel’s operations in Gaza has called for the Palestinian territory to remain in a state of devastation “for generations,” Middle East Eye reported on Monday, citing Israeli media. “Israel has no interest in Gaza being rebuilt, it is better for us that it be destroyed for generations to come,” Ret. Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland told Israel’s 103FM radio station. “The greater the despair in Gaza and the greater the destruction, and the greater the monument to what they did on October 7, years to come, that is good,” added Eiland, who previously headed Israel’s National Security Council. Eiland was responsible for crafting what became known as the “general’s plan,” a proposal to destroy northern Gaza by forcibly evacuating civilians from the area, cutting off all aid, and considering anyone who remains as a hostile militant. The retired general presented the plan to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in September 2024, and the following month, Israel ordered the evacuation of northern Gaza and cut off virtually all aid going to the areas of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia. The campaign in northern Gaza also involved mass demolitions in the areas civilians were forced out of, destroying nearly all of the buildings in the north. While Israel officially denied it was carrying out the “general’s plan,” it’s clear significant portions of it were implemented. In his radio interview, Eiland also criticized the Hamas disarmament plan announced by President Trump and the so-called “Board of Peace,” calling it “pro-Hamas.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also rejected the proposal.Eiland said that Israel should be able to keep the land that it controls in Gaza, which is currently about 70% of the Palestinian territory. “In war…the losing side loses. Germany, which lost the Second World War, was forced to surrender 25 percent of its territory,” he said.“Along with this, there is the territorial need for the Yellow Line, which we must not give up under any circumstances. This is a war, the enemy has lost, and we need land, not for settlement, but as a security buffer between the settlements and where the IDF can be located,” Eiland added.

Israel Assassinates Gaza Police Official as It Continues Violating Ceasefire - --Israel assassinated a police official in Gaza on Thursday, the Quds News Network reported, as the IDF continues its constant violations of the October 2025 ceasefire deal despite President Trump recently announcing that a deal had been reached on Hamas disarmament.The Quds report said that the official, Col. Jamal Abu Kumeil, was the chief of police in the Gaza governorate and was hit by an Israeli airstrike while traveling in a vehicle in southwestern Gaza City. Two people traveling with him were injured.Gaza’s Interior Ministry strongly condemned the Israeli strike and noted that it followed a pattern of escalated Israeli attacks targeting the police on the Hamas-controlled side of Gaza, an ever-shrinking strip of land. The ministry said the attacks on the police force are part of an effort to “create chaos within Palestinian society.”

Future of Israel-Lebanon Talks in Doubt After ‘Annexation’ Map, Grave Demands -  US-brokered Israel-Lebanon talks are already adjourned for the month of August, but as the war continues various controversies raise doubts over whether it would be worth coming back to the table in September, and indeed if Israel is taking these matters seriously.The latest round of controversies started Friday with the Israeli Foreign Ministry publishing a map on social media aiming to downplay child malnutrition in the Gaza Strip. The map, rather conspicuously, made Lebanon substantially smaller than it actually is, and added quite a bit of Lebanon’s south to Israel. Israel deleted the map, and claimed it was an “error.” The Lebanese government is reportedly investigating but notably hasn’t made any public comments regarding the matter. Hezbollah isn’t being so quiet about it. Rather, Hezbollah issued a statement calling on Lebanon to halt direct talks over the map, accusing the Israelis of incorporating occupied Lebanon into their territory in an effort to “impose new realities” on the situation.Adding more confusion to the already struggling negotiations, Israel reportedly also raised the prospect of a “civilian prisoner exchange” which would allow Lebanon to recover the civilians Israel has captured so far over the course of the war. In return they wanted the Lebanese government to exhume remains of Lebanese Jews and send them to Israel.Historically, Lebanon had a rather substantial Jewish community, and both Beirut and Sidon have historic Jewish cemeteries. The expectation that they’d be dug up and their bodies given to the Israeli state was previously never broached, and reportedly “bewildered” the Lebanese negotiating team.In return, Israel would only retain those captives they’re confident aren’t Hezbollah, and since they were presumably captured in occupied southern Lebanon, there’s nothing to prevent Israel from simply recapturing them on their return, while Lebanon’s cemeteries clearly have finite numbers of people to “exchange” for them.This proposal further raises questions about Israel’s seriousness in the talks, as Israel is reportedly refusing to discuss withdrawing from Lebanon or even halting attacks on Lebanon, but is now transitioning the talks to minutiae regarding centuries-old cemeteries.

As Southern Lebanon Villages Erased, Israel Accused of Deliberately Starting Forest Fires --Wednesday saw Israel continuing to attack towns and villages across southern Lebanon, wounding several people in strikes on Mansouri, Beit Yahoun, and Zawtar al-Sharqiyeh. Such strikes are effectively a daily occurrence in those areas.That’s particularly true of Mansouri, which is adjacent to one of the “pilot zones,” and where the growing escalation of Israeli artillery shelling and drone strikes in raising concerns about the war ratcheting up again, after weeks of relatively low death tolls.The most immediate concern in southern Lebanon, however, isn’t what has happened in the war, or is likely to happen in the near future, but rather what is currently happening, which is a soaring number of forest fires caused by rural Israeli strikes.Israeli forces have been dropping incendiaries on the forests in areas like Khiam and civil defense officials are saying that increasingly, those forest fires are taking up most of their attention, and seemingly this is deliberate, as Israel is dropping flares into forests and predictably setting them ablaze.Defense Minister Israel Katz has been bragging about how many villages he’s completely destroyed over the course of the Israeli war, which began in early March. While destruction in the villages continues apace, there’s been growing attention to how many forests, orchards, and general farmland that Israel has been targeting. It’s not enough, it seems, to erase the villages, but to ensure that the land is unlivable for the displaced Lebanese villagers.

An overnight Ukrainian blitz damages Russia’s Black Sea naval stronghold, Zelenskyy says (AP) — Ukrainian anti-ship missiles and drones blitzed a major Russian naval base on the Black Sea coast in a “unique” nighttime operation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday. Cutting-edge drones developed by Kyiv since Moscow’s full-scale invasion over four years ago have repeatedly targeted Russian ships in the Black Sea, including warships and oil tankers. Ukraine’s air and sea drones have succeeded in limiting the movements of Russia’s once-dominant Black Sea navy, Kyiv officials say, in one of the country’s biggest accomplishments of the war. But Ukrainian officials believe Russian President Vladimir Putin is bent on pressing ahead with the war, despite his bigger army’s slow and costly progress on the battlefield and U.S. diplomatic efforts to find a settlement. Putin is planning “an additional rapid mobilization of several hundred thousand Russians by the end of the year,” Zelenskyy said Tuesday night on social media, citing Ukrainian intelligence reports. Those reports have said recently that Russia is expanding production of ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones, both of which are hard for Ukrainian air defenses to counter. Ukraine also is trying to scale up its weapons manufacturing through agreements with partner countries. Neither Putin nor other senior Russian officials have hinted at a possible major call-up of forces to fight in Ukraine. Some officials have accused Kyiv of trying to rattle the Russian public with talk of a mobilization. Russian lawmaker Andrei Gurulyov brushed off reports of a possible autumn mobilization. “It is the enemy deliberately spreading rumors about mobilization in order to destabilize the situation inside Russia,” he was quoted as saying by pro-Kremlin online outlet Tsargrad in comments published Monday. After the widely unpopular partial mobilization of some 300,000 men four years ago, Russia has relied on volunteers attracted by relatively high pay. However, the decree declaring the partial mobilization that Putin signed in September 2022 is open-ended, allowing authorities to resume it if needed. The Ukrainian military “carried out a unique operation targeting the naval base in Novorossiysk — the last major stronghold of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea,” Zelenskyy said in a social media post Wednesday. The attack struck air defenses, piers and other port infrastructure, he added. Russia relocated most of its naval ships to Novorossiysk after Ukrainian strikes on the main Black Sea base at Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula earlier in the war. Hundreds of Ukrainian drones attacked Novorossiysk, Anapa and Gelendzhik and the Temryuk district of the Krasnodar region overnight, said Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev. An 8-year-old child was one of three people killed in the attack on the region, Kondratyev said. He added that 24 others in the region were wounded. Dozens of residential buildings were damaged, Kondratyev said, and debris from downed drones fell on the grounds of four industrial plants. The strikes damaged two of Novorossiysk’s three grain terminals, with one of them halting operations, the Russian business daily Vedomosti reported. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed more than 500 Ukrainian drones. Novorossiysk also is home to the Grushovaya oil terminal, one of the largest international hubs in southern Russia for petroleum products. No reports indicated it had been hit.

The General Staff reported that four Russian ships were hit in Novorossiysk, two of them Kalibr missile carriers The General Staff confirmed that four Russian warships were hit in Novorossiysk, including frigates and a small missile ship. The information is being уточнено. The General Staff reported that four Russian ships were hit in Novorossiysk, two of them Kalibr missile carriers The General Staff confirmed that four enemy warships in Novorossiysk were hit—two frigates, a small missile ship, and a patrol ship, reports UNN. According to preliminary information, four warships belonging to the Russian aggressor sustained damage of varying degrees: two Project 11356 frigates, "Admiral Makarov" and "Admiral Essen" (Kalibr missile carriers—ed.), the Project 21631 "Buyan-M" small missile ship, and the Project 22160 "Vasily Bykov" patrol ship - the statement says. The information is being уточнено. We remind you President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that a unique operation had been carried out to strike the enemy naval base in Novorossiysk using "Palianytsia" jet drones, "Neptune" missiles, and naval drones.

Russia’s “Sheskharis” terminal on the Black Sea suspended loading after a drone attack - Reuters | УНН -- Crude oil exports from the "Sheskharis" terminal in Novorossiysk have been completely suspended following a drone attack. The terminal, which handles 700,000 barrels per day, stopped loading because its storage tanks were full. The export of crude oil from the Russian "Sheskharis" terminal at the port of Novorossiysk was completely suspended following a drone attack. Reuters reports this, citing sources, UNN reports. The export of crude oil from the Russian "Shesharis" terminal at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk was suspended on Friday as a result of a drone attack - the publication writes.  The "Shesharis" terminal, which handles about 700,000 barrels of oil per day (b/d), is Russia’s main oil export facility on the Black Sea. Its shutdown increases pressure on Russia’s energy infrastructure, which has been repeatedly targeted in attacks in recent months.One source said that a tanker that was due to load oil at the port headed out to sea early Friday after an attempted drone attack on the terminal. As a result of the attempted attack, the port suspended oil loading and stopped accepting oil at the terminal because the storage tanks were filled to capacity.The disruptions occurred after a period of significant export volumes in recent months. According to one source familiar with export data, oil-loading volumes from Novorossiysk reached nearly 1 million barrels per day in July, and about 800,000 barrels per day in June - the publication adds. It is noted that Novorossiysk is used to export Russia’s flagship Urals crude, Kazakhstan’s KEBCO blend, and Siberian Light crude. The suspension of exports followed a series of disruptions to oil supplies from Russia’s Black Sea coast.

Environmental disaster’: Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries rock Russia -When cleanup volunteer Sergei Solovev arrived in the town of Tuapse, on Russia’s Black Sea coast, an unpleasant odour hung in the air and everything was coated in a layer of black grime. “I saw train carriages covered in residue from the black rain and animals. It’s all very toxic,” he told Al Jazeera. “And the smell was oily.”   Black rain is an unnatural weather phenomenon, where water droplets blackened by soot and ash fall from the sky. It was seen in Hiroshima, Japan, after the atomic bomb explosion in 1945, more recently in the Iranian capital, Tehran, and in 1991 in Kuwait, when oilfields were set ablaze during the Gulf War.And now, it is falling on parts of Russia. Over the past couple of weeks, Tuapse has been hit by a series of three Ukrainian drone strikes targeting its refinery, one of the largest in Russia. The attacks, aimed at hurting Russia’s oil industry, have caused an ecological disaster in a war that has devastated the environment. The first strike came on April 16, causing a fire that lasted two days. Four days later, on April 20, the refinery was struck again, leaving a massive plume of thick smoke billowing into the sky. This time, the fire lasted for five days. Smoke from the fire released poisonous chemicals, and a subsequent analysis of the air around the town found that concentrations of benzene, xylene, and soot were three times above safe levels. No more data was published after that, but residents were advised to stay indoors, keep their windows shut, and leave home wearing a mask. Advertisement Meanwhile, a black rain began to fall. “The rain covered all the cars and animals,” said Elena Lugovenko, a local volunteer. “All the animals are covered in oil. Volunteers have set up animal cleanup centres.” Want to come back to this article? Save it for later. Save Volunteers collected distressed animals, including cats, dogs and birds, to wash away the muck before sending them to shelters. Oil spills are particularly dangerous for birds, which find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to fly. It is also poisonous, and the feathered creatures might accidentally swallow it as they try to preen themselves loose. By the end of the April 20 attack, at least eight storage tanks at the refinery lay destroyed, the spilled petroleum leaking into the nearby Tuapse River from where the current carried it into the Black Sea, spreading along the coast. Authorities dispatched more than a dozen boats to clean up the slick at sea, while booms have been installed on beaches to contain the spill. Emergency crews and volunteers are working to clear the stony beaches using excavators, and the oil is being collected in barrels and plastic bags. “It’s an environmental disaster,” said Solovev, who drove from Sochi, 116km (70 miles) down the coast, to join the effort. “There’s oil already all over the coastline within a 20-kilometre (12-mile) radius. It’s all still not being cleaned up; it’s all covered in oil. All the soil needs to be removed, a huge amount of this muck, all covered in rocks in hard-to-reach places, which you can’t even get to with equipment.” Whether saving the animals or mopping up the beaches, volunteering in Tuapse is hazardous work. The tiny oil droplets in the air are dangerous when inhaled, and it is imperative to apply eyedrops the second a burning sensation is felt. “You have to drink absorbents every two hours while cleaning it up,” warned Solovev. “Wear a mask and chemical protection.” Local environmentalists told the independent Russian media outlet Important Stories that, in some cases, authorities covered beaches with new pebbles, hiding the mess rather than removing it. But even if the coastal containment is successful, Ruslan Khvostov, chairman of the Green Alternative party, warned that the long-term consequences for the local ecosystem “could be serious and last for years”. “Oil products settle in the bottom sediments of the Black Sea, disrupting the food chain, and everyone will suffer,” Khvostov told Al Jazeera. “The oil slick blocks oxygen, causing mass mortality of fish, shellfish, and bottom dwellers; biodiversity restoration will take five to 10 years or longer, as in the case of the 2024 Kerch spill. Toxins accumulate in organisms, threatening birds and marine mammals, [such as] dolphins, bottlenose dolphins.” After the third and final strike on Tuesday, conditions in Tuapse became so unbearable that the town was evacuated. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has already caused environmental damage. Thousands of dolphins and porpoises have washed up dead ashore as a result of sonar activity from mainly Russian submarines in the Black Sea, which damages the aquatic mammals’ hearing. Since they depend on echolocation to navigate the waters, without hearing, the animals are unable to orient themselves or find food. In June 2023, the Kakhovka Dam in the Kherson region was destroyed by an explosion while the area was under Russian control. The water, contaminated by toxic waste even before the war, flooded dozens of nearby settlements, destroying the habitats of animals such as the endangered sandy blind mole-rat – whose almost entire living range was flooded – and releasing pollutants into the Black Sea. The fish and other aquatic wildlife which lived in the reservoir before the dam’s destruction mostly perished.With no clear path to peace or even a ceasefire in the foreseeable future, Ukraine may intensify strikes on Russia’s oil industry, which is enjoying soaring profits as a result of the Middle East crisis.  “Tactically, refineries make good targets for an attritional drone campaign – they are large, fixed, and difficult to defend,” observed Witold Stupnicki, senior analyst for Europe and Central Asia at Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED).“The repeated strikes on Tuapse – three times in under two weeks – show that Ukraine is carrying [out a] sustained campaign mode, where compounding damage prevents recovery, the same pattern that targeted the Primorsk and Ust-Luga ports in the Baltic Sea in March. Ukraine is likely to continue and probably escalate this campaign, particularly as domestic drone production scales up and as these attacks systematically degrade Russian air defences to enable strikes deeper into Russian territory.”The Tuapse disaster is not the first such calamity in the region. In December 2024, two Russian oil tankers sank during a storm on the Black Sea, spilling thousands of tonnes of petroleum, which began washing up near the resort town of Anapa. Emergency crews and tens of thousands of volunteers, including Solovev, were dispatched to clean up one of Russia’s worst-ever environmental disasters.In a post on social media, environmental activist Arshak Makichyan blamed Russia’s fossil fuel industry and the political system built around it.“If we are surprised by oil rains in Tuapse and Sochi, we ought to remember the black snow in the Kemerovo region [in 2019], which happened without any war, which took place because of the Russian regime, because of the coal sludge that no-one removed, due to the lack of any regulations at all, because what Russia needed first of all was to make money by destroying nature,” he wrote. “Environmental disasters will happen in Russia until Russians begin demanding changes at the system level, and not just blaming Ukraine for what happened.”

Putin Threatens Seizures Of European Ships Over EU's "Piracy & Banditry" - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday addressed the persisting issue of European governments and navies seizing what they deem Russian 'shadow fleet' vessels off Europe's coast. The past year alone has seen several examples, sometimes involving French or Swedish commandos descending onto a tanker's deck from helicopters and arresting crew members. The seized vessels are then taken to nearby European ports. The latest European Union sanctions package passed last month stipulates that EU members can sell the oil or any seized cargo obtained from these 'shadow fleet' vessels. Putin has reiterated Kremlin outrage at this scheme, condemning it as "piracy and banditry". This after Sweden has lately declared its intent to hand seized Russian grain over to Ukraine. The Russian leader's patience has reached its limit, apparently, as he is now putting European governments that their own ships become at risk of seizure in return. "We will be forced to respond in kind," Putin said while overseeing naval drills in Russia's Far East, aboard the Russian cruiser Varyag off the island of Sakhalin. Russian forces will act "wherever we ourselves deem necessary and appropriate — anywhere," he added. According to some of his fuller remarks as translated and presented in Reuters: "We can see that the authorities of certain countries, in violation of international maritime law, are attempting to restrict the movement of our economic operators’ vessels..., and ​have recently gone so far as to consider the possibility of seizing our vessels and selling off ⁠the ⁠property they have plundered from ⁠us," said Putin. "Naturally, ​this is nothing less than piracy and robbery. And if this begins to be put into ​practice, we shall be forced ⁠to respond in kind. And not necessarily in those waters where raids on our ships and vessels are planned, but wherever we ourselves deem it necessary and appropriate." So while Russia would not likely act in European waters, such a scenario would be more likely to go down in places like the Black Sea or Baltic region, or perhaps the faraway Indian Ocean.

Ceuta Migrants Reach Mainland Spain Despite Government Denials; Report Sky News reported Tuesday, citing Spanish police sources, that about 75 migrants who entered Ceuta in late July had reached Andalucía in southern Spain. “Spanish sources in Andalucía said that around 75 migrants out of the estimated 72,000 who entered Ceuta illegally in a mass rush to the border at the end of July had reached the mainland,” Sky News reported. The report directly conflicts with assurances from the government of socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. “Nobody has left the city towards the peninsula, nor can they do so,” Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said Tuesday during a visit to Ceuta. Tens of thousands of mostly male North African migrants entered Ceuta on July 30, overwhelming the territory’s law enforcement, migrant processing facilities and other public services. Estimates have placed the number of arrivals between 60,000 and 80,000, approaching Ceuta’s normal population of about 80,000. The surge followed a Spanish judicial ruling preventing authorities from immediately returning migrants who reach Spanish territory by land and requiring a longer legal process before removal. Ceuta President and Mayor Juan Jesús Vivas has sharply criticized Madrid’s response and disputed the government’s portrayal of the crisis as under control. “Ceuta has suffered and continues to suffer an invasion,” Vivas said Tuesday. “We calculate that 10,000 immigrants are still in Ceuta and this creates an unsustainable situation.” “The reaction of the government has not been on par with the demands of what occurred,” he added. “A violation of the territorial integrity of Spain has occurred.” The numbers provided by Madrid and local officials have also raised questions about the whereabouts of thousands of migrants. El País reported that the Sánchez government says 70,000 people entered Ceuta and 7,000 have been deported. El Mundo reported Monday that local officials estimate about 11,000 remain in Ceuta out of roughly 80,000 who entered. Police sources told Sky News the crossings to mainland Spain represented a “worrying reactivation” of the migration route across the Strait of Gibraltar. Albares nevertheless maintained Tuesday that the government would ultimately remove those who entered illegally. “Up to the last person who entered irregularly into Spain will return to Morocco,” he said. El País noted that Albares did not provide a specific timetable or mechanism for carrying out those removals. The reports that migrants have reached mainland Spain add to mounting questions over Madrid’s handling of the crisis and whether the Sánchez government has accurately accounted for those who entered Ceuta.