Todd Young

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TRUMP FLIP-FLOPS ON IRAN STRIKES: President Donald Trump has reversed his plan to strike Iran tonight after approved discussions with Iranian leadership, teasing a ceasefire deal between Washington and Tehran.

“Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening,” he posted on Truth Social.

The president did not mention the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, but noted that the naval blockade would remain in full effect until the “transaction is finalized.”

Trump earlier today threatened to bomb Iran tonight and take over Kharg Island and other oil infrastructure. Kharg Island is a small island located about 16 miles off the Iranian coast, which handles millions of barrels of oil a day.

These threats followed the president’s announcement yesterday that the U.S. military underwent a mission last month to move 100 million barrels of oil out of the Strait of Hormuz.

OIL PLUNGES: International and domestic oil prices plummeted below the $90 line this afternoon on the news.

Just before 2 p.m. EDT, Brent Crude fell 3.85% and was selling at $89.52 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate was also down 3.82%, priced at $86.77 a barrel.

The sudden slump came as traders tried to make sense of the president’s recent threats, as escalated military action could either tighten energy supplies in the Middle East or help reopen the Strait of Hormuz faster. Earlier in trading, Brent had fallen by 0.3% while WTI was up 0.3%.

It’s worth pointing out that if the “transaction” mentioned by the president does lead to the full reopening of the Strait, industry experts anticipate that prices will remain fairly elevated, as it will take weeks, if not months, for normal energy flows to resume.

TODD YOUNG TALKS PERMITTING: Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana said that permitting reform could be the answer to boost domestic production, adding that there needs to be some push from the White House.

Permitting reform is the “most logical, most achievable legislative effort” for boosting domestic production, Young said at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce critical minerals event this morning.

He added that the administration has the ability to “unlock the permitting reform debate here in the next month or two, if they wanted to.”

Permitting reform has been stalled in the Senate, as Democrats have been hesitant to sign onto a bill without assurances that it will not solely favor fossil fuels and that the administration will not pull the plug on renewable energy projects that have advanced through the permitting process, as it has done in the past year.

Young said permitting legislation would probably need to include assurances that any expedited permitting standards would be applied in a tech-neutral manner so it would “apply equally” to green energy deployment as it would for carbon deployment.

“I think that’s a price that I would be willing to pay,” Young said, adding especially in the age of artificial intelligence competition.

He added, “The opportunity cost of waiting another couple of years to get permitting reform done, and mark my word, it’ll probably be another couple of years at least. We don’t do it this year. Then that’s an enormous cost.”

Lawmakers need a “little help from the White House to push it a little further,” Young noted.

OPEC CUTS OIL DEMAND GROWTH, AGAIN: OPEC has lowered its forecast for global oil demand growth for the second month in a row, as supply disruptions caused by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz continue to strain the markets.

The oil-producing bloc is now projecting that demand will increase by 970,000 barrels per day this year. OPEC first slashed its demand growth for 2026 in May, projecting that demand would increase by around 1.2 million barrels per day. In April, the bloc forecast it would grow by around 1.4 million barrels.

OPEC did not provide any explicit reasons why it was lowering the overall forecast. In the case of Europe, though, the bloc said the region was expected to see somewhat slower momentum in private household consumption as the European Union was introducing “supportive measures” to ease the pain associated with higher energy prices. Oil demand in India and the Middle East also contracted significantly in March and April.

While organizations such as the International Energy Agency have repeatedly sounded an alarm over the energy crisis brought on by the war in Iran, OPEC appeared to downplay the potential for long-lasting economic effects from the energy supply disruptions.

“The global economic performance in [the first half of 2026] has remained resilient, despite ongoing geopolitical tensions,” the group said.

ABBOTT CALLS FOR CRACKDOWN ON DATA CENTERS IN TEXAS: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has called on the legislature to implement new rules for data centers in the state, joining a list of governors from both sides of the aisle to try to set guardrails on energy and water use by the major projects.

According to the Texas Tribune, Abbott’s requested measures include:

Requiring new facilities to add power generation to the grid and pay for their own interconnection costs.

Mandating the use of “closed-loop” water systems to limit consumption.

Establishing standards related to effects on nearby households, such as noise.

Limiting incentives for data center development.

On that last point — the outlet says that the state will lose $3.2 billion in sales tax revenue over the next two years because of sales tax exemptions for data centers.

In recent weeks, the other governors who have endorsed similar policies include Democrats Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, and J.B. Pritzker of Illinois.

HOW MUCH WATER DID AMAZON’S DATA CENTERS ACTUALLY USE? The last year has seen growing concern about how much energy and water artificial intelligence data centers are using, and if that poses any risks to nearby communities.

So, Amazon is moving to be more transparent.

The details: In a blog post published today, Amazon said it used around 2.5 billion gallons of water for its entire global data center operations throughout 2025. At sites the company owns and operates directly, Amazon said, it lowered its water usage by 2% from the year before.

Some of this is attributed to increased use of reclaimed water, meaning sourcing water from wastewater treatment plants, and primarily using outside air to cool facilities. Amazon is also working on running its servers at higher temperatures, as it has found that, if servers can tolerate more heat, it reduces the number of hours the facilities need water to cool down.

Amazon says that, compared to other large tech firms, it is one of the most efficient when it comes to water use.

Last year, the company said it used around 0.12 liters of water per kilowatt-hour of electricity. Microsoft used around 0.27 liters of water in 2025 and Google used 1.15 liters per kilowatt-hour, according to estimates published by Amazon.

Some other comparisons: The Environmental Protection Agency has previously estimated that nearly 3.3 trillion gallons of water are used each year by Americans to water their lawns and gardens. In 2020, the Golf Course Superintendent Association of America estimated that golf courses in the U.S. used around 547 billion gallons.

ICYMI – NEW ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY PHONE SYSTEM MAY POSE SAFETY RISK: Last year, the EPA replaced desk phones for employees with a calling software on their laptops. While the agency has called the switch an improvement, its largest union is warning that the software may not work properly during emergencies.

The details: A recent report from The Hill details that the software failed to work efficiently during a medical emergency situation at the EPA’s office in San Francisco, California. The software is also reportedly built to handle geolocation data, providing that information to first responders.

According to Justin Chen, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238 – the largest union representing EPA employees – this software “doesn’t really work.”

During the San Francisco incident, the employee involved was able to make a call using the laptop software, however, the response from 911 was delayed, as they were unable to see where the call was being made from.

For Chen, this poses a broader safety risk for employees.

“We’ve seen increased violence, especially against federal employees … we do active shooter drills in all the buildings,” he said. “If you don’t [have] cell service, if something like that happens, it’s like good luck doing a phone call from your laptop, I guess.”

The EPA has insisted that there is no widespread issue with the software. Regarding to the San Francisco issue, a spokesperson for the agency told the outlet that the matter was “still under investigation, but we have not identified any system‑wide malfunction and Region 9 IT staff have had no reported malfunctions to date.”

RUNDOWN

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