Daily on Energy: The contests we will be watching on Tuesday

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Friday, readers! We made it to the end of another week! We hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween weekend. 🎃👻 And don’t forget to turn your clocks back this Sunday as daylight saving time comes to an end. ⏰Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner energy and environment writers Callie Patteson (@CalliePatteson) and Maydeen Merino (@MaydeenMerino). Email cpatteson@washingtonexaminer dot com or mmerino@washingtonexaminer dot com for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email, and we’ll add you to our list.Jane Flegal, who served as Senior Director for Industrial Emissions in the Biden administration’s Office of Domestic Climate Policy, said passing permitting reform is so critical for decarbonization because of what Democrats weren’t able to do after passing the Inflation Reduction Act. “We wrote a bill that was informed by a bunch of technocratic modeling of what it would take to decarbonize our energy system, and what we found was that a bunch of these permitting barriers – and particularly the inability to build interregional transmission – meant that, you know, 80% of the emission reductions the models anticipated did not come to pass,” she told Daily on Energy earlier in the week.“One of the lessons of the IRA is that we were way too slow to implement, and people and industries did not feel benefits on the ground quickly enough,” she added. “If Democrats want to do something on clean energy in 2029, especially in a world of fiscal constraints, we have to get this done before then.”WHAT WE’RE GOING TO BE WATCHING TUESDAY: Here are the energy- and climate-related ballot measures and elections that we’ll be following Tuesday:Data centers: There are 41 measures across 10 states related to data centers.We will be keeping an eye out for the measures that will outright ban data center development in a community, rather than just impose new rules or regulations.For instance, voters in the city of Alhambra, California, will decide whether to ban data centers in their town. Alhambra would be the second city in California with an outright ban, following Monterey Park.Five Ohio localities will vote on bans. Overall, Ohio has 21 measures related to data centers, the most of any state.Gas stove ban? Colorado voters will also be deciding whether to place a right to purchase and sell natural gas stoves in the state constitution. It would be the first state to define such a right.The Democrat-led state has been working to reduce its emissions and transition away from fossil fuels. The conservative nonprofit, Advance Colorado that brought the initiative, argues that Coloradans have the right to choose which form of energy works best.California permitting: On the West Coast, California voters will be deciding whether to overhaul and roll back decades-old environmental rules to make it easier to build highways, housing, and clean energy projects.The measure is known as Proposition 45, and it would make changes to the California Environmental Quality Act, which was signed into law by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1970. The law requires state agencies to consider and publicize the environmental impacts of projects before issuing approvals. It also allows the general public to sue and challenge state permits if they believe an agency failed to study or disclose the environmental effects of projects sufficiently.The measure would remove legal and regulatory roadblocks associated with the law by shortening the review process for certain essential projects. The changes would include setting strict deadlines for environmental reviews, shortening public comment periods, and narrowing court challenges.Texas Railroad Commission: And down south, we’ll have our eyes on the Texas Railroad Commission election. Controversial conservative Bo French is vying for a seat on the oil and gas regulatory board, which oversees all planning for oil and gas production in Texas, as well as pipeline safety and natural gas rates.French has drawn nationwide interest over controversial policies he has pushed throughout his campaign, including vowing to end DEI practices in the commission and fight against the “existential threat” that Islam poses to Texas residents’ way of life.He will be facing off against Democrat Jon Rosenthal next Tuesday. All the rest: OIL MAJORS RAKE IN PROFITS ON HIGH DIESEL PRICES: Chevron and Exxon Mobil reported significant earnings for the third quarter of this year, as the companies took advantage of high diesel prices and ran their refineries at full capacity.Chevron said its net income hit $9.9 billion during the third quarter, a nearly 200% increase from the same period in 2025. The company saw its diesel and jet fuel yields rise by around 10%, as it had its facilities run at 98% capacity during the quarter.Exxon also saw its earnings more than double to $15.4 billion during the same period. For the first time in years, its refining division outperformed its oil and gas production. The company’s Gulf Coast refineries ran at 100% utilization during the third quarter, and it recorded its second-highest diesel production on record.Quick reminder: The earnings reports come just two months after President Donald Trump lambasted both Chevron and Exxon for raking in “too much” profit during the second quarter of the year.However, the president changed his tune last week, and began bragging about how much money the domestic fossil fuel industry was making due to the war in Iran.You can read more from Callie here.OIL PRICES UP THANKS TO ESCALATION IN THE STRAIT: Oil prices rose more than 2% today after attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.As of this afternoon, West Texas Intermediate is up 2.33%, trading at $104.30 per barrel. Brent crude is up 2.55% and trading at $113.63 per barrel.The rise in prices comes after Iran said that an oil tanker carrying more than two million barrels of oil exploded and caught fire after hitting a mine. Two other vessels also caught fire after striking mines in the strait.Iran has previously warned vessels against passing through the waterway without Tehran’s permission.Attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz have doubled this month. As of Oct. 27, at least 30 ships, mainly oil tankers, were hit this month, CNBC reported.WHAT’S NEEDED IN THE SENATE TO PASS PERMITTING? If you’ve been keeping up with Daily on Energy the last few weeks, you know it will be extremely difficult to pass any permitting reform bill in the House. With Democrats poised to take back the lower chamber, many members are pushing to postpone any vote until the next Congress.So how do supporters of the bill get it across the finish line? Secure 70 votes in the Senate.“What we are pushing for is 15 to 20 Democrats on the Senate side supporting this legislation,” said one energy lobbyist who spoke on the condition of anonymity this week.Those numbers, the lobbyist said, would send a clear signal to Democrats in the House that there is “broad support for the legislation.”There appears to be agreement within Senate offices that 70 votes could be the magic number, but that very well could be upended by tribal concerns regarding the bill’s overhaul of the National Historic Preservation Act.One Senate Democratic aide told Politico that the situation is “fraught” for everyone involved.“On one hand, if you’re being a true partner to tribal nations, their ask is to strike the entire section,” the aide said. “We are told by negotiators that’s not gonna be possible. It’s too much of a priority for [Utah Republican Sen. Mike] Lee.”ICYMI – MAINE FUEL OIL PRICES HIT ANOTHER RECORD: The average price of fuel oil in the state of Maine hit another record yesterday, for the second week in a row.As of this week, the state’s Department of Energy Resources reported that the average cost of heating oil in Maine was $6.05 per gallon – an 82% increase compared to this time last year.At this rate, homeowners with a standard 275-gallon oil tank will be paying roughly $750 more to fill up their tank to heat their homes.BANGLADESH TO PURCHASE MORE U.S. GAS: Bangladesh is poised to sign several deals to purchase U.S. liquefied natural gas, U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh Brent Christensen told Bloomberg.Christensen said that several LNG sales proposals are in various stages of the approval process with the Bangladeshi government and that there could also be agreements to buy liquefied petroleum gas.Bangladesh, like much of the world, is dealing with a shortage in fuel supply due to the war in the Middle East. The squeeze in the supply chain has forced many to look for alternative options in Asia and the U.S.The U.S. estimates Bangladesh’s LNG market could be worth about $10 billion next year and grow to $30 billion by 2050, the ambassador said.RUNDOWNLatitude Media The case for state-led power planningGrist Strange, catastrophic landslides are kicking off across the far northStraight Arrow News The 9 key states where voters have a say in their monthly utility bills this year