In 2012, Delta purchased a recently shuttered refinery in Pennsylvania for $150 mil, plus another $100 mil in planned capex to restart it. The investment got off to a rough start but lately has been a windfall. There is a lot of debate about whether/how airlines should hedge their jet fuel exposure. Airlines can add fuel surcharges when prices spikes and pass the added costs to customers. Higher fuel costs are correlated with a stronger economy and higher demand for air travel, providing a natural hedge. And if other airlines choose not to hedge but collectively help set ticket prices, your hedges may not be reducing risk. In addition, corporate finance experts are highly skeptical of upstream vertical integration, particularly of commodity inputs. It adds unnecessary complexity and is often a poor allocation of capital. Companies typically vertically integrate at the moment of maximum frustration with the supply chain, when asset prices are at their peak, and then divest when markets are loose and asset values are low. Originally, the purchase was a mess. Superstorm Sandy disrupted the restart. Refinery margins fell. Prices for renewable credits soared. In these situations, a successor CEO will often unwind the integration. Indeed, the 5 years after the then-CEO left in 2016 were terrible for refineries. Luckily for Delta, they didn't dump it at the bottom. The successor and still CEO had been involved in the decision to buy it and has stuck with the strategy. And since 2022, it's printed money. Refinery margins spiked in 2022-23, generating >$1.1 billion in operating income. In 2Q of 2026 alone, it made $351 million. And 3Q results, when released, will be even better. This case study alone doesn't validate upstream integration. There are still many reasons to be highly skeptical. It is a lesson that if you choose to do so, you have to have long-term commitment to the strategy. Too often, these decisions are made based on the most recent years of performance.

I'm delighted to announce that @bonnevillepower is moving forward and releasing a settlement proposal this afternoon to resolve a major ongoing proceeding, known as TC-27 in the parlance of BPA, that will finally get our transmission queue off pause and maximize service offers for customers with near-term transmission needs. The 'conditional firm' service we will offer will allow offtakers to energize more quickly. Moving forward with an uncontested settlement represents the fastest path to implementing these vital tariff and business practice reforms—enabling the timely service our customers and the region depend on. Meanwhile, stay tuned for announcements coming very soon on how BPA plans to create a future state that firms up this service, and how we plan to integrate load-side projects into our system.

The history of electrical seams, where neighboring electricity markets adjoin one another, is not exactly a knock-it-out-of-the-park success story. Minimizing the number of crucial seams and mitigating the possibility of negative consequences of their existence are a major item that I'm looking at as I evaluate @bonnevillepower's participation in Western electricity markets. So I'm glad to see @FERC out with an Order this week, requiring a joint report from @SPPorg & @CaliforniaISO. While there are certain regulatory topics that benefit from letting the game come to you, this is a topic that will be assisted by regulators and market participants being proactive, helping to call the question, and collectively being a force for collaboration and information gathering on this topic. I also look forward to going over @FERC for meetings next week on this important subject. Thank you again to @LauraSwettFERC and her colleagues on moving the ball forward.