The Big Story 

Consumer prices in the U.S. rose by 3.3 percent over the past year and by 0.9 percent in March, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

© AP

This is the highest inflation rate increase in nearly four years — propelled by rising energy costs tied to the U.S.’s military operation in Iran. 

Energy costs rose by a staggering 10.9 percent last month. The price of fuel oil spiked by 30.7 percent, the cost of gasoline by 21.2 percent and energy commodities by 21.3 percent, the data shows.

The BLS said that the gasoline price spike was “the largest monthly increase since the series was first published in 1967.”

Read more here, from The Hill’s Sarah Davis.

Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, I’m Rachel Frazin — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.

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Essential Reads 

How policy will affect the energy and environment sectors now and in the future:

EPA tells some scientific research staffers to relocate

Ceasefire may bring modest respite at the pump

What We're Reading 

News we’ve flagged from other outlets touching on energy issues, the environment and other topics:

• Next Black Lung: Countertop Silica Dust Cases Pile Up in Courts (Bloomberg Law)

On Our Radar 

Upcoming news themes and events we're watching:

Wednesday

• Energy Secretary Chris Wright is slated to appear before the House Appropriations Committee
• The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on several grid-related bills. FERC officials are slated to appear
• The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a hearing on Great Lakes restoration

Thursday

• The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on the Energy Department’s budget
• The House Appropriations committee will hold hearings on the budgets for the DHS agencies including FEMA, the Forest Service and the Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation. Acting FEMA chief Karen Evans and Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz are slated to testify at their respective hearings.

What Others are Reading 

Two key stories on The Hill right now:

Sotomayor: Supreme Court emergency docket appeals by Trump ‘unprecedented’

Justice Sonia Sotomayor in a Thursday speech at the University of Alabama School of Law said the Trump administration’s increase in emergency appeals is “unprecedented in the court’s history.” Read more

Automatic registration for US military draft to begin in December

Eligible men will automatically be registered into the military draft pool by December as part of an effort to streamline the previous process of self-registration and save money. Read more