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AEA Joins With 31 Organizations Urging Congress to Repeal Green New Deal Subsidies in Reconciliation

May 1, 2025 by Leave a Comment

On April 30th, 2025 the American Energy Alliance, along with 31 other market advocacy organizations, sent a letter to all members of Congress calling on them to repeal all Green New Deal inspired subsidies passed in Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. The text of the letter is available below.

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Dear Members of Congress,

We, the undersigned organizations, are writing in support of repealing the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) green new deal subsidies to pay for tax cuts in reconciliation.

As the cost of the IRA’s market-distorting energy subsidies accelerate, Congress can put an end to bad policy while delivering tax cuts to all Americans.

Failure from Congress to pass tax cuts would result in the expiration of several of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s (TCJA) provisions – the largest tax increase in American history: the standard deduction (claimed by 90 percent of Americans) would be halved, a family of four earning $80,610 would see a $1,695 tax hike, and more than 26 million small business would be hit with a 43.4 percent tax rate.

Lawmakers, in compliance with the Byrd rule, are in the process of finding ways to “pay for” extending the TCJA’s tax cuts and President Trump’s other, important initiatives. We assert that tax hikes are not the answer. After all, roughly 70 percent of the corporate tax, for example, is borne by workers through lower pay and less jobs while roughly 30 percent of the tax falls on consumers through higher prices. 

Rather than entertaining anti-growth tax hikes on businesses, Biden’s disastrous green energy subsidies could pay for a significant portion of President Trump’s agenda and their repeal would restore a freer market in the U.S. energy sector, ensuring more affordability, reliability, and innovation.

The cost of the IRA’s Green New Deal subsidies has become unsustainable. The IRA created or expanded several energy subsidy provisions: four clean vehicle credits, residential clean energy credit, energy efficient home credit, clean hydrogen production credit, clean electricity production tax credit, advanced energy project credit, etc.

When passed, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimated that energy-related IRA subsidies would cost about $370 billion over a ten year window. Just two years later, the CBO itself puts the cost at over double its original estimate – $786 billion.

Worse, in April 2023, the Penn Wharton Budget Model, which initially estimated $384.9 billion over ten years, updated their estimate to $1.05 trillion over ten years for just the climate and energy provisions.

As of November 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury expenditures report now estimates that the IRA green credits will cost $1.16 trillion from 2025 to 2034.

Most recently, in March 2025, the Cato Institute released a policy analysis finding the upper bound cost of the IRA green credits to be $1.97 trillion over ten years.

Because repealing a credit doesn’t necessarily raise what the credit costs, the Tax Foundation estimates that repealing the green new deal credits would raise $851 billion over the 2025 to 2034 budget window.

The IRA’s green new deal subsidies are bad policy. Green energy credits distort the market, threatening affordability, reliability, and innovation. They also overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy in blue states.

The massive subsidies for “clean” energy cause producers to create more electric supply than there is demand during certain hours of the day – that artificially drives down the price of energy at those times undercutting the ability of reliable baseload and dispatchable generators to recoup costs. This distortion causes consistent and affordable energy generation producers to charge more and, increasingly, shut down altogether. In the long run, we are left with less available reliable power, as we saw in Spain and Portugal this week, which ultimately means higher prices for less reliable forms of energy.

The subsidization of these existing technologies discourages people from exploring new, innovative forms of energy generation, as producing “clean” energy is already so artificially lucrative. Such a heavy, one-sided incentive structure ultimately handicaps innovation.

Additionally, data from JCT reveals EV subsidies overwhelmingly benefit the rich. Surely, these tax savings would be better spent ensuring low rates for Americans in all income brackets.

More than 83 percent of current EV credits claimed go to tax filers with an annual income of $100,000 or more. Taxpayers with an annual income exceeding $1 million account for 8 percent of all credits claimed. This should come as no surprise given the sticker price of a new electric vehicle typically ranges from $40,000 – $80,000. Subsidizing luxury cars is targeted welfare for the wealthy.

Furthermore, EV subsidies primarily benefit Democrat-run states. Eight of the top ten states for EV sales are states represented by two Democrat Senators. Of the 250,000 all-electric vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2020, according to data from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, Californians alone accounted for over 93,000 EVs purchases. For comparison, West Virginia had only 195 EVs registered in 2020. 

The IRA’s green new deal subsidies are bad policy and are costing Americans exponentially more each day. In this way, their repeal would be ideal as both a way to bring parity to the U.S. energy sector and to pay for tax cuts for all Americans.

Onward,

Grover Norquist
President, Americans for Tax Reform

Saulius “Saul” Anuzis
President, American Association of Senior Citizens

Phil Kerpen
President, American Commitment

Steve Pociask
Chief Executive Officer, American Consumer Institute

Thomas Pyle
President, American Energy Alliance

Brent Gardner
Chief Government Affairs Officer, Americans for Prosperity

Ryan Ellis
President, Center for a Free Economy

Daniel Mitchell
President, Center for Freedom and Prosperity

Jeffrey Mazzella
President, Center for Individual Freedom

Daren Bakst
Director, Center for Energy and Environment and Senior Fellow
Competitive Enterprise Institute

David McIntosh
President, Club for Growth

Andre Beliveau
Senior Manager of Energy Policy, Commonwealth Foundation

John C. Goodman
President, Goodman Institute for Public Policy Research

Cameron Sholty
Executive Director, Heartland Impact

James Taylor
President, The Heartland Institute

Ryan Walker
Executive Vice President, Heritage Action for America

Katie Clancy
Illinois Center-Right Coalition Chair

Patrice Onwuka
Director, Center for Economic Opportunity,
Independent Women’s Forum

Gabriella Hoffman
Director, Center for Energy and Conservation
Independent Women’s Forum

Alfredo Ortiz
CEO, Job Creations Network

Seton Motley
President, Less Government

Charles Sauer
President, Market Institute

Paul D. Craney
Executive Director, Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance

Tim Jones
Fmr. Speaker, Missouri House
Chairman, Missouri Center-Right Coalition

Gordon Gray
Executive Director, Pinpoint Policy Institute

Lorenzo Montanari
Executive Director, Property Rights Alliance

Mike Stenhouse
Founder/CEO, Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity

Paul Gessing
President, Rio Grande Foundation

James L. Martin
Founder/Chairman, 60 Plus Association

James Erwin
Executive Director, Digital Liberty
Interim Director, Shareholder Advocacy Forum

Kevin Riffe
West Virginia Center-Right Coalition Chairman

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Key Vote YES on H.J. Res. 87, 88 and 89

April 29, 2025 by Leave a Comment

The American Energy Alliance supports H.J. Res. 87 providing for congressional disapproval of the Clean Air Act waiver for California’s Advance Clean Trucks regulation; H.J. Res. 88 providing for congressional disapproval of the CAA waiver for California’s Advanced Clean Cars II regulation; and  H.J. Res. 89 providing for congressional disapproval of the CAA waiver for California’s regulations on medium to heavy duty trucks and other engines.

California’s special waiver from certain Clean Air Act provisions was created to give the state the ability to address specific state level atmosphere issues. It was not authority to make the California Air Resources Board into a super regulator who can set regulatory policy for the entire country in defiance of Congress and the Constitution. These three regulations are about imposing California’s policy preferences on all Americans. Congress should emphatically reject this unwarranted and unconstitutional overreach.

YES votes on H.J. Res. 87, 88 and 89 are votes in support of free markets and affordable energy. AEA will include the votes in its American Energy Scorecard.

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The Green Left Doesn’t Like It When Environmental Laws Are Turned on Them

April 29, 2025 by Leave a Comment

When Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered a halt to the Empire Wind Project, which proposed building a subsidy-driven, expensive offshore wind farm in federal waters off the coast of New York state, supporters of the project decried the move, alleging it was the first such action ever taken by a government. 

Governor Kathy Hochul, a proponent of the Norwegian-owned project, accused the federal government of “overreach” and vowed to “fight this every step of the way to protect union jobs, affordable energy, and New York’s economic future.”  Never mind that the “affordable energy” she cites is over three times as expensive as a natural gas plant would produce – if only she’d stop blocking gas pipelines and allow drilling in New York’s share of the Marcellus formation, the same resource that’s brought Pennsylvania both wealth and energy security. 

Supporters of the “green transition” piled on, alleging that Secretary Burgum had sent a “chilling” message to all energy projects, and claiming that his decision to review the hastily approved permits was unique, or groundbreaking, or something new.  

Nothing could be further from the truth. On the very first day of President Biden’s presidency, he issued an executive order revoking a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. With the stroke of a pen, he idled thousands of pipeline workers on a project that had already crossed the U.S.-Canada border, and upon which billions of dollars had already been spent.  

In fact, a quick review of Biden’s actions as president shows a long string of broken promises, agreements, contracts, and laws, all in pursuit of “net-zero,” the “green transition,” and his pledge to “end fossil fuels,” which animated his entire administration.   

Here is a brief list of some of Biden’s actions, some of which are still being litigated: 

  • Biden’s EPA dealt a death blow to Pebble Mine in Alaska in January 2023. Citing its authority under the 1972 Clean Water Act, his EPA proposed a legal determination to ban the disposal of mining waste rock in the Bristol Bay watershed. Pebble is one of the world’s largest copper deposits –essential for electrification—and holds enormous quantities of additional minerals, including strategic ones. It did so preemptively, the first such use of this claimed authority. 
  • In June 2024, the Biden administration denied a permit to the State of Alaska for the Ambler Mining District Road, which was guaranteed by the state under federal law. 
  • In 2023, Biden ordered a 20-year ban on oil and gas leasing within 10 miles of Chaco Culture National Historical Park. In withdrawing the lands from development against the wishes of the Navajo Nation, the action prevents Navajo mineral owners from developing their oil and natural gas resources and realizing $194 million in royalty income over 20 years.
  • Biden blocked the Twin Metals Mine in Minnesota, supported by local residents and local unions in the nickel-cobalt rich area of Northern Minnesota, long known for its contributions to the nation’s mineral wealth.  

These represent only a small handful of the detrimental contributions of the Biden administration; the Institute for Energy Research compiled over 250 examples of actions they took to limit energy and mineral development (necessary for energy uses, including “green energy”) during their tenure. 

Secretary Burgum’s decision to pause and review the Empire Wind Project fits squarely within the norms that the federal government itself has established. If anything, it should prompt a long-overdue conversation about the chaos and inconsistency of a permitting process that can greenlight flawed projects while stonewalling essential infrastructure. What the moment truly calls for is not selective outrage, but comprehensive reform—so that energy development in America can proceed transparently, lawfully, and in the public interest.

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75 Ways in His First 100 Days: President Trump Keeps His Promises on Energy 

April 29, 2025 by Leave a Comment

WASHINGTON DC (4/29/25) – Since taking office on January 20, 2025, President Donald J. Trump, alongside Congressional Republicans, has spearheaded a transformative agenda to secure American energy abundance, reduce costs for consumers, and bolster economic growth. Together, they have taken over 75 actions to unleash our energy potential.

AEA President Thomas Pyle issued the following statement:

“In its first 100 days, the Trump administration—working with Congressional Republicans—has launched an ambitious and transformative energy agenda. Through over 75 actions, including executive orders, regulatory reforms, and legislative victories, they have dismantled barriers to energy production and strengthened the position of the United States as the global energy leader. Sustaining this momentum in the coming months will be critical to fulfilling the promises made to voters.

“The administration and Congress must prioritize repealing the Biden administration’s waiver that allows California to set its own vehicle emissions standards—effectively mandating a shift to electric vehicles—and rolling back the energy-related provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act through the reconciliation process. We are excited to continue monitoring this progress and commend the administration’s commitment to energy abundance.”

AEA Experts Available For Interview On This Topic:

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For media inquiries please contact:
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75 Actions the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans Have Taken to Unleash Our Energy Potential

April 29, 2025 by Leave a Comment

President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans ran on a plan for American energy: make it easier to produce and more affordable to purchase. Since President Trump took office, his administration and congressional allies have taken over 75 actions to unleash America’s energy potential. A list of those actions appears below.

January 20, 2025 

  1. President Donald J. Trump had a whirlwind first day in office on January 20, signing some 200 executive orders, many redirecting federal policies on energy, such as: Executive order declaring a national energy emergency.
  2. Executive order revoking and rescinding the U.S. International Climate Finance Plan.
  3. Executive order pausing government agencies and departments from issuing new rules until a department head approves.
  4. Executive order reviewing agency activities that burden the production of U.S. energy.
  5. Executive order allowing drilling and reversing restrictions placed by the Federal Government on Alaskan energy production.
  6. Executive order resuming the processing of export permit applications for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.
  7. An offshore wind moratorium and a 60-day stop of new wind and solar permits on federal lands.
  8. Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and revoking any financial commitments under the UNFCCC.
  9. Rescinded previous executive actions, including: Executive Order 13990 of January 20, 2021 (Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis).
  10. Executive Order 14013 of February 4, 2021 (Rebuilding and Enhancing Programs To Resettle Refugees and Planning for the Impact of Climate Change on Migration).
  11. Executive Order 14027 of May 7, 2021 (Establishment of the Climate Change Support Office).
  12. Executive Order 14057 of December 8, 2021 (Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability).
  13. Executive Order 14082 of September 12, 2022 (Implementation of the Energy and Infrastructure Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022).
  14. The Presidential Memorandum of March 13, 2023 (Withdrawal of Certain Areas off the United States Arctic Coast of the Outer Continental Shelf from Oil or Gas Leasing).
  15. The Presidential Memorandum of January 3, 2025 (Designation of Officials of the Council on Environmental Quality to Act as Chairman).
  16. The Presidential Memorandum of January 6, 2025 (Withdrawal of Certain Areas of the United States Outer Continental Shelf from Oil or Natural Gas Leasing).

January 31, 2025

  1. The Bureau of Land Management issued leases effective Feb. 1 for 17 oil and gas parcels totaling 6,259 acres in the Farmington and Rio Puerco field offices in New Mexico.

February 3, 2025

  1. Announced an attempt to open up federal lands and waters to production, including in ANWR.

February 7, 2025

  1. The House passed H.R. 26, the Protecting American Energy Production Act, which prohibits the President from banning hydraulic fracturing unless Congress authorizes a moratorium.

February 14, 2025

  1. Announced the creation of the National Energy Dominance Council.
  2. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced the issuance of the Texas Gulflink LLC (TGL) Record of Decision (ROD) to Sentinel Midstream, LLC, which will own, construct, and operate a deepwater port for the export of domestically produced crude oil.
  3. Secretary Wright issues first LNG export approval since Biden-era freeze for Commonwealth LNG.

February 21, 2025

  1. Waivers to allow the year-round sale of E15.

February 25, 2025

  1. The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) removes the regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) from the Code of Federal Regulations.

February 26, 2025

  1. The House of Representatives and the Senate voted to overturn a Biden-era rule imposing progressively higher fees on oil and natural gas companies for excess methane emissions, advancing the bill to President Trump for his signature.

February 28, 2025

  1. The Department of Energy announced an order that removes barriers for the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as marine fuel to power vessels. The order issued by DOE modifies a prior order issued to JAX LNG under the previous administration that asserted new oversight for the use of LNG to power marine vessels, also known as LNG bunkering.

March 5, 2025

  1. U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright approved an LNG export permit extension for Golden Pass LNG Terminal LLC, currently under construction in Sabine Pass, Texas.
  2. The Bureau of Land Management approved the Nevada North Lithium Exploration Project near Montello in Elko County. With this approval, Surge Battery Metals USA, Inc., is authorized to conduct lithium mineral exploration activities through phased exploration over the course of three years. The plan proposes disturbance of up to 250 total acres across 7,819 acres of public lands.

March 6, 2025

  1. The House of Representatives and the Senate passed S.J. Res. 11 to repeal Biden’s BOEM rule requiring archeological reports for oil and gas exploration or development plans on the OCS. (Signed by President Trump on March 13, 2025.)

March 10, 2025

  1. U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright approved a liquefied natural gas export permit extension for Delfin LNG LLC, granting additional time to commence exports from the project proposed for offshore Louisiana.

March 12, 2025

  1. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the agency will undertake 31 historic actions in the greatest and most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history, to advance President Trump’s Day One executive orders and Power the Great American Comeback including: Reconsideration of regulations on power plants (Clean Power Plan 2.0).
  2. EPA reconsideration of regulations throttling the oil and gas industry (OOOO b/c).
  3. EPA reconsideration of the mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program that imposed significant costs on the American energy supply (GHG Reporting Program). 
  4. EPA reconsideration of limitations, guidelines and standards (ELG) for the Steam Electric Power Generating Industry to ensure low-cost electricity while protecting water resources (Steam Electric ELG). 
  5. EPA reconsideration of wastewater regulations for oil and gas development to help unleash American energy (Oil and Gas ELG). 
  6. EPA reconsideration of the Biden-Harris administration’s Risk Management Program rule that made America’s oil and natural gas refineries and chemical facilities less safe (Risk Management Program Rule). 
  7. EPA reconsideration of light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicle regulations that provided the foundation for the Biden-Harris electric vehicle mandate (Car GHG Rules). 
  8. EPA reconsideration of the 2009 Endangerment Finding and regulations and actions that rely on that Finding (Endangerment Finding). 
  9. EPA reconsideration of the technology transition rule that forces companies to use certain technologies that increase costs on food at grocery stores and semiconductor manufacturing (Technology Transition Rule). 
  10. EPA reconsideration of Particulate Matter National Ambient Air Quality Standards that shut down opportunities for American manufacturing and small businesses (PM 2.5 NAAQS). 
  11. EPA reconsideration of multiple National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for American energy and manufacturing sectors (NESHAPs). 
  12. EPA is restructuring the Regional Haze Program, which threatens the supply of affordable energy for American families (Regional Haze). 
  13. Overhauling the Biden-Harris administration’s “Social Cost of Carbon.” 
  14. Redirecting enforcement resources to EPA’s core mission to relieve the economy of unnecessary bureaucratic burdens that drive up costs for American consumers (Enforcement Discretion). 
  15. EPA is terminating Biden’s Environmental Justice and DEI arms of the agency (EJ/DEI). 
  16. EPA is ending the so-called “Good Neighbor Plan,” which the Biden-Harris Administration used to expand federal rules to more states and sectors beyond the program’s traditional focus and led to the rejection of nearly all State Implementation Plans. 
  17. EPA is working with states and tribes to resolve the massive backlog of State Implementation Plans and Tribal Implementation Plans that the Biden-Harris administration refused to resolve (SIPs/TIPs). 
  18. The EPA is reconstituting the Science Advisory Board and Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (SAB/CASAC). 
  19. The EPA is prioritizing the coal ash program to expedite state permit reviews and update coal ash regulations (CCR Rule). 

March 13, 2025

  1. The Department of the Interior announced the approval of a federal mining plan modification by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement for the Spring Creek Mine in Big Horn County, Montana, operated by the Navajo Transitional Energy Company. This decision extends the mine’s operational life by 16 years, enabling the production of approximately 39.9 million tons of federal coal and supporting 280 full-time jobs. 

March 19, 2025

  1. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright approved a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export authorization to the Venture Global CP2 LNG export project proposed for Cameron Parish, Louisiana. This action reflects another step in the Trump administration’s commitment to restoring American energy dominance.
  2. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced the department has rescinded two memoranda issued during the Biden administration, which injected a social justice and environmental agenda into decisions for critical infrastructure projects. These Biden-era policies had no basis in statute and worked to raise the costs of new energy infrastructure projects regulated by the Department of Transportation.

March 20, 2025

  1. Executive Order taking immediate measures to increase American mineral production. The United States possesses vast mineral resources that can create jobs, fuel prosperity, and significantly reduce our reliance on foreign nations.  Transportation, infrastructure, defense capabilities, and the next generation of technology rely upon a secure, predictable, and affordable supply of minerals.
  2. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is taking immediate steps to unleash Alaska’s untapped natural resource potential through Secretary’s Order 3422, which reopens up to 82% of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska available to leasing and expanding energy development opportunities in the approximately 23-million-acre reserve.
  3. Reinstating a program that makes the entire 1.56-million-acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge available for oil and gas leasing. This program would fulfill Congress’s intent in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and advance American Energy Dominance, while maintaining strong protections for important surface resources and uses in the Coastal Plain.
  4. Revoking withdrawals along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Corridor and Dalton Highway north of the Yukon River in order to convey these lands to the State of Alaska. This action would help pave the way forward for the proposed Ambler Road and the Alaska Liquified Natural Gas Pipeline project, two projects that stand to increase job opportunities and encourage Alaska’s economic growth.

March 28, 2025 

  1. The Trump administration axed funding for two clean energy projects and signaled that hundreds more may face cuts. Grants like these incentivize companies to compete over federal dollars rather than in the marketplace.

March 24, 2025 

  1. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced the Department of Energy has further postponed the implementation of three of the Biden-Harris administration’s restrictive mandates on home appliances. These actions mark a key step in lowering costs, enhancing performance, and expanding options for American consumers.

April 1, 2025 

  1. The Department of Energy announced the removal of additional regulatory barriers standing in the way of unleashing U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. DOE has rescinded a Biden-era policy statement that required authorized LNG exporters to meet stringent criteria before the agency would consider a request to extend a commencement date for an approved project. This policy statement added unnecessary red tape to the extensive LNG export permitting process and made it more difficult for operators of approved projects to obtain necessary extensions.

 April 7, 2025

  1. The Bureau of Land Management approved a new natural gas pipeline in Humboldt County, Nevada.

April 8, 2025 

  1. President Trump signed an executive order focused on “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending Executive Order 14241. 
  2. Executive order requiring the National Energy Dominance Council to designate coal as a mineral as defined in section 2 of Executive Order 14241.
  3. Executive order demanding that the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, and Energy submit a report to President Trump identifying coal resources and reserves on federal lands, assessing impediments to mining, and proposing policies to address such impediments.
  4. Executive order lifting barriers to coal mining on federal lands by requiring the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture to prioritize coal leasing on federal lands and expedite leasing by utilizing emergency authorities.
  5. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to end the Jewell Moratorium by ordering the publication of a notice in the Federal Register.
  6. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to process royalty rate reduction applications from federal coal lessees in as expeditious a manner as permitted.

April 9, 2025

  1. The Department of Energy issued a Request for Information seeking public input on process improvements relating to energy conservation standards and test procedures for consumer products and certain commercial and industrial equipment.

April 10, 2025

  1. The Department of the Interior will no longer require the Bureau of Land Management to prepare an environmental impact statement for approximately 3,244 oil and gas leases in seven Western states.

April 11, 2025

  1. The Bureau of Land Management announced the approval of expanded infrastructure supporting increased oil and gas production on public lands. With this approval, Chipeta Processing LLC can construct a buried 16-inch natural gas pipeline, a six-inch liquids pipeline, and a fiber optic line 3,320 feet from the planned Green River Slug Catcher Facility to the existing Chipeta Processing Plant.
  2. The Bureau of Land Management announced an additional oil and gas lease sale scheduled for June 12, 2025, to offer 66 oil and gas parcels totaling 70,415 acres in Wyoming.

April 17, 2025

  1. 54. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers published a notice declaring that they will expedite the Environmental Impact Statement review process for a project to relocate the Line 5 pipeline in Michigan to a concrete-lined tunnel.

April 18, 2025

  1. In support of President Donald J. Trump’s directive to accelerate domestic critical mineral production, the Department of the Interior is taking steps to streamline permitting processes and improve federal accountability by working with the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council to add critical minerals infrastructure projects to the FAST-41 program.
  2. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management initiates the first step in a robust public engagement process to develop a new schedule for offshore oil and gas lease sales on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.
  3. The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) announced increased transparency and accountability for the federal permitting of two Department of Energy (DOE) critical minerals projects. The projects — Michigan Potash and the South West Arkansas Project — are part of the first wave of critical minerals projects added to the Permitting Dashboard in response to President Trump’s Executive Order, Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production
  4. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy delivered on his promise to slash an unlawful environmental rule, known as the GHG Measurement Rule,  that would raise project costs and divert critical resources away from highway construction to irrelevant emissions targets. The overturned greenhouse gas emission (GHG) rule would have required state transportation departments to measure and establish declining targets for carbon dioxide emissions on federally supported highways.
  5. The Bureau of Land Management takes an important step toward future oil and gas leasing and development within the Marietta Unit of Wayne National Forest in southeastern Ohio. A supplemental environmental assessment recently released supports the restart of development on 65 existing leases and new competitive oil and gas leasing of parcels within 40,000 acres of federal mineral estate underlying National Forest System lands in Monroe, Noble, and Washington counties.

April 23, 2025

  1. Department of the Interior implements emergency permitting procedures to accelerate the development of domestic energy resources and critical minerals.

April 24, 2025

  1. At a London energy summit, Acting Assistant Secretary Tommy Joyce slammed global climate policies, claiming they limit energy access and bolster China’s influence.
  2. The Department of the Interior announced a critical policy advancement that will boost offshore oil output in the Gulf of America. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement implemented new parameters for Downhole Commingling in the Paleogene (Wilcox) reservoirs, expanding the allowable pressure differential from 200 psi to 1500 psi.

April 25, 2025

  1. The Department of the Interior announced new permitting procedures for domestic energy and mineral production to reduce permitting timelines that currently take several years to a maximum of 28 days.

April 28, 2025

  1. The Bureau of Land Management approved a right-of-way for the Park Mountain Pipeline in Uintah County. Utah Gas Corp can construct a 3.5-mile, 12-inch buried pipeline to transport Uintah Basin natural gas to markets in the West.
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Unregulated Rewind: Chilling Until the Next Episode

April 28, 2025 by Leave a Comment

No new episode this week. Instead, enjoy a stroll back memory lane with the first episode of The Unregulated Podcast, republished for your listening pleasure.

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Department of Interior Announces Permitting Overhaul

April 25, 2025 by Leave a Comment

WASHINGTON DC (4/25/25)– Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced that it is implementing new permitting procedures to expedite the development of domestic energy resources and critical minerals. With the announcement, the administration is aiming to reduce permitting timelines that currently take several years to a maximum of 28 days. The expedited process applies to various energy sources, including crude oil, natural gas, coal, uranium, biofuels, geothermal energy, kinetic hydropower, and critical minerals.​

 AEA President Thomas Pyle issued the following statement: 

“The U.S. is rich in energy and mineral resources, but its ability to fully tap into these assets is often held back by complicated permitting processes. By working to streamline these procedures, the administration is making a strong move to boost America’s energy economy. It’s a critical step toward unlocking our full domestic potential and preventing important projects from being stalled by red tape. This approach supports American jobs, strengthens national security, and drives economic growth. Still, more work remains—Congress must step up and pass lasting permitting reform to ensure we’re not relying on temporary fixes or emergency powers.”

AEA Experts Available For Interview On This Topic:

Additional Background Resources:

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The Unregulated Podcast #226: Unnamed Sources

April 22, 2025 by Leave a Comment

On this episode of The Unregulated Podcast Tom Pyle and Mike McKenna discuss the latest “stories” allegedly coming from the Trump White House.

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The Unregulated Podcast #225: Blast From the Past

April 14, 2025 by Leave a Comment

On this episode of The Unregulated Podcast Tom Pyle and Mike McKenna discuss tariffs, budgetary prospects, and what’s next for the Republican controlled Congress.

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Trump Takes Action To Unleash America’s Coal Potential

April 11, 2025 by Leave a Comment

President Donald Trump has signed executive orders to boost the nation’s coal industry. The orders include efforts to save coal plants that were likely to be retired, drawing on existing emergency authority from the Federal Power Act that allows the Energy Secretary to direct any power plant to keep operating. Other emergency statutes enable the federal government to waive environmental rules implemented by states and direct the U.S. attorney general to identify and take action against state laws that address climate change, ESG initiatives, environmental justice, and carbon emissions. The executive orders also direct Energy Secretary Chris Wright to determine whether coal used in steel production is a “critical mineral,” and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to acknowledge the end of a moratorium that paused new coal leasing on federal lands and to prioritize the leasing. The coal industry would like to open up Western land, including the Powder River Basin closed by the Biden administration, for more mining, reestablish the National Coal Council, and make metallurgical coal a critical mineral, which would bolster funding and permitting. These Trump orders use coal’s massive reserve base to bolster baseload generation capacity in light of surging demand and reliability problems stemming from intermittent power sources.

Onerous regulations by the Obama and Biden administrations helped to set the decline of coal-fired power plants. The Obama administration invoked the “Clean Power Plan” in 2015, setting off a wave of coal plant retirements that continued through the first Trump presidency and into the Biden administration. The nation’s coal fleet had been the backbone of the  U.S. electricity sector, supplying more than 50% of the nation’s electricity in 2000. But onerous regulation, competition from low-cost natural gas following the fracking revolution, and massive federal subsidies for wind and solar power made it difficult for coal to compete and forced many existing coal plants to retire. About 40% of the existing U.S. coal fleet in 2015 had been retired by the end of 2024, as coal plant generating capacity of 286,000 megawatts in 2015 had dropped to 172,000 megawatts in January 2025. More than 120 coal-fired generating units are expected to close within the next five years.

Source: Blackmon Substack

Even before the executive orders were signed, Trump’s EPA had created an avenue for coal-fired power plants to seek regulatory exemptions. One of the nation’s largest coal plants used that process — the coal-fired Colstrip power plant in Montana. Operators of the Colstrip power plant want a two-year exemption from compliance with an update to EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule.

Existing U.S. coal plants only provide power to the grid about 40% of the time due to wind and solar plants being dispatched first. That number can be increased through deregulation and other measures as coal plants are capable of operating for double that amount of time. Longer times of operation would reduce their costs as more operating time spreads those costs over more hours.

A number of blue states have laws that are onerous to fossil fuels, including coal. President Trump cited laws in New York and Vermont that fine fossil fuel companies for their carbon dioxide emissions, California’s cap-and-trade policy, and lawsuits by states that have sought to hold energy companies accountable for global warming, which have been found to be unjustified, but divert energy companies from their mission to fight the lawsuits.

After Trump signed the orders, Wright’s energy department made $200 billion in financing available for its loan programs office including for new coal technologies.

Electricity Demand is Increasing

U.S. electricity demand is rising for the first time in two decades due to growth in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, electric vehicles, and cryptocurrencies. The president’s vow to make America the world leader in energy-intensive AI technology is also a reason to keep coal plants online. According to the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, data centers’ power demands could increase from 4.4 percent of the nation’s electricity output in 2023 to between 6 and 12 percent by 2028.

Grid Reliability

The reliability of the nation’s electrical grid is also in question, with large amounts of wind and solar power causing instability. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has warned that retirements of coal- and natural gas-plants could create power shortages, particularly in winter when wind and solar power output is poor. While solar power installations have soared due to massive subsidies in the Democrat-passed Inflation Reduction Act and state mandates for renewable power, many projects have been waiting for years to connect to the power grid as grid operators are proceeding with caution to maintain reliability.

NERC’s long-range reliability report estimated that up to 115,000 megawatts of fossil fuel power plant capacity could retire between now and 2034, pushing power reserves below safe limits in most of the country. That compares to its estimates that power demand, at the winter peak level, could grow by up to 149,000 megawatts in this decade, due primarily to demand from data centers.

Conclusion

President Trump has signed executive orders to boost the coal industry, which once was the backbone of the U.S. generating system. Despite coal’s ability to provide reliable baseload power, massive subsidies and state mandates have resulted in significant solar and wind power additions that are causing grid instability. To protect the grid and to help meet rising electricity demand from AI data centers, electric vehicles, and cryptocurrency, President Trump is using emergency powers to keep existing coal plants online. He is also reopening western lands to coal leasing, looking to name metallurgical coal as a critical mineral, and ordering the attorney general to investigate states that have implemented laws against fossil fuel use so that the federal government could waive those rules.

President Donald Trump has signed executive orders to boost the nation’s coal industry. The orders include efforts to save coal plants that were likely to be retired, drawing on existing emergency authority from the Federal Power Act that allows the Energy Secretary to direct any power plant to keep operating. Other emergency statutes enable the federal government to waive environmental rules implemented by states and direct the U.S. attorney general to identify and take action against state laws that address climate change, ESG initiatives, environmental justice, and carbon emissions. The executive orders also direct Energy Secretary Chris Wright to determine whether coal used in steel production is a “critical mineral,” and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to acknowledge the end of a moratorium that paused new coal leasing on federal lands and to prioritize the leasing. The coal industry would like to open up Western land, including the Powder River Basin closed by the Biden administration, for more mining, reestablish the National Coal Council, and make metallurgical coal a critical mineral, which would bolster funding and permitting. These Trump orders use coal’s massive reserve base to bolster baseload generation capacity in light of surging demand and reliability problems stemming from intermittent power sources.

Onerous regulations by the Obama and Biden administrations helped to set the decline of coal-fired power plants. The Obama administration invoked the “Clean Power Plan” in 2015, setting off a wave of coal plant retirements that continued through the first Trump presidency and into the Biden administration. The nation’s coal fleet had been the backbone of the  U.S. electricity sector, supplying more than 50% of the nation’s electricity in 2000. But onerous regulation, competition from low-cost natural gas following the fracking revolution, and massive federal subsidies for wind and solar power made it difficult for coal to compete and forced many existing coal plants to retire. About 40% of the existing U.S. coal fleet in 2015 had been retired by the end of 2024, as coal plant generating capacity of 286,000 megawatts in 2015 had dropped to 172,000 megawatts in January 2025. More than 120 coal-fired generating units are expected to close within the next five years.

Source: Blackmon Substack

Even before the executive orders were signed, Trump’s EPA had created an avenue for coal-fired power plants to seek regulatory exemptions. One of the nation’s largest coal plants used that process — the coal-fired Colstrip power plant in Montana. Operators of the Colstrip power plant want a two-year exemption from compliance with an update to EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule.

Existing U.S. coal plants only provide power to the grid about 40% of the time due to wind and solar plants being dispatched first. That number can be increased through deregulation and other measures as coal plants are capable of operating for double that amount of time. Longer times of operation would reduce their costs as more operating time spreads those costs over more hours.

A number of blue states have laws that are onerous to fossil fuels, including coal. President Trump cited laws in New York and Vermont that fine fossil fuel companies for their carbon dioxide emissions, California’s cap-and-trade policy, and lawsuits by states that have sought to hold energy companies accountable for global warming, which have been found to be unjustified, but divert energy companies from their mission to fight the lawsuits.

After Trump signed the orders, Wright’s energy department made $200 billion in financing available for its loan programs office including for new coal technologies.

Electricity Demand is Increasing

U.S. electricity demand is rising for the first time in two decades due to growth in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, electric vehicles, and cryptocurrencies. The president’s vow to make America the world leader in energy-intensive AI technology is also a reason to keep coal plants online. According to the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, data centers’ power demands could increase from 4.4 percent of the nation’s electricity output in 2023 to between 6 and 12 percent by 2028.

Grid Reliability

The reliability of the nation’s electrical grid is also in question, with large amounts of wind and solar power causing instability. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has warned that retirements of coal- and natural gas-plants could create power shortages, particularly in winter when wind and solar power output is poor. While solar power installations have soared due to massive subsidies in the Democrat-passed Inflation Reduction Act and state mandates for renewable power, many projects have been waiting for years to connect to the power grid as grid operators are proceeding with caution to maintain reliability.

NERC’s long-range reliability report estimated that up to 115,000 megawatts of fossil fuel power plant capacity could retire between now and 2034, pushing power reserves below safe limits in most of the country. That compares to its estimates that power demand, at the winter peak level, could grow by up to 149,000 megawatts in this decade, due primarily to demand from data centers.

Conclusion

President Trump has signed executive orders to boost the coal industry, which once was the backbone of the U.S. generating system. Despite coal’s ability to provide reliable baseload power, massive subsidies and state mandates have resulted in significant solar and wind power additions that are causing grid instability. To protect the grid and to help meet rising electricity demand from AI data centers, electric vehicles, and cryptocurrency, President Trump is using emergency powers to keep existing coal plants online. He is also reopening western lands to coal leasing, looking to name metallurgical coal as a critical mineral, and ordering the attorney general to investigate states that have implemented laws against fossil fuel use so that the federal government could waive those rules.

*This article was adapted from content originally published by the Institute for Energy Research.

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