A Trump administration plan to remove thousands of agriculture employees from Washington, D.C., is raising concerns among economists, who fear that such a move could erode expertise in a workforce reluctant to relocate. The plan — a cost-saving strategy that would consolidate U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) operations and bring workers closer to their customers — would...
DOE Approves Commonwealth LNG Exports
Federal Approval and Energy Dominance On August 29, 2025, the DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management issued Order No. 5238-A, allowing Commonwealth LNG to export up to 9.5 million metric tons per year (equivalent to 1.21 billion cubic feet per day) from its planned facility in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. “Finalizing this authorization moves us closer...
Why the federal government needs to back away from grizzly bears
Fifty years ago, when the grizzly bear was listed as a threatened species, the federal government intervened to save this iconic American animal. Its recovery is one of the nation’s signature conservation success stories: In 1975, there were at least 700 bears in the northern Rockies. Today, thanks in large part to the Endangered Species Act, there...
The New York Times’ Solar Subsidy Delusion
Tom Friedman, opinion columnist at the New York Times, recently complained that Trump’s tax bill “quickly phases out tax credits enjoyed by utility-scale solar and wind, as well as electric vehicle tax credits.” Well, yes. That’s the point. Instead of the federal government handing out subsidies and selecting winners and losers, we will allow consumers to drive the energy future.
Trump, GOP face tough choices for second tax bill
President Trump and Republican lawmakers passed their major tax-and-spending cut bill earlier this summer, faster than almost anyone else in Washington, D.C., was expecting. Now, they’re planning their second act. The law extended Republicans’ 2017 tax rate reductions while making big cuts to health care and other social programs, adding $3.4 trillion to the national...
US EPA approves biofuel waivers for small refiners, stirring concerns over demand
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday approved most of its backlog of requests by small oil refineries for biofuel law exemptions, raising concerns among biofuels advocates over a potential hit to demand. The approvals are also a mixed blessing for the cohort of small U.S. refiners who have argued for years they are hurt...
Federal Climate Regulations Have Been a Bad Deal for Society
Last month, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced a proposed rule to overturn the 2009 endangerment finding. The finding, which declared greenhouse gases a threat to public health and welfare, provided the legal backbone for the federal government to regulate carbon dioxide from cars, trucks, power plants, manufacturing facilities, and more.
Conservation Victory: Feds to Restore Targeted, Science-Based Endangered Species Policy
In a major win for wildlife conservation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced it will pause use of the controversial “blanket 4(d) rule” and initiate steps to rescind it over the next 14 months—a key objective of a lawsuit filed last year by the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) and the Rocky...
Trump administration halts work on New England offshore wind project
The Interior Department on Friday halted construction on Ørsted’s Revolution Wind project off Rhode Island’s coast. Why it matters: It’s another sign of the Trump administration’s hostility to offshore wind and comes after it issued — then lifted — a stop-work order on a major wind project under construction off New York’s coast. Driving the news: Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued...
How Heartland Farmers Are Reimagining Agriculture
A new model of agriculture: one where profitability and environmental health aren’t tradeoffs but twin outcomes of smart innovation.









