The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry voted 23-0 in favor of advancing Brooke Rollins’ nomination for secretary of agriculture. She must now clear a full Senate vote before officially being installed at USDA. Baring any last-minutes surprises, Rollins is expected to easily receive enough votes. “Thank you to the entire United States Senate...
A lot can change in four years. When it comes to our energy grid, the axiom rings especially true. As the Trump administration gets settled in, new challenges are threatening the reliability and affordability of our energy systems. The rise of artificial intelligence and a domestic manufacturing boom has sent electricity demand skyrocketing after more...
To increase energy supply and strengthen America’s energy security, the President is calling for comprehensive regulatory reform, including help from the so-called “God Squad.” This little-known and rarely utilized group is officially known as the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Committee, and has only been convened three times since its creation in the first round of ESA Amendments in 1978. Now, it is required to meet quarterly...
The Senate confirmed former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum as Interior secretary Thursday in a 79-18 vote, with the majority of Senate Democrats joining every Republican in the chamber. Burgum, a one-time candidate for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination-turned-visible Trump campaign surrogate, has been among the president’s least controversial nominees. He advanced out of the Senate Energy...
It’s impossible to know the devastation of a wildfire until you’ve lived it. Headlines and news clips provide a glimpse, but they cannot replicate the feeling of smoke in your lungs, seeing flames race towards you, or feeling the char and ash of destruction left in its wake. This year is already off to a...
President Trump has wasted no time putting his imprint on American energy policy. Within hours of his swearing in, he signed a dizzying array of relevant executive orders, including one titled “Unleashing American Energy.” While most of the attention has revolved around the president’s focus on producing more domestic oil and gas — “liquid gold,” as he...
On the first day of his second term in office, President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders that included several provisions aimed at accelerating the federal permitting process. While the long-term impacts of these policies remain to be seen, it is valuable to assess the current landscape. The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) recently...
Among the raft of executive actions in the first days of his second term, President Trump issued several related to energy and the climate. This included the declaration of a “National Energy Emergency.”
Electric utilities are calling for the U.S. Senate to pass legislation aimed at reducing wildfire intensity and restoring forest health, in part by allowing power companies greater leeway around vegetation management. The House passed the Save our Forests Act on Thursday in a 279 to 141 vote. The bill would “simplify and expedite the most critical forest...
Washington, D.C. is in a tizzy over President Donald J. Trump’s rescission of a slew of policies implemented under former President Joe Biden, and energy policies are receiving special attention in multiple executive orders (EOs). Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement, ended the social cost of carbon, and ordered a halt to climate-related regulation and offshore renewable energy leases—all with the...
