Free Republic

President Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin on Thursday announced the repeal of a 2009 policy allowing the federal government to regulate the emissions of fossil fuels by declaring them dangerous to public health. Trump called the repeal “the single largest deregulatory action in American history” and said it would “save American consumers trillions of dollars.” “We are officially terminating the so-called endangerment finding, a disastrous Obama-era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers,” Trump said in the White House Roosevelt Room. “Effective immediately, we are repealing the ridiculous endangerment finding...

STRENGTHENING NATIONAL DEFENSE WITH RELIABLE COAL POWER: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order directing the Department of War to prioritize long-term Power Purchase Agreements with America’s beautiful, clean coal fleet to ensure military installations and critical defense facilities have uninterrupted, on-demand baseload power.The Order directs the Secretary of War, in coordination with the Secretary of Energy, to approve long-term Power Purchase Agreements or similar contracts with coal-fired energy production facilities to serve Department of War installations and other mission-critical facilities.Priority will be given to projects that enhance grid reliability and blackout prevention, on-site fuel security, and mission...

Russia faces a steep drop in oil income if United States President Donald Trump successfully pressures India to stop importing Russian crude, because losing its top purchaser of seaborne exports would force Moscow to slash prices to find other buyers, analysts and traders said. Trump on Monday cut US tariffs on Indian goods in a trade deal he said also included provisions for India to halt oil imports from Russia, the world’s second-biggest oil exporter. The US is also putting pressure on Russia to agree to a peace deal in Ukraine. Trump has over the past year already claimed that...

The World Wildlife Fund, the posh flagship of the global environmentalist movement, has just released its biennial publication assessing “the state of the planet.” Entitled “Living Planet Report 2012,” the publication bemoans alleged catastrophic effects that humanity is inflicting upon the Earth, and calls for drastic curbs on civilization as a necessary corrective measure.According to the WWF, the human race is currently consuming at a rate that would be sustainable only if we had 1.5 Earths. Since we do not, overall human activity needs to be reduced by 33 percent to put mankind “in balance with the Earth’s biocapacity.”The...

It was an Honor to speak with Prime Minister Modi, of India, this morning. He is one of my greatest friends and, a Powerful and Respected Leader of his Country. We spoke about many things, including Trade, and ending the War with Russia and Ukraine. He agreed to stop buying Russian Oil, and to buy much more from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela. This will help END THE WAR in Ukraine, which is taking place right now, with thousands of people dying each and every week! Out of friendship and respect for Prime Minister Modi and, as per his...

The recent closure of a California oil refinery — and plans to shutter another in the near future — have some experts warning of potential fuel shortages and price spikes in Nevada and other Western states that depend on the Golden State. California supplies roughly 88% of Nevada’s fuel, including diesel and jet fuel. But Phillips 66 closed a refinery in the Los Angeles area in October, and earlier this year, Valero submitted a notice that it plans to close a Bay Area refinery by April 2026. Combined, the two refineries produce 284,000 barrels of oil per day, about 17%...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s legislature on Thursday approved opening the nation’s oil sector to privatization, reversing a tenet of the self-proclaimed socialist movement that has ruled the country for more than two decades. The National Assembly approved the overhaul of the energy industry law less than a month after the brazen seizure of then-President Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. military attack in Venezuela’s capital. The bill now awaits the signature of acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who proposed the changes in the days after U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration would take control of Venezuela’s oil exports and revitalize...

For more than a decade, the United States has been guided by a story about energy that presents wind power as one of the few responsible paths forward. The idea has been repeated so often that it eventually stopped sounding like a policy proposal and began to sound like a moral duty. Wind energy was described as the answer to climate change, the way to rebuild American manufacturing, and even a strategy to strengthen national security. Once that view became popular in national politics, questioning it was treated as a refusal to accept science rather than an effort to understand...

Eleven thousand flights canceled. Fifteen tragic deaths associated with the storm so far. Frigid Arctic air is settling in behind it - here in NW Florida, we just hit 40° a little over an hour ago for the first time all day after mid-30s with steady gusts as high as 30 mph (real feel temp 34°). We have 24° forecast for a morning low - NIPPY! Mississippi got hit hard, with almost three inches of ice. Classes in Oxford have been canceled until the second of February. Tennessee and Louisiana have line crews clearing trees from ice damage as well....

With roughly two-thirds of the United States under some form of winter weather alert, energy experts are warning that a surge in heating demand could deplete America's natural gas reserves. Why It Matters The United States relies on natural gas as its primary residential heating fuel and as a major source of electric power, so an extreme cold blast can simultaneously push up demand and constrain supply, creating rapid drawdowns from storage that help balance the system. Analysts said the expected demand surge, combined with possible production declines from freeze-related disruptions, could produce one of the largest weekly declines in...

@PeterSchiff Get ready for an energy shock as oil and gas prices surge. This week’s huge spike in natural gas, today’s jump in crude, and across-the-board dollar weakness suggest much higher prices are coming. All of this will push already rising CPI and Treasury yields to much higher levels.

Sometimes the debate over U.S. energy policy feels more like a shouting match, instead of a factual discussion about how to meet the nation’s rapidly growing needs. In one corner, there’s the push for 100% renewables. In the other corner, it’s almost all about oil and gas. But outside the competing echo chambers on the left and the right, a quiet success story is unfolding in America’s rural – and yes, more politically conservative – communities. It turns out that keeping the lights on isn’t about picking a side. It’s about picking all the energy sources that can deliver affordable...

The EU has strengthened its energy security by cutting gas demand by over 20% between 2021 and 2024 and curbing gas imports from Russia. However, this progress masks a new vulnerability for the EU: Incentivising imports of US liquefied natural gas (LNG) has created a potentially high-risk new geopolitical dependency. Following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the EU has gradually reduced its reliance on Russian gas. The bloc’s imports of Russian gas (including pipeline gas and LNG) fell by 75% between 2021 and 2025. Despite this shift, Russia remains one of the EU’s largest gas suppliers. The EU...

The administration’s arguments that offshore wind farms present a national security risk failed to convince judges in three separate courts. President Donald Trump’s long-running quest to demolish the U.S. offshore wind sector is facing some serious blowback in federal court. Three different judges — including one appointed by Trump — last week allowed construction to resume on multi-billion-dollar offshore wind projects off the coasts of New England, New York and Virginia that the Interior Department was trying to idle. After Congress shredded incentives for wind last year and the administration imposed new permitting roadblocks, the industry’s streak of victories this...

The U.S. Geological Survey said a new assessment shows the Permian Basin in Texas contains an estimated 1.6 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and 28.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Woodford and Barnett shale formations. The findings highlight major untapped energy potential deep beneath West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. According to the USGS, the two formations could also yield about 813 million barrels of natural gas liquids. At current consumption levels, the oil alone would supply the United States for roughly 10 weeks, while the natural gas could meet national demand for about 10...

🚨 TEXAS! The US just discovered 1.6 BILLION untapped barrels of oil in Texas + 28.3 TRILLION cubic feet of natural gas ready to be extracted!

Every time I write about this subject it has gotten yet a little more ridiculous. The background is that back in 2019 New York, both State and City, set themselves targets for “emissions” reductions and energy transformation that are quite literally impossible as a matter of physics, thermodynamics, and cost. And then, just to show who is the boss here, they made the impossible targets mandatory by statute. In the case of New York State, the statute in question is the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA or Climate Act). Among the many requirements of that statute, the most...

Pennsylvania’s power crisis is no longer theoretical: PJM’s latest auction shows deep shortages, soaring prices, and a state losing new generation to neighbors with clearer, faster rules. If anyone still doubts how serious the power situation unraveling in Pennsylvania has become, the warning signs are no longer abstract. PJM Interconnection, the regional transmission organization that coordinates wholesale electricity across all or parts of 13 states, including Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia, made the problem unmistakably clear in its most recent capacity auction.According to PJM’s own executive summary, the auction ended more than 6,623 megawatts (MW) below what PJM says...

At first blush, Trump’s insistence on Greenland sounds outlandish, but recall over 20 yrs ago I began warning of foreigners aggressively claiming Arctic resources and waterways - while America slept. Russia was flagging underseas energy sources, our inventory of icebreakers dwindled to ONE reliable (against DOZENS of foreign-flagged vessels), and DC ignored my concerns of countries hogging new transportation routes that would screw us over. In explaining Alaska’s strategic location (30% of which is in the #Arctic) I was mocked for ringing the warning bells… but really I was just before my time. So now that attention is finally paid,...

Energy Louisiana Trial Lawyers Steered Thousands to Judge Overseeing Their Case Against Oil Companies—Then Won a $744 Million Judgment 'The whole thing is set up as a kangaroo court,' former AG Bill Barr tells Free Beacon L: Offshore oil and gas platform (Mario Tama/Getty Images) R: Chevron logo Thomas Catenacci January 12, 2026 The Louisiana attorneys who helped secure a landmark verdict requiring U.S. oil company Chevron to pay $744 million in environmental damages gave nearly $15,000 to the state judge who presided over the case, ethics filings reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show. The Baton Rouge-based law firm...