'The White House should be worried': Oil prices soar after Israel's attack on Iran

14 June 2025 at 01:35

No matter how the fighting unfolds, it promises to increase prices at the gasoline pump just as voters' natural gas and electricity bills are already set to rise.

President Donald Trump, who campaigned heavily last year on cutting energy prices, has started complaining publicly about the global markets not comporting with his priorities.

White House looks to freeze more agency funds — and expand executive power

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Scott Waldman and Corbin Hiar

13 June 2025 at 05:20

The latest move targets more than $30 billion in spending at EPA, the National Science Foundation and other agencies.

OMB Director Russ Vought speaks before the House Appropriations Committee on June 4.

GM slow-rolls its all-EV aspirations

Politico | Energy & Environment

By David Ferris

13 June 2025 at 00:04

The automaker is putting more money into gas-powered cars, making it all but impossible to reach its goal of selling only electric vehicles by 2035.

Vehicles move along the 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV assembly line at the General Motors Orion Assembly on June 15, 2023, in Lake Orion, Michigan.

‘We've lost the culture war on climate’

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Zack Colman， Benjamin Storrow and Annie Snider

12 June 2025 at 05:00

The U.S. government has long recognized greenhouse gases as a threat, but major rules to address them have failed to stick.

Failing to curb power plants’ pollution, scientists say, means temperatures will continue to rise and bring more of the floods, heat waves, wildfires, supply chain disruptions, food shortages and other shocks that cost the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

Trump's EPA delivers new blow to Biden climate agenda

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Alex Guillén and Jean Chemnick

12 June 2025 at 02:08

EPA argues that the second-largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas pollution contributes too little to the world’s climate problem to be worth regulating.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin holds up a signed policy proposal related to power plants at the EPA headquarters in Washington on Wednesday.

EPA to propose rolling back climate rule for power plants Wednesday

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Jean Chemnick and Zack Colman

11 June 2025 at 05:54

It marks an escalation in President Donald Trump's effort to purge climate initiatives from the federal government.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin will propose a plan Wednesday to repeal one of the most ambitious climate rules in the country.

Trump energy adviser slams renewables, says focus is on fossil fuels

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Ian M. Stevenson

11 June 2025 at 04:07

The National Energy Dominance Council's executive director said the administration doesn't have faith in solar and wind energy.

Jarrod Agen, a deputy assistant to the president and executive director of the National Energy Dominance Council, speaks at POLITICO's annual Energy Summit in Washington on Tuesday.

GOP megabill could undermine US energy production, Republicans warn

Politico | Energy & Environment

By James Bikales

11 June 2025 at 04:04

Five takeaways from the Trump administration officials, lawmakers, business leaders who spoke at POLITICO’s Energy Summit.

Former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairs Neil Chatterjee (center) and Willie Phillips (right) speak to Manuel Quiñones of POLITICO's E&E News on Tuesday at the POLITICO Energy Summit in Washington.

Granholm: Democrats must ‘do a better job’ selling clean energy

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Brian Dabbs

11 June 2025 at 01:09

The Energy secretary under former President Joe Biden said her party needs to be more adventurous in speaking to voters.

Former Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm speaks at POLITICO's annual Energy Summit in Washington on Tuesday.

Senate Republican questions megabill deadline — and says Musk ‘missed an opportunity’ to shape it

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Kelsey Brugger

10 June 2025 at 23:40

Sen. John Curtis on Tuesday also addressed concerns about clean energy tax credits.

Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) speaking at the POLITICO Energy Summit in Washington on Tuesday.

Energy powerhouse to Republicans: Don't ‘take renewables off the table’

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Isa Domínguez

10 June 2025 at 23:17

The head of NextEra Energy warns that building new natural gas generation and nuclear power will take too long — and wind and solar power are quicker to add now.

NextEra Energy Chair and CEO John Ketchum speaks at POLITICO's Energy Summit on June 10, 2025, in Washington.

Heinrich: ‘Republicans are going to own increased energy prices’

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Ben Lefebvre

10 June 2025 at 23:02

Republicans are trying to rescind government support for new solar and wind power projects in their reconciliation bill.

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) speaks at the POLITICO Energy Summit on June 10, 2025.

House energy chair: Musk ‘never mentioned’ megabill on day of vote

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Kelsey Tamborrino

10 June 2025 at 21:38

The Tesla CEO's objections to the "big beautiful bill" never came up during a breakfast just after the House approved it, Rep. Brett Guthrie said at POLITICO's Energy Summit.

House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) speaks at POLITICO's annual Energy Summit in Washington on June 10, 2025.

Automaker divisions paralyze key trade group in megabill fight

Politico | Energy & Environment

By James Bikales

5 June 2025 at 16:30

General Motors told POLITICO it supports new anti-China restrictions on clean energy tax credits that other automakers have publicly opposed.

General Motors believes its efforts to shift manufacturing to the United States will allow it to qualify for a key manufacturing tax credit despite stringent new restrictions passed by the House.

Musk, Tesla blast GOP plans to end clean energy tax credits in megabill

Politico | Energy & Environment

By James Bikales

29 May 2025 at 23:33

The message came hours after CEO Elon Musk announced he was leaving the Trump administration.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveils the company's first battery energy storage product, Powerpack, in 2015.

Supreme Court limits agency environmental reviews

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Alex Guillén

29 May 2025 at 23:11

The high court ruled the National Environmental Policy Act requires agencies to consider only the direct effects of a project rather than its broader impacts.

Environmental reviews "need not address the effects of separate projects," Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote.

BLM official escorted out of building after DOGE conflict

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Ben Lefebvre

28 May 2025 at 06:40

The removal of Mike Nedd, BLM’s deputy director for administration and programs, is the latest upheaval in personnel at the agency that is critical for oil and gas production.

Bureau of Land Management Deputy Director Mike Nedd during Tuesday's House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing on oil and gas development.

DOGE appointee sparks turf battle at Interior: 'Ignore the email from HR'

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Ben Lefebvre

24 May 2025 at 22:00

The Interior bureau that holds the key to Trump’s fossil fuel agenda is riven by feuding between career staff and an emissary from Elon Musk's budget-cutting operation.

President Donald Trump is seen at a Cabinet meeting at the White House.

Senate Republicans look to curb House rollback of IRA tax credits

Politico | Energy & Environment

By James Bikales and Kelsey Tamborrino

23 May 2025 at 21:05

The House bill passed Thursday includes more aggressive cuts to the clean energy credits than earlier drafts.

Sen. Thom Tillis is among the Republicans balking at the deep cuts to clean energy credits passed by House Republicans Thursday.

NOAA projects above-normal Atlantic hurricane season

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Zack Colman

23 May 2025 at 02:08

Of the six to 10 hurricanes NOAA projected for this year, three to five of them could evolve into major hurricanes.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast a 60 percent chance for an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season.

Trump administration violated ‘impoundment’ law by freezing electric vehicle funding, GAO finds

Politico | Energy & Environment

By James Bikales and Jennifer Scholtes

23 May 2025 at 02:02

The independent watchdog is conducting at least 39 investigations into whether the Trump administration violated the Impoundment Control Act.

Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, right, has long contended that presidents hold the power to withhold funding Congress has approved.

Trump undermined Biden’s FEMA in North Carolina. Now the cleanup is lagging on his watch.

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Zack Colman

22 May 2025 at 22:00

As a candidate, the president spread misinformation about the Hurricane Helene recovery efforts, convincing many survivors that the federal government was out to get them.

Aerial view of Houses in Swannanoa, North Carolina that were flooded and damaged as a result of Hurricane Helene. The houses closest to the Western North Carolina rivers, like these ones along the Swannanoa river, were hit the hardest with the high water levels.

China's head start on clean energy is shaping the debate on the Republicans' megabill

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Zack Colman and Karl Mathiesen

20 May 2025 at 06:30

Efforts to preserve Biden-era tax breaks for green technology are running into an administration focused on fossil fuels — and unwilling to play on what it sees as Beijing's turf.

President Donald Trump's administration believes that Biden-era investments in green energy "essentially create a jobs program for China," former adviser George David Banks said.

Appeals court questions EPA’s termination of $20B climate grants

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Alex Guillén

20 May 2025 at 01:35

But two Trump-appointed judges indicated they may consider this a contract claim that would have to be heard by a different court.

Three judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals mulled the future of $20 billion in Biden-era climate grants Monday.

GAO rejects DOGE attempt to land at congressional watchdog agency

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Heather Richards

17 May 2025 at 04:43

The Government Accountability Office told the DOGE acting administrator that it is part of the legislative branch.

Elon Musk, the tech entrepreneur who spearheaded the Department of Government Efficiency, at a March Cabinet meeting held by President Donald Trump at the White House.

The clean energy boom that could snarl the GOP megabill

Politico | Energy & Environment

By James Bikales

16 May 2025 at 16:45

Arizona Rep. Juan Ciscomani and other rank-and-file Republicans are facing a tough choice: resist Donald Trump’s efforts to gut Democrats’ climate law or incur the wrath of constituents who could lose billions in investments and thousands of new jobs.

A solar installation, completed by Obodo Energy, is seen at a commercial farm in Willcox, Arizona, on April 22, 2025. The project benefits from the tech-neutral clean electricity credit in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Democrats raise alarms as National Weather Service races to fill jobs ahead of hurricane season

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Zack Colman

15 May 2025 at 04:39

Internal documents reviewed by POLITICO revealed a range of open positions, from a lead meteorologist role in Fairbanks, Alaska, to meteorologist-in-charge at the NWS office in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Democrats warned that staffing shortages at the National Weather Service would leave the U.S. ill prepared for disasters and storms.

Trump EPA moves to weaken drinking water limits on toxic ‘forever chemicals’

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Annie Snider

14 May 2025 at 22:32

The administration said it wants to rescind and reconsider whether limits are needed for four PFAS that chemical companies are still producing and using in the U.S. — despite known health risks.

EPA-mandated testing has found PFAS in nearly half of Americans’ drinking water.

The Saudis are hurting the US oil industry. Trump’s unlikely to talk about it.

Politico | Energy & Environment

By Ben Lefebvre

12 May 2025 at 22:00

The oil issue? "It’s secondary," says one expert, as the president prepares for talks in the Middle East.

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