WASHINGTON—During a Senate Judiciary hearing Wednesday, Texas Senator Ted Cruz exposed China’s shady efforts to infiltrate the American energy sector and leave the United States dependent on Beijing for so-called green energy.
&#8220;We are witnessing right now a systematic campaign against American energy,&#8221; Cruz said at the hearing. &#8220;There is a coordinated assault by the radical Left, backed and paid for by the Chinese Communist Party, to seize control of our courts, to weaponize litigation against US energy producers all in order to undermine American energy dominance.&#8221;
Cruz in particular <a href="https://statearmor.org/who-is-energy-foundation-china/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">focused</a> on Energy Foundation China, a group with ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The senator cited a report from State Armor, which found that &#8220;To secure U.S. dependence, the CCP has been co-opting the progressive American climate change lobby to push a transition from fossil fuels and other critical inputs…onto &#8216;green&#8217; technologies controlled by China.&#8221;
By funneling money through the foundation, the report claims, the CCP has funded many climate advocacy groups in America, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, which is well known for its litigious character.
&#8220;Their lawsuits are designed to destroy the American energy industry, which happens to perfectly coincide with the political objective of Senate Democrats to destroy the American energy industry,&#8221; Cruz said.
Cruz continued by exposing the Climate Judiciary Project, which claims to be impartial and uninvolved in litigation, but <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/climate-justice-group-deep-ties-judges-experts-involved-litigation-claims-impartiality" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> trains and supports judges presiding over cases of climate litigation.
Cruz pointed out that Energy Foundation China, which is run by former CCP officials, is funding litigation groups working to flood the courts with cases against American energy companies. These cases then come before judges trained by leftist-funded climate advocacy groups.
&#8220;This three-pronged strategy — foreign funding, mass litigation, and judicial indoctrination — is a full-spectrum assault on American energy independence,&#8221; Cruz said. &#8220;And while China drills and digs, we sue and shut down.&#8221;
&#8220;While China prepares for energy dominance, the American Left prepares to attack our own domestic capability.&#8221;
Ranking Member Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) called Cruz’s claims a &#8220;conspiracy,&#8221; arguing that the oil industry’s &#8220;dark money&#8221; schemes were more concerning.
&#8220;The hearing ignores that the fossil fuel industry has, for decades, benefited from secret funding to wage war on the American consumer by making energy more expensive and dirtier,&#8221; Whitehouse said.
Whitehouse also dismissed the claim that China was indirectly providing funds to litigious groups. Energy Foundation China, he argued, seemed focused on addressing Chinese environmental concerns, not advocating for legislative change in the United States.
Whitehouse said, &#8220;Fighting Chinese pollution in China [&#8230;] is a very different thing than having a Chinese conspiracy that funds a litigation group here in the United States.&#8221;
From 2001 to 2020, the EFC has paid out nearly $1.02 billion in grants to hundreds of different organizations seeking climate reform, according to a <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/energy-foundation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> by Influence Watch. The Climate Judiciary Project paid an undisclosed amount toward its judicial education programs.
Scott Walter, the president of the Capital Research Center, was among those testifying about the role the CCP might play among American climate lobbyists and judges.
Asked about the motives of the CCP officials who founded Energy Foundation China, Walter said he was &#8220;skeptical that former Chinese communist officials are interested in doing anything that would harm their country.&#8221;

Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Examines District Judges v. Trump

Ted Cruz Exposes China’s Plot To Undermine American Energy: ‘A Coordinated Assault’

China

Energy

Ted Cruz

Oil prices rose over 1 percent on Wednesday, recovering from a sharp slide early this week, as data showed relatively strong U.S. demand, and as investors assessed the stability of a ceasefire between Iran and Israel.
Brent crude futures were up 82 cents, or 1.2%, at $67.96 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 83 cents, or 1.3%, to $65.20.
On Tuesday, Brent settled at its lowest since June 10 and WTI at its lowest since June 5.
Oil prices rose after June 13, when Israel launched a surprise attack on key Iranian military and nuclear facilities. Prices rallied to five-month highs after the U.S. attacked Iran&#8217;s nuclear facilities over the weekend.
Boosting prices on Wednesday, data from the Energy Information Administration showed U.S. crude, gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week. Crude inventories dropped by 5.8 million barrels to 415.1 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts&#8217; expectations in a Reuters poll for a 797,000-barrel draw.
&#8220;We are looking at big draws across the board,&#8221; said Phil Flynn, senior analyst with the Price Futures Group. &#8220;This type of report can refocus on U.S. supply and demand, and less on geopolitics.&#8221;
Traders and analysts are also seeing some support from market expectations that the Federal Reserve could soon cut U.S. interest rates. Lower interest rates typically spur economic growth and demand for oil.
&#8220;Fed Chair (Jerome) Powell&#8217;s first testimony to Congress (on Tuesday) has hinted at a slight chance of bringing forward the first rate cut of 2025 to July &#8230; which should offer some form of floor on oil prices from the demand side,&#8221; said OANDA senior market analyst Kelvin Wong.
A slew of U.S. macroeconomic data released overnight, including data on consumer confidence, showed possibly weaker-than-expected economic growth in the world&#8217;s largest oil consumer, bolstering expectations of Fed rate cuts this year.
Futures point to nearly 60 basis points&#8217; worth of easing by December.
On the geopolitical front, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday Israel and Iran are tired but the conflict between the two countries could start again. He added to reporters gathered at the NATO summit that he has not given up on his maximum pressure campaign against Iran, including sanctions against buyers of Iran’s oil, but did suggest once again loosening of sanctions.
A preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment said U.S. airstrikes did not destroy Iran&#8217;s nuclear capability and only set it back by a few months, as a ceasefire brokered by Trump took hold between Iran and Israel.
Both Iran and Israel signaled on Tuesday that their air war had ended, at least for now, after Trump publicly scolded them for violating the ceasefire.
As the two countries lifted civilian restrictions after 12 days of war &#8211; which the U.S. joined with an attack on Iran&#8217;s uranium-enrichment facilities &#8211; each sought to claim victory.
&#8220;While concerns regarding Middle Eastern supply have diminished for now, they have not entirely disappeared, and there remains a stronger demand for immediate supply,&#8221; said ING analysts in a client note.
Oil prices will likely consolidate at around $65-70 per barrel levels as traders look to more U.S. macroeconomic data this week and the Fed&#8217;s rate decision, said independent market analyst Tina Teng.
(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly; Additional reporting by Anna Hirtenstein and Trixie Yap; Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Jan Harvey, Mark Potter, Rachna Uppal, Kevin Liffey and David Gregorio)

FILE PHOTO: A pumpjack operates at the Vermilion Energy site in Trigueres

Oil Prices Tick Up Based On Strong American Demand

Donald Trump

This month marks a bleak anniversary for American families — and a perfect illustration of the cost of Joe Biden’s failures. It was just three years ago, in June of 2022, when gas prices in the United States <a href="https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/leafhandler.ashx?f=m&amp;n=pet&amp;s=emm_epm0_pte_nus_dpg">hit their highest</a> level in history, topping $5.00 per gallon.
That’s back when the Biden White House tried to make you believe this was all just an unavoidable consequence of global events. While they were <a href="https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/06/22/remarks-by-president-biden-on-gas-prices-and-putins-price-hike/">trying to spin</a> “Putin’s Price Hike,” the data told a far more damning story: gas prices started climbing immediately after Joe Biden took office. 
From his first day, President Biden declared war on American energy. He canceled pipelines, froze leases, threatened regulations, and proudly signaled to the world that under his administration, fossil fuels were enemy number one.
Predictably, markets responded. American oil production stalled. Investment dried up. Prices began their climb long before Vladimir Putin moved a single tank. By the time Russia invaded Ukraine, Biden’s energy mismanagement had already paved the way for a full-blown price crisis.
Remember: In early 2022, the Biden Administration’s response to Americans struggling with high gas prices was to <a href="https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1501709925168431111?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1501709925168431111%7Ctwgr%5E3f652e74ef31f975ad787de9c56c9e187b56f658%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fpolitics%2Fclips-of-energy-sec-laughing-off-gas-price-concerns-resurface-as-pain-at-pump-intensifies">simply buy an electric car</a>. As the 2022 midterms approached, Biden faced the political fallout of his own policies.
In response, he didn’t encourage production or unleash American drillers. Instead, he reached for the most cynical tool at his disposal: the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), America’s emergency oil stockpile.
Designed to be used in times of true national crisis — war, natural disaster, or supply collapse — the SPR was never intended to bail out failing politicians. But that’s exactly what Biden used it for. To try and save his party as midterm elections loomed in 2022, the president opened the spigot and <a href="https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/10/18/fact-sheet-president-biden-to-announce-new-actions-to-strengthen-u-s-energy-security-encourage-production-and-bring-down-costs/">drained nearly 200 million barrels</a> from the SPR, the largest release in American history. He wasn’t trying to fix supply chains or repair his broken energy policy. He was trying to fix polling numbers.
<div id="attachment_937051" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-937051" class="size-large wp-image-937051" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-1241459724-864x576.jpg" alt="US President Joe Biden speaks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., US, on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. Biden is asking Congress to enact a three-month gasoline tax holiday, after his administration's previous efforts failed to curb soaring pump prices that weigh heavily on his party's political fortunes. Photographer: Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-1241459724-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-1241459724-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-1241459724-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/GettyImages-1241459724.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
In fact, Biden didn’t even bother pretending otherwise. His own White House press releases framed the SPR release as a response to &#8220;Putin’s price hike&#8221; — ignoring, of course, that prices were already surging well before Russian troops crossed the border. And the timing? Pure politics. As the 2022 midterms approached and Democrats faced the real prospect of losing control of Congress, the White House scrambled to ease prices at the pump in a transparent bid to soften voter anger.
The political gamesmanship went even further behind the scenes. In October 2022, as OPEC considered production cuts that would have sent prices soaring once again, Biden administration officials <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/13/biden-admin-asked-saudi-arabia-to-postpone-opec-cut-by-a-month-saudis-say.html">secretly begged Saudi Arabia</a> to delay their cuts until after the election. Not reverse the cuts — just delay them long enough to avoid embarrassing headlines before voters went to the polls. The Saudis publicly confirmed the request. The Biden team was never trying to protect American drivers; they were trying to protect Democratic incumbents.
Today, America is paying the price for Biden’s short-term political fix. As war rages in the Middle East — this time with conflict escalating between Israel and Iran — the world sits on the edge of another energy shock. But our emergency reserve, which once held over 700 million barrels, is now dangerously depleted. According to the latest government data, the SPR sits at just <a href="https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_ending_stocks_of_crude_oil_in_the_strategic_petroleum_reserve">over 400 million barrels</a> — barely more than half full. That’s the lowest level in decades. And thanks to Biden’s manipulation, we’re entering this dangerous period with far less of a safety net.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was created to give America breathing room during times of global chaos. Joe Biden used it as a campaign slush fund. He drained it to temporarily hide the consequences of his anti-American energy agenda, hoping voters wouldn’t notice the long-term damage. Now, as the world grows more unstable, America is weaker, more exposed, and less prepared — all because one president thought his poll numbers mattered more than the nation&#8217;s energy security.
Joe Biden mortgaged America’s oil security and Left our strategic gas tank dangerously low. The recklessness is breathtaking.
No wonder it’s an anniversary the Left would rather forget.
* * *
Larry Behrens is the Communications Director for Power The Future and is the author of the book, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sabotage-Surrendered-American-Energy-Independence/dp/B0C87HHRJR/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3DVTZR49E34ON&amp;keywords=sabotage+book+larry+behrens&amp;qid=1697814823&amp;sprefix=sabotage+la%2Caps%2C119&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sabotage: How Joe Biden Surrendered American Energy Independence</a>.” He’s also appeared on Fox News, Newsmax and One America News. You can find him on Twitter at @larrybehrens or email at <a href="mailto:larry@powerthefuture.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">larry@powerthefuture.com</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Strategic Petroleum Reserves Release Ordered By President Biden To Curb Rises Gas Prices

Running On Empty: How Biden Drained America’s Gas Tank

Running On Empty: How Biden Drained America's Gas Tank

Biden Administration

Gas Prices

Oil and Gas

Oil companies

Opinion

Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Prominent community members of Alaska’s North Slope warmly welcomed top Trump administration officials last week while ripping into the prior administration led by former President Joe Biden.
A trio of Trump cabinet officials – Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright – traveled to northern Alaska last week to announce that Biden-era restrictions on oil development in the region would be <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-moves-to-unlock-millions-of-oil-rich-acres-in-alaska-from-biden-environmental-rules?author=Tim+Pearce&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=15&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Moves+To+Unlock+Millions+Of+Oil-Rich+Acres+In+Alaska+From+Biden+Environmental+Rules">rescinded</a>. The cabinet officials met with North Slope residents in Utqiagvik, Alaska.
Inupiat tribal leaders and officials greeted the news enthusiastically, according to video of the meeting obtained by The Daily Wire.
“When we had a similar meeting with the former Secretary of the Interior, that rule was announced after everybody got on the plane and flew out,” said Josiah Patkotak, mayor of North Slope Borough. He added that the prior administration’s rule “was contrary to what the public comment was.”
“Here we are, full transparency from our own secretary, and I think that deserves another round of applause,” Patkotak said after Burgum announced the administration’s intent to scrap the Biden-era restrictions.
Last year, the Biden administration banned oil and gas exploration and drilling across 10.6 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska (NPRA), a reserve set aside decades ago by Congress for future oil development. The administration put tight restrictions on development on another roughly three million acres of the reserve. In total, over half of the roughly 23-million acre reserve was locked to development.
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“Our ask is the same as always: that the North Slope Inupiat be central to discussions and decisions about land use in our region,” said Rex Rock, Sr., the president and CEO of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation.
“Under the previous administration, as you heard, there were many actions that undermined our people’s self-determination, ignored our voices, and negatively impacted our communities. Their 2024 rule, Management and Protection of the National Petroleum Reserve – Alaska, was not supported by a single entity in our region – and they still chose to implement it,” he said.
“Our region opposed the 2022 NPRA integrated activity plan because it took 50% of the NPRA off the table for development, which impacts the ability of our region to provide services to our people and communities,” Rock added.
Charles Lampe, the current president of the Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation, said that under the Biden administration, the North Slope and its residents “were under attack” by environmental groups. Groups such as <a href="https://www.wilderness.org/wild-places/alaska/oil-drilling-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge">The Wilderness Society</a> have long pushed for federal restrictions on Alaska’s North Slope that would ban development and industry, even in the petroleum reserve.
“On Day 1, President Trump told the Fish and Wildlife Department to deny that request. And that was such an amazing thing for us to be able to see. And we were so proud of our president then because he made sure that our ancestral homelands weren’t going to be stolen, [but] protected,” Lampe said. “So, I really need to bring back this just immense gratitude to President Trump for that action.”
“If the other guy would have won,” said Lampe, refering to former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, “there&#8217;s no doubt in my mind that our homeland would have been stolen, and there&#8217;s nothing we could have done about it.”

North Slope Borough, Alaska

Alaskan Tribal Leaders Offer ‘Immense Gratitude’ To Trump For Killing Biden Oil Development Bans

Alaska

Chris Wright

Doug Burgum

Lee Zeldin

U.S.

The Trump administration is rolling back Biden-era regulations that blocked energy development in Alaska’s national petroleum reserve.
The Biden administration restricted oil exploration and drilling across 13.3 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska (APR-A) last year in a move that angered industry, state, and tribal leaders. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced Monday that the Trump administration would reverse those rules.
“Congress was clear: the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska was set aside to support America’s energy security through responsible development,” said Burgum in a <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-moves-rescind-2024-rule-alaskas-petroleum-reserve">statement</a>. “The 2024 rule ignored that mandate, prioritizing obstruction over production and undermining our ability to harness domestic resources at a time when American energy independence has never been more critical. We&#8217;re restoring the balance and putting our energy future back on track.”
Alaska’s sole representative in the U.S. House, Nick Begich, celebrated the news.
“Alaska’s right to self-determination is being restored. Thank you @SecretaryBurgum and @POTUS for your leadership and recognizing Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential,” he wrote in a post on <a href="https://x.com/RepNickBegich/status/1929595733591969997">X</a>.
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Last year, the Biden administration issued final rules banning oil and gas drilling across 10.6 million acres in the oil reserve. Over another roughly three million acres, the administration put added protections in place. The rules locked up more than half of the state&#8217;s roughly 23 million-acre petroleum reserve.
The Biden administration also denied the state a permit to build a 211-mile industrial road through the Alaskan wilderness to reach a large copper deposit.
Biden&#8217;s Interior Department cracked down on development in the preserve after the administration approved the Willow Project, an $8 billion oil development project in Alaska. The approval ignited protest against the Biden administration from environmental groups. The administration then cracked down on oil and gas development in Alaska while fuel prices in the United States <a href="https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&amp;s=emm_epm0_pte_nus_dpg&amp;f=m">remained</a> high.
The entire preserve “contains a mean estimate of 895 million barrels of oil and a mean estimate of 52.8 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas,” according to an Institute for Energy Research <a href="https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/National-Petroleum-Reserve-Fact-Sheet-DRS-1-2.pdf">fact sheet</a>.
The Department of the Interior on Monday said that former President Joe Biden’s action “exceeds the agency’s statutory authority under the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976.”
“The 2024 rule significantly expanded procedural requirements and created a presumption against oil and gas activity in approximately 13 million acres designated as ‘Special Areas’ unless operators could prove minimal or no adverse effects on surface resources. These provisions not only lack a basis in the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act but undermine the BLM’s obligation to carry out an effective and timely leasing program,” the Interior Department said.
President Donald Trump has prioritized developing the United States’ domestic oil and gas resources. He has also marked out Alaska’s resources for development, in particular.
One of Trump’s first moves as president was to <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/unleashing-alaskas-extraordinary-resource-potential/">direct</a> a streamlined regulatory process for development in Alaska, covering not just oil and gas, but mining, forestry, fishing, and other industries.

Trump Moves To Unlock Millions Of Oil-Rich Acres In Alaska From Biden Environmental Rules

Department of the Interior

A group of congressional Republicans are celebrating the best conservative policies included in President Trump&#8217;s “big, beautiful bill.”
The Republican Study Committee on Thursday released a list of 50 conservative policy wins tucked into the budget bill that cleared the House of Representatives early Thursday morning.
The list, shared exclusively with The Daily Wire, includes a $5,000 tax cut for American families, the repeal of electric vehicle mandates, and the reversal of the Biden-era order that Medicare cover “gender transition” procedures for minors.
The Republican Study Committee, the oldest and largest conservative caucus in the House, helped advance several of the provisions touted on its list.
“The Republican Study Committee is proud to highlight these fifty monumental victories in the One Big Beautiful Bill,” Committee Chairman August Pfluger told The Daily Wire.
“From slashing taxes by $5,000 per family and securing our border, to unleashing American energy and rebuilding our military, these fifty wins demonstrate that House Republicans are not just keeping promises but fundamentally restoring American greatness in ways that will be felt in every community, every family, and every industry across this nation.&#8221;
READ THE FULL MEMO HERE:
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A key provision in the bill is the allocation of nearly $150 billion in new spending to rebuild the American military. This funding will go toward modernizing the nuclear arsenal and improving the lives of servicemembers who fight for America.
The package also includes the appropriation of $46 billion to complete President Donald Trump’s border wall. Along with the hiring of 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel, 5,000 new Customs Officers, and 3,000 new Border Patrol agents, the completion of the wall will do its part to drastically decrease the danger posed by the immigration crisis.
President Trump pushed for House Republicans to vote in favor of the “big, beautiful bill.” All present Democrats voted in opposition, but it passed with a narrow vote of 215-214. The bill now heads to the Senate.
“We planned and we worked and we locked arms together as a team. And we have delivered this against all odds,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said. “The media has tried to divide us. They’ve written our eulogy about 10 times. And you know what? Sometimes it’s good to be underestimated, isn’t it? But we got this done.”

House Lawmakers Pass Budget Bill Ahead Of Speaker Johnson’s Memorial Day Deadline

Republicans Hail Major Reasons ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Is Key To Unleashing ‘Golden Age’

Congress

Economy

Politics

Gas prices are projected to hit the lowest level in more than two decades on Memorial Day, according to the fuel price tracker GasBuddy.
The price would be the lowest nominal level since 2021. Adjusted for inflation, the cost would be the lowest since 2003. The price is expected to remain low over the summer, potentially dipping below the $3.00 a gallon mark.
The projected price is a significant drop from where the national average hit a year ago at $3.58. In 2022, the cost of gas over Memorial Day was over a dollar more at $4.60.
“Gas prices are dropping to the lowest in YEARS ($3.08 on Memorial Day, possibly sub-$3 later this summer)!” posted GasBuddy.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Summer 2025 calling! 🚗✨🍦
Gas prices are dropping to the lowest in YEARS ($3.08 on Memorial Day, possibly sub-$3 later this summer)!
Where are you heading &amp; what&#39;s your best road trip hack? 👇 <a href="https://t.co/fR2LDX23uY">pic.twitter.com/fR2LDX23uY</a>
&mdash; GasBuddy (@GasBuddy) <a href="https://twitter.com/GasBuddy/status/1924879816781660547?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Nearly seven-in-ten Americans, 69%, plan to take a road trip at some point this summer. That is a slight drop from last summer when 76% of Americans said they planned to take a road trip, according to a GasBuddy survey.
“While we’re forecasting the lowest summer gas prices in years, economic jitters are slightly dampening optimism — but we still expect a robust travel season, with millions of Americans hitting the road, many for extended trips,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a <a href="https://www.gasbuddy.com/go/summer-travel-2025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.
The drop in gas prices comes as the Trump administration has made lower fuel costs a priority. The administration has taken steps to cut investment in uneconomic green projects such as solar and wind power and encouraged fossil fuel development.
In February, Trump <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/establishing-the-national-energy-dominance-council/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">established</a> the National Energy Dominance Council, an inter-agency council headed by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. Energy Secretary Chris Wright serves as the council’s vice-chair. The council aims to boost fossil fuel production to lower costs for Americans as well as bolster the United States’ economic and national security.
“I’m going to share two words that I do not think that you have heard from a federal official in the Biden administration during the last four years. And those two words are thank you,” Burgum <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/15/trump-administration-message-to-oil-and-gas-industry-youre-the-customer.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> a gathering of oil, gas, and mining executives in March, making clear the administration’s support for those sectors.
The Trump administration’s approach to energy was a sea change from that of former President Joe Biden. Under the Biden administration, the government saw climate change as an existential threat and poured funding into green energy projects while taking steps to tamp down fossil fuel use.
Fuel prices <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/energy/gas-prices-again-doubled-biden-took-office-despite-white-house-claiming-costs-fallen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">surged</a> under Biden. In June 2022, AAA found the national average for a gallon of gas had hit $5.00, the first time AAA had marked that price since it began tracking the price of gas in 2000. Fuel prices remained elevated well over the $2.39 figure that began Biden’s presidency for the rest of his term.

Donald Trump, Doug Burgum

Memorial Day Gas Prices Could Hit Lowest Level In More Than Two Decades

Memorial Day Gas Prices Could Hit Lowest Level In Over Two Decades

Inflation and gross domestic product are both down while investment in the United States surges. And we talk to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum about how the Trump administration is unleashing energy development one hundred days into the term.
It’s Thursday, May 1, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
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<h2>Investments Surge, GDP Slips</h2>
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Topline: American investment is surging despite turmoil around Trump’s tariffs – and the GDP is slightly slipping.
The GDP shrank by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2025, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped about 200 points in response to that news. But if we dig into the numbers the data is mixed – and there are actually some significant positives. During a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Trump and other administration officials challenged the media’s narrative about the economy, arguing that they are turning Biden’s economy around and that “core GDP” is on the rise.
“I was very against everything Biden was doing in terms of the economy,” Trump <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-1xpqn6z2o">said</a>. “ But we took over his mess in so many different ways… despite what we were handed we turned them around.”
White House trade advisor Peter Navarro broke down how the administration crunched the numbers. He said that a surge in imports and DOGE slashing government waste make the GDP look much lower on paper. “The markets need to look below the surface of that,” Navarro said. “We had a 22% increase in domestic investments. That is off the charts.”
In that same cabinet meeting, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick laid out details about how another semiconductor company, which is the main chip supplier for Apple, is building a major manufacturing plant in Arizona. Trump also said he has gotten $8 trillion in new investments in the United States since taking office.
Inflation slowed to its lowest rate since September, and consumer spending increased by $135 billion, or 0.7%. Much of that was Americans buying cars and other big-ticket items, partly to get ahead of Trump’s tariffs. Meanwhile, prices were static in March, and personal incomes rose by $116.8 billion, or 0.5%.
<h2>Drill Baby Drill</h2>
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Topline: The Trump Administration is looking to break America’s reliance on Chinese natural resources by expanding domestic mining and drilling.
The Department of the Interior oversees billions of acres of federal lands and waters and has the power to open up new land for mining and drilling operations. Under the Trump administration, it’s doing just that.
This month, when China announced a ban on the export of several rare earth minerals, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced that he would reverse President Biden’s so-called “war on mining” to ensure the United States could begin producing those minerals on its own. 
“Obama, Biden, you know, their whole approach was we&#8217;re gonna shut down mining, we&#8217;re gonna shut down oil and gas development,” Burgum told The Daily Wire. “They really, I’m gonna say, crushed the mining industry, both the extraction of these resources, but also the processing of that…China was happy to have the rest of the Western world stop mining so that they could take control of the markets around these critical minerals, which we need for defense, for technology, for electronics, really for everything today in modern life depends on it. So now in the United States, we&#8217;ve gotta get back in the game.”
Because President Trump made an emergency energy declaration, Secretary Burgum, who’s also the Chair of the National Energy Dominance Council, was able to bypass regulations that typically result in years-long delays on new mining projects. Now, they’ll be approved within two weeks. Burgum told the Daily Wire that overregulation of the mining industry has driven business out of the U.S. — forcing us to be more reliant on countries like China. Burgum says that bringing mining back to the United States will be better for the global environment. 
“We do it cleaner, better, safer, smarter and healthier here in the U.S. because when we attack these resource-based industries, we don&#8217;t reduce the demand. We just shift the supply overseas and they shift it to China, who might be extracting this from in the DRC in the middle of Africa. And they&#8217;re doing it without reclamation. They&#8217;re doing it with, sometimes, slave labor, prisoner labor. They&#8217;re doing it with no emissions control on what they&#8217;re doing. So it&#8217;s worse for the global environment. It helps our adversaries, it hurts our economy, and it&#8217;s horrible for national security.”
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<h2>Trade War Hits U.S. Farmers</h2>
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Topline: President Trump continues to tout his trade policies as China makes quiet concessions, but also cancels significant U.S. agricultural orders.
A report from Reuters published Wednesday says that China has created a list of U.S.-made products that will be exempt from its retaliatory 125% tariffs, in addition to other exemptions it has already made on pharmaceuticals, microchips, and aircraft engines. Behind the scenes, Beijing is apparently privately notifying companies about these latest exemptions – that’s obviously to preserve this posture that China will fight Trump on tariffs to the end. 
Trump has said he’s <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/28/trump-xi-tariffs-china-bessent.html">in trade talks</a> with China and that President Xi recently called him. China has denied it and is publicly putting on a bold face. 
“Bowing to a bully is like drinking poison to quench thirst. It only deepens the crisis.” A widely disseminated Chinese propaganda video said earlier this week. “ Make no mistake, the U.S. will keep flip-flopping and playing hardball. But China will stand firm, no matter how hard the wind blows, no matter how clouds rage.”
Last week, China made its largest cancellation of pork orders in five years, halting about 12,000 tons of U.S. pork. The nation has also significantly reduced its soybean order by 97% compared to two weeks ago. For some context, U.S. farmers export more than $176 billion in agricultural products a year. Nearly 10% of that is soybeans and pork for China.

MorningWire_THUMB

Morning Brief: Investment Up, GDP Down, & Drill, Baby, Drill

Farmers

Trade War

Over the past decade, the climate change movement has morphed into a social and political juggernaut that has weakened and exploited America’s institutions. Its success stemmed from two strengths: it fused science with ideology, creating a quasi-religious fervor — think Just Stop Oil or Extinction Rebellion.
The climate movement also won over the legacy media, which thrives on fear, sensationalism, and a bias toward statism. This alliance resonated with those favoring bigger government and tapped into a primal fear of looming catastrophe — a narrative amplified by widespread ignorance of energy and climate systems. For power-hungry politicians, climate catastrophism became their golden ticket to more influence and control.
Backed by legacy media cheerleaders and an academia dominated by Left-leaning statists, the movement snowballed, especially among the young.  Recent debates and polling shifts suggest some improvement in public understanding, but the damage has been substantial. 
The climate change story, however, rests on shaky scientific and moral ground. The climate has always fluctuated — warming and cooling in cycles — and always will. CO₂, while a greenhouse gas, is a minor player compared to water vapor and solar activity — not the villain it’s painted to be. History shows species thrive in warmer periods and struggle in colder ones.
As Bjorn Lomborg points out, over the past century, climate-related deaths have <a href="https://x.com/BjornLomborg/status/1885310861264199688" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plummeted by 99%,</a> with cold still claiming more lives than heat. The science simply doesn’t support the panic.
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Your risk of dying from climate-related disasters dropped 99% since 1920. 
This is because richer societies are much more resilient to disasters 
Read more in my peer-reviewed article: <a href="https://t.co/CC0h7JKIKv">https://t.co/CC0h7JKIKv</a> <a href="https://t.co/hQPpXF2AS2">pic.twitter.com/hQPpXF2AS2</a>
&mdash; Bjorn Lomborg (@BjornLomborg) <a href="https://twitter.com/BjornLomborg/status/1885310861264199688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Morally, it’s worse. Billions of people <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/12-06-2024-progress-on-basic-energy-access-reverses-for-first-time-in-a-decade?utm_source=chatgpt.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lack access to affordable, reliable energy</a> — a right most Americans enjoy as part of the fortunate one billion. Denying them the cheapest energy sources available, all in pursuit of carbon cuts, is the real injustice. The post-election pivot to prioritize energy access and human well-being over obsessive emissions reductions is a welcome return to reason.
This moral blindness is often cloaked in self-righteous virtue. The climate movement preaches sacrifice while demanding subsidies, mandates, and central planning. It calls for collective responsibility while punishing prosperity. It seeks compliance, not progress; narrative control, not truth. In true Orwellian fashion, freedom becomes pollution, and servitude is sold as sustainability.
The damage wrought by this movement was magnified by the erosion of institutional integrity. In the corporate world, where I operate, our duty is clear: maximize value for investors, as Milton Friedman argued. Property rights demand it. Yet leaders have grown lax, allowing political Trojan horses like ESG and DEI to infiltrate and hijack companies — and their shareholder’s property — for ideological ends. Banks and firms fell in line, abandoning their core mission. The pursuit of shareholder value was replaced with pandering to fashionable causes, often disconnected from performance or accountability.
Academia has suffered similar rot, even my alma mater, the University of Texas. Take the lazy use of terms like “green,” “clean,” and “sustainable” to describe solar and wind energy. Dig into the facts: mining rare earths and manufacturing these technologies are dirty processes, often tied to child labor in Africa, and far from sustainable without heavy subsidies. Describing them as ‘green’ or ‘clean’ is more than misleading, it’s a lie. Our institutions should have been bulwarks against this coercion, but they buckled. The guardians of inquiry and meritocracy became mouthpieces for activist orthodoxy.
The 2024 election and its aftermath signal that we’ve weathered the climate movement’s storm. Now what? At Atlas Energy Solutions, our chairman’s “<a href="https://www.atlas.energy/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Chairmans-Letter-on-ESG.pdf">Who We Are</a>” letter laid it out: we stick to the Friedman Doctrine, building a fortress against political fads and focusing solely on value creation. We’ve aimed to lead by example, and it’s heartening to see others doing the same.
Business and politics don’t mix — nor should academia and politics. Universities owe students free inquiry and critical thinking, not indoctrination. It’s time to purge ideological agendas and revive institutional excellence.
Capitalism — real capitalism — requires moral clarity. It is not a tool of oppression, but a system that rewards value creation and voluntary exchange. The climate agenda, as it stands, undermines both. To restore institutional discipline, we must reaffirm what made this country exceptional: a commitment to liberty, property rights, free markets, and the truth. That’s the only path forward. That’s how we liberate American energy — and the human potential it powers.
* * *
Bud Brigham is an energy entrepreneur from Austin, Texas, and chairman of Brigham Exploration, Brigham Royalties, Langford Energy Partners, and Atlas Energy Solutions (NYSE: AEISI). He is also a founding board member of the American Energy Association, a trade organization representing companies that unabashedly support free markets to liberate American energy.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

High voltage towers at sunset background. Power lines against the sky

It’s Time To Liberate American Energy From Climate Dogma

Academia

Bjorn Lomborg

Climate Change

Democrats

Legacy Media

Minerals

Solar Power

President Donald Trump took action on Tuesday to slash regulations and expedite leases for American coal mining, lending a hand to an industry that has been rocked by the push for so-called clean energy.
Appearing at the White House in front of a group of American coal miners, Trump signed the Defense Production Act, vowing to &#8220;end the government bias against coal&#8221; and &#8220;turbo charge coal mining in America.&#8221; Trump&#8217;s order comes as he seeks to boost American energy production and use tariffs as leverage to bring manufacturing and jobs to the United States.
&#8220;We&#8217;re slashing unnecessary regulations that targeted the beautiful clean coal,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;We will rapidly expedite leases for coal mining in federal lands &#8230; and we&#8217;ll streamline permitting. We will end the government bias against coal, and we&#8217;re going to unlock the sweeping authorities of the Defense Production Act.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: &quot;We&#39;re slashing unnecessary regulations that targeted the beautiful clean coal. We will rapidly expedite leases for coal mining in federal lands&#8230; We&#39;ll streamline permitting, we will end the government bias against coal, and we&#39;re going to unlock the sweeping… <a href="https://t.co/aQHiBZDYVX">pic.twitter.com/aQHiBZDYVX</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1909702969387610154?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Trump blasted leftist environmental policies accepted by the Biden administration that &#8220;killed jobs&#8221; and sent prices &#8220;soaring.&#8221; Last year, former President Joe Biden ended new leases for coal mining companies, arguing that coal leasing has major effects on human health and the climate, NPR <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/05/16/1251856806/biden-ending-new-leases-in-americas-top-coal-region" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
&#8220;The Biden energy policy was to put America last &#8230; not a good policy. Under my administration, we&#8217;re putting America first,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;On my first day in office, I terminated the Green New Scam, I declared the National Energy Emergency and withdrew from the unfair, one-sided, and extremely costly to the United States only Paris Climate Accord.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: The Biden energy policy was to put America last&#8230; Under my administration, we&#39;re putting America FIRST. On my first day in office, I terminated the Green New Scam, I declared the National Energy Emergency and withdrew from the unfair, one-sided Paris Climate Accord. <a href="https://t.co/CLSz9aChU8">pic.twitter.com/CLSz9aChU8</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1909702546920554930?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Trump&#8217;s move was praised by the National Mining Association, which called it &#8220;a stark shift from the prior administration’s punitive regulatory agenda, hostile energy policies and unlawful land grabs.”
The Trump administration has already been setting the stage for a renewed coal mining push as the Environmental Protection Agency began removing emissions and pollution restrictions on coal plant last month. The Trump administration also approved an expansion of a coal mine in Montana, and the Bureau of Land Management is looking into an emergency lease for coal mining in North Dakota, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/04/08/coal-executive-orders-trump/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
A core principle of Trump&#8217;s second-term agenda is expanding American energy production, a vision he regularly discussed on the campaign trail.
&#8220;We&#8217;re going to put the miners back to work,&#8221; Trump added on Tuesday. &#8220;I&#8217;ve said I was going to do this, and I&#8217;ve said it loud and clear, and it&#8217;s time to do it.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: &quot;Today, we&#39;re taking historic action to help American workers, miners, families and consumers. We&#39;re ending Joe Biden&#39;s war on beautiful, clean coal once and for all&#8230; we&#39;re going to put the miners back to work.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/XSpoHkT11X">pic.twitter.com/XSpoHkT11X</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1909698786009432158?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
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According to the Energy Information Administration, U.S. coal output dropped 32% between 2017 and 2024, and only around 175 coal plants still generate a significant amount of electricity in the United States. Wyoming is by far the <a href="https://profession.americangeosciences.org/society/intersections/faq/which-states-are-largest-producers-and-consumers-coal/#:~:text=Coal%20in%20the%20U.S.%20is,(Alaska%2C%20Arizona%2C%20Colorado%2C" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leading</a> producer of coal in the United States, followed by West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Kentucky. The coal industry has also suffered as America has moved to more natural gas production.

‘End The Government Bias Against Coal’: Trump Signs Order To Bolster Floundering American Industry

Coal

Trump Administration

The Biden administration buried a final draft of a study that undermined the reasoning behind its 2024 pause on approvals for liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects, a new report has found.
Four sources within President Donald Trump’s Department of Energy (DOE) <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2025/03/18/exclusive-biden-admin-buried-study-lng-crackdown-sources-say/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the Daily Caller News Foundation that the Biden administration’s DOE finalized the draft of a study in September 2023 that found global emissions would see a reduction if the U.S. increased its LNG exports. But that information contradicted what the Biden administration wanted to do to appease environmentalists who argued against LNG, so the administration buried the study.
“The Energy Department has learned that former Secretary [Jennifer] Granholm and the Biden White House intentionally buried a lot of data and released a skewed study to discredit the benefits of American LNG,” one source told the Caller. “They were prioritizing their own political ambitions over the interests of the American people, and the administration intentionally deceived the American public to advance an agenda that harmed American energy security, the environment and American lives.”
In Granholm’s analysis of the final study, released in December 2024 – nearly a year after the Biden administration paused LNG exports – she claimed the study found that increasing LNG exports would result in higher greenhouse gas emissions around the world.
At the end of September 2023, when the original final draft version was evaluated, a Biden administration official left a comment instructing staffers to stop working on the study until further notice, a source in the Trump DOE told the Caller. That version of the study was never released to the public and was categorized as part of the internal deliberative process.
As the Caller found after speaking to sources within the DOE, numerous pages from the September 2023 draft were deleted.
“While the September 2023 and December 2024 versions of the paper bear the same name, the final version released to the public did not include a specific type of analysis of LNG exports known as the consideration of market effects, Trump DOE sources told the DCNF,” the Caller reported. “That particular analysis — included in the buried September 2023 version of the study, but not the final product — found that U.S. LNG exports would bring down global emissions by displacing more polluting sources of energy abroad, and its absence from the December 2024 version allowed the Biden DOE to skew the final report’s findings against increasing LNG exports.”
The Caller’s DOE sources said the evidence showing the Biden administration’s burying of the report was being sent to Congress and would be released to the public.
In January 2024, when President Joe Biden issued the pause on LNG exports, he and Granholm both implied they were looking for more evidence about the effects of LNG.
“During this period, we will take a hard look at the impacts of LNG exports on energy costs, America’s energy security, and our environment. This pause on new LNG approvals sees the climate crisis for what it is: the existential threat of our time,” Biden said in a <a href="https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/01/26/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-decision-to-pause-pending-approvals-of-liquefied-natural-gas-exports/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> after announcing the pause. “While MAGA Republicans willfully deny the urgency of the climate crisis, condemning the American people to a dangerous future, my Administration will not be complacent. We will not cede to special interests.”
But the Biden administration already knew what effects LNG exports would have.
In January 2025, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) <a href="https://x.com/TheFP/status/1880413292251984065" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> The Free Press that he spoke to Biden about the pause, but the president, who had dropped his re-election bid because of obvious cognitive decline, didn’t seem to remember signing the pause at all.

Joe BIden and Jennifer Granholm

Biden Admin Buried Study That Undermined Liquefied Natural Gas Pause: Report

Biden Administration Buried Study That Undermined Liquefied Natural Gas Pause: Report

Jennifer Granholm

Joe Biden

Natural gas

In the debate over energy policy, the term &#8220;all of the above&#8221; has been heralded as a balanced, pragmatic strategy. But in reality, this approach is little more than a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) framework for energy — one that prioritizes political considerations over performance and efficiency. Just as DEI hiring initiatives emphasize inclusivity over merit-based selection, the &#8220;all of the above&#8221; energy policy forces taxpayers and ratepayers to subsidize inefficient energy sources under the guise of fairness and diversity in energy production.
This misguided philosophy has led to the proliferation of heavily subsidized and unreliable power generation, such as wind and solar, which fail to deliver power when it is needed most. These sources are not chosen based on their ability to provide cheap, reliable energy but rather on their alignment with politically driven mandates and green ideology. Despite the rhetoric of energy independence, the reality is that the expansion of these energy sources has increased our dependence on China for critical materials while simultaneously driving up electricity prices for American consumers. Ironically, while the U.S. is shackling its energy sector with expensive and inefficient mandates, China continues to dominate global energy markets by producing affordable power — largely fueled by coal.
The issue is not just limited to electricity generation. Biofuels, another beneficiary of the &#8220;all of the above&#8221; approach, serve as a prime example of government inefficiency. These fuels make gasoline and diesel more expensive, harm engine performance, and require massive amounts of water to produce. Rather than being an environmentally friendly alternative, biofuels epitomize waste — consuming resources and taxpayer dollars for minimal benefit.
Proponents of tax credits and subsidies argue that they create &#8220;good-paying jobs,&#8221; but this justification rings hollow. The same could be said of nearly any government-funded initiative, including federal bureaucracies that are now being exposed by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for being inefficient and wasteful. Of course, by this logic, one could also argue that funding for male circumcision programs in Mozambique created &#8220;good-paying jobs&#8221; as well — just not ones that benefit the American workforce. President Trump highlighted this as an example of what he considers &#8220;appalling waste&#8221; in government spending, and yet the same defenders of bloated federal budgets will insist that all taxpayer-funded jobs are inherently valuable. Just because an industry is artificially propped up by government incentives does not mean it is economically viable. True job creation comes from industries that thrive on their own merits — not those that rely on perpetual government handouts.
A recent letter from members of Congress underscores this flawed thinking. It claims that tax credits are essential for energy affordability and national security, yet it ignores the fact that these subsidies distort markets and drive up costs. The argument that these tax incentives were promised for a ten-year period, and therefore should remain untouched, is nothing more than an attempt to lock in bad policy. If a program is wasteful and inefficient, it should be ended — regardless of previous commitments to corporate beneficiaries. The idea that repealing subsidies would cause an energy crisis is a scare tactic used to protect special interests rather than consumers.
True energy dominance does not come from a politically constructed mix of energy sources dictated by government planners. It comes from an energy sector that is free to compete based on cost, efficiency, and reliability. The &#8220;all of the above&#8221; approach is not a strategy — it is a crutch for failing energy policies that depend on taxpayer support to survive. If we are serious about unleashing American energy, we must reject this DEI-style approach and allow the best energy sources to rise based on merit — not mandates.
* * *
The Honorable Jason Isaac is the Founder and CEO of the American Energy Institute, a trade organization that unapologetically champions free markets and American energy. Previously, he served four terms in the Texas House of Representatives.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Wire.
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