COP30 Falls Flat While U.S. Energy Takes Off

November 14, 2025

Need to know

Common sense

INFRASTRUCTURE PLUS POLICY: Energy infrastructure projects, including a long-stalled New York pipeline, are beginning to surge across the U.S. as “unleashing American energy” has become the defining mantra of the Trump 2.0 administration.

Why it matters: New infrastructure supports the broader energy overhaul underway and highlights the importance of ARC legislation, as noted by RealClear Politics. As Interior Secretary Doug Burgum pledged this spring, we are starting to “Build, Baby, Build.”

Leadership in Washington may change hands, but sound federal energy policy must be permanent.

Consider how President Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office, a decision that hit domestic producers and consumers hard. Or how the Mountain Valley Pipeline spent years tangled in court challenges before finally moving ahead in 2024.

Now attention is turning to the Northeast — a region in urgent need of new pipelines:

• A new McKinsey study finds consumers there could save $2–$3 billion from 2025 to 2030 due to lower prices driven by Appalachian natural gas.
• A northward pipeline expansion could also boost energy self-sufficiency for northern cities while reducing overall energy costs for all consumers.

Consider: The Williams Pipeline in New York is a prime example of a repeatedly rejected project, blocked three times under anti-natural-gas policies. Meanwhile, millions of acres in Alaska are being opened for drilling and mining, and several major LNG projects in Louisiana have been approved. These developments create strong U.S. jobs, bolster energy security, and supply cleaner energy globally.

The Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas Project, revitalized under the administration’s American energy dominance agenda, is gaining real momentum and remains on track to begin next year. The project includes a pipeline and LNG export terminal that will allow the U.S. to supply natural gas more easily to Pacific allies, reducing their reliance on Russian energy. Notably, American LNG is 41% cleaner.

Pipelines, LNG terminals, and oil and gas development collectively create thousands of high-quality jobs. They also deliver lower, more stable energy prices for millions of households and businesses — providing reliability in regions that face some of the nation’s harshest and most unpredictable winters.

As America approaches its 250th birthday, this build-out represents a major component of the broader energy overhaul described by RCP’s David DesRosiers. It also underscores the significance of Rep. Troy Balderson’s (R-OH) newly introduced ARC Energy Security legislation.

Bottom line: The ARC Energy Security Act is a long-overdue, common-sense bill that will unlock America’s natural resources and strengthen the nation for the next 250 years. The energy renaissance has arrived.

 

Nonsense

ALARMISM TEMPERED: The COP30 climate conference kicked off in Brazil this week and, predictably, without much fanfare. Notably, the agenda contains nothing especially ambitious.

Why it matters: Even the president of the UN climate talks has acknowledged that many countries are losing enthusiasm for aggressive climate action.

That didn’t stop political gadabout Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) from seizing the spotlight at the summit in President Trump’s absence. His presence suggests an embrace of more Chinese-made renewables — a bold stance given that California’s failed energy policies have saddled the state with some of the highest electricity prices in the country.

Consider: The global response to COP30 has largely been one of “dulled acceptance.” In the run-up to the conference, each nation was expected to release an emissions target extending through 2035, the year climate alarmists often label the “point of no return.” Yet the actual submissions paint a different picture:

• The U.S. filed its target during the final month of the Biden administration, and it is now widely viewed as meaningless.
• Other major countries appear to be taking note: China’s newly submitted target has been broadly criticized as inadequate.
• Brazil’s target has similarly drawn complaints of insufficiency.

The Paris Agreement set the goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C above the historical average, but many scientists now say that threshold is increasingly unlikely to be met.

The hard truth is that “net zero” is, as Energy Secretary Chris Wright bluntly described it, “a colossal train wreck.” It’s simply not going to happen.

Yet the doom-and-gloom rhetoric continues — dating back to former VP Al Gore’s dire predictions in Kyoto in 1997. Today, one climate activist even claimed we are “hurtling toward climate chaos.”

Another truth: The U.S. will require more electricity in the coming years as artificial intelligence and other technologies place growing demands on the grid. And it’s worth noting that increased use of natural gas has been the single largest driver of power-sector emissions reductions over the past 18 years.

Bottom line: Americans are not prepared to give up affordable, reliable, domestically produced energy — the very energy that keeps us safe, secure, and prosperous — in exchange for half-baked promises like “net zero.”

 

A look ahead

Hearing On FLPMA Effects On Permitting: On Wednesday, November 19, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will have a hearing to examine how the BLM land use planning process under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) affects permitting for energy, mining, grazing, and infrastructure projects on public lands.

Hearing On China And Mineral Prices: On Wednesday, November 19, the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party will have a hearing on Predatory Pricing: How The Chinese Communist Party Manipulates Global Mineral Prices to Maintain Its Dominance.

FERC Open Meeting: On Thursday, November 20, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will hold an Open Meeting of the Commission.

 

Quote of the week

“Most of the biggest planned data centers line up closely with regions that have abundant natural gas supply. Not a coincidence when scalability and reliability matter.”

—  Richard Meyer, VP of the American Gas Association on X.