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Delivering On The Promise Of Energy Independence

February 5, 2026

Need to know

ARC Energy Security in The States

  • A Michigan oversight subcommittee is taking a closer look at data centers. Two Heartland Institute members testified last week about potential solutions such as Louisiana’s law that redefined natural gas as green energy.

RealClear

Common Sense

SUCCESSFUL FIRST YEAR: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum reminds us that President Trump’s energy team has made great strides undoing the Green New Scam and promoting Affordable, Reliable and Clean energy.
Why it matters: Undoing four years of damage by the Biden administration on energy policy alone is a Herculean task. But it is exactly what Trump campaigned on and they’ve delivered much in 12 months.
“The United States cannot afford to wait,” Burgum said last spring. “President Trump has made it clear that our energy security is national security, and these emergency procedures reflect our unwavering commitment to protecting both. We are cutting through unnecessary delays to fast-track the development of American energy and critical minerals.”
This includes a $12 billion stockpile of minerals, announced this week. The new program seeks to insulate our manufacturers from supply shortages as America seeks to lessen its reliance on Chinese materials.
Consider:
  • The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has gained $356 million from lease sales.
  • More than 6,000 expedited permits.
  • The new permitting procedures have taken a multi-year process down to just 28 days at most.
  • Oil companies offered $300 million for drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico (America) last year in the first of 30 sales planned for the region under Republican efforts to ramp up domestic fossil fuel production.
  • Gas prices are the lowest in 5 years, benefiting consumers and industry. National averages dipped below $3 per gallon for the first time since 2020.

Some progressives are still whining about the cuts to their favored subsidized wind and solar programs, as well as funding “for the woke EPA research grants to environmental NGOs that advance the radical climate agenda.”

Bottom line: Secretary Burgum is right: this administration is moving with urgency and focus to strengthen America’s energy independence.

Nonsense

CUNNING MANEUVER: The energy and water development spending bill was part of a three bill “minibus” appropriations package that became law Jan. 23. The text of the bill didn’t say anything about carbon taxes.
But buried on page 112 within a report accompanying the legislation is language that directs the Department of Energy to study the carbon intensity of domestic and foreign goods, helping to lay the necessary foundation to impose an American border carbon tax and inevitably a domestic carbon tax.
Sneaky? Yes. Gutless? Absolutely. Typical of politics? Sadly.
Why it Matters: If this sounds like the PROVE IT Act that a group of organizations helped to kill off last Congress, then that’s because this report language was a way for some lawmakers, including a handful of Republicans, to help accomplish the anti-energy, pro-tax objectives of that legislation. The American Energy Alliance (AEI) and Competitive Enterprise Institute led a coalition of 37 organizations that sent a letter to Energy Secretary Chris Wright about this pro-carbon tax report language.
Consider:
  • In a press release, AEI explains its staunch opposition to this measure: “Behind closed doors, and without any transparency, a small group of Republican House and Senate members used a legislative sleight of hand to set the wheels in motion for a carbon dioxide tax on American families.”
  • This would jeopardize American energy security and affordability, principles that TEA has long advocated.
  • The simple fact is that an energy tax based on carbon dioxide will be regressive and harm American families, businesses, workers, the poor, the elderly, those on fixed incomes and local institutions such as schools, libraries and hospitals, AEI President Tom Pyle wrote.
The recently enacted minibus appropriations package includes report language reflecting elements of the PROVE IT Act. This was originally a standalone bill in the 118th Congress that stalled due to conservative opposition who argued it would lay the groundwork for carbon taxes or border adjustments.
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota) co-sponsored the measure, along with Chris Coons (D-Delaware), and happily extols its virtues.
While the PROVE IT Act itself didn’t become law as a standalone bill, its core concept — a mandated emissions intensity study — has been enacted in another form. Similar study requirements are now law through budget/appropriations language enacted last month.
Bottom line: An energy tax is the last thing that Americans need. We encourage other individuals and organizations to let Secretary Wright and President Trump know the potential damage contained in this language.

 

A look ahead

FERC + NARUC Collaborative Meeting: On Wednesday, February 11, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission National Association of Regulated Utility Commissioners will hold the fourth meeting of the Federal and State Current Issues Collaborative.

Quote of the week

“Dealmaker in Chief! @POTUS  continues to bring in record investment from U.S. energy purchases. This is energy diplomacy at work strengthening international relationships and bolstering the U.S. economy!”