The Proof is at the Pump

• Check out TEA’s new website for the latest in energy news and opinion — sorting out Common Sense from the Nonsense.
• Opinion: Ohio must support the oil and gas industry to fuel growth.
• Oklahoma proposal triggers ESG concerns.
• The AI boom favors natural gas over coal.
• Cities, nonprofits sue Trump over climate change, energy funding loss.
• Republicans helped some enviro programs doge DOGE.
• Last gasp for kids climate case after court rejects death penalty gambit.
• Analysis: China is no climate savior.
• Most Americans say energy independence more important than climate change.
• New ideas for permitting reform being discussed.

The issue: Lower gas prices aren’t luck. President Trump’s policies are working, as this opinion piece by Rep. Michael Jonathan Cloud (R-Texas) states. The national average is $3.15 per gallon, the lowest average in March in the last 3 years and 38 cents cheaper than one year ago.

Why it matters: By contrast, President Joe Biden’s policies catered to bad actors like Venezuela and drove up energy costs. How bad was it? Glad you asked.

The Biden administration secretly permitted Chevron Corp. to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the Venezuelan government despite a license that explicitly prohibited such disbursements, Bloomberg reports.

Consider:

• Gas prices have dropped for the fourth straight week. That’s due in large part to a pro-domestic energy administration.
• For four years, the Biden administration waged war on American energy — from canceling the Keystone XL pipeline to blocking drilling permits, restricting federal land leases and imposing crushing regulations on the oil and gas industry.
• The result? Gas prices soared, inflation spiked and the average American family was forced to pay the price — literally. At the peak of Biden’s energy crisis, gas reached over $5 a gallon in some states.

We know it’s early in the term, but all indications are that TEA’s Common Sense Energy agenda is the right model. It advances freedom, unleashes domestic natural gas and oil production and bolsters energy independence.

Meanwhile, we have become less reliant on hostile foreign regimes like Venezuela and Iran that use oil revenue to fund terrorist organizations and kill innocent people.

Trump has threatened a 25 percent tariff on any country that buys oil and gas from Venezuela.

This is the right call because all tariffs are not created equal. TEA has said that tariffs on our neighbors Canada and Mexico are not wise policy. But this hefty tariff makes perfect sense.

Bottom line: Americans win when the government relaxes regulations and lets the free market go to work. It’s only two months into the Trump administration, but the proof is already at the pump with the lowest spring gas prices in 3 years.

The issue: The state of Washington’s natural gas initiative is unconstitutional, a judge has ruled. Meanwhile, a U.S. judge recently temporarily blocked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from recovering grant funds issued as part of a $20 billion climate funding program that President Donald Trump’s administration has moved to terminate.

Why it matters: These are two blatant examples of judicial activism where extremist judges intervene in an attempt to push their radical agendas.

King County Superior Court Judge Sandra Widlan last week invalidated the ballot measure approved by voters in November that seeks to slow Washington’s shift from natural gas toward technology like electric heat pumps.

The EPA under Lee Zeldin’s watch has maintained the program did not align with the agency’s priorities, and it cited concerns with potential fraud, waste and abuse. The FBI and Justice Department are also investigating the program for potential fraud, waste and abuse.

Consider:

• Judge Widlan ruled that Initiative 2066 is unconstitutional because it runs afoul of a provision limiting citizen initiatives to no more than one subject and requiring them to contain the full text of the portion of state laws they would alter.
• Conservation activists hailed the victory, which goes directly against the will of the people. It passed by a margin of 52-48 percent on Nov. 5, 2024.
• Not only did Initiative 2066 seek to protect access to natural gas, but it also weakened building codes that make it more difficult and costly to add natural gas heating in new construction.
• A leftwing coalition sued over the initiative in December. Washington is the primary defendant. The Building Industry Association (BIA) of Washington was allowed to intervene to defend the measure.

This judge’s ruling seems unreasonable and is based on several factors, which appear to be nothing more than legal loopholes. Put simply, the initiative is too broad and covers too much ground, the judge ruled, so it violates the state’s single-subject rule meant to keep initiatives simple enough for voters to understand.

We think Washington’s voters knew exactly what they were voting for at the polls. Once again, consumers will pay the price thanks to activist judges and green-at-any-cost groups.

That’s if the ruling stands — and we certainly hope that it doesn’t. Greg Lane, executive vice president of the BIA, said his organization will continue to defend the initiative, including appealing to the state’s highest court.

Bottom line: Washington voted to protect access to natural gas, and the nation as a whole voted to end Biden’s green agenda. If the majority of Americans vote for something, it’s anti-democratic for a judge to unilaterally block it from happening.

Hearing On AI And Power Consumption: On Tuesday, April 1, the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs will have a hearing on “America’s AI Moonshot: The Economics of AI, Data Centers, and Power Consumption.”

“The price of energy matters — expensive energy shrinks opportunity! A low energy society is poor; a highly energized society can bring health, wealth, and opportunity for all American citizens.”

— Energy Secretary Chris Wright on X.