From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By David Blackmon

Unlike his predecessors, President Donald Trump always seems to have energy and its impacts to the lives of all Americans at the top of his mind. Following his stemwinding acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention last August, I was able to highlight the more than 1,000 words specific to energy included in it.

The president’s high prioritization of energy and energy policy came into sharp focus again Tuesday night in his speech to a joint session of congress. None of what he said about energy received applause from the Democrats present in the House Chamber, but that was no surprise. Trump noted early in the speech there was literally nothing he could say to evoke such a response from minority party.

But ordinary Americans struggling to make ends meet after years of Biden/Harris-era inflation likely had a different reaction given that Trump’s focus on energy policy both in the speech and in action across the first six weeks of his second presidency has been focused on reforms designed to cut energy costs for everyone.

“Upon taking office, I imposed an immediate freeze on all federal hiring, a freeze on all new federal regulations,” Trump said early on. “I terminated the ridiculous green new scam. I withdrew from the unfair Paris Climate Accord, which was costing us trillions of dollars that other countries were not paying … We ended all of Biden’s environmental restrictions that were making our country far less safe and totally unaffordable. And importantly, we ended the last administration’s insane electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto workers and companies from economic destruction.”

Mr. Trump concluded that portion of the speech by pointing to his Day 1 executive order that all federal agencies must eliminate 10 old regulations for every new regulation they wish to implement. Again, this focused effort to tear down the entrenched bureaucratic state is designed boost the economy, create thousands of high paying jobs and lower prices by cutting the cost of regulatory overhead for which consumers inevitably pay.

Congress is also doing its part, having already eliminated some of the costliest Biden regulations via the Congressional Review Act.

Every action described there will, if made permanent, boost the economy and reduce the cost of energy for all Americans. Yes, even for the Democrats, some of whom audibly hissed during that portion of the speech. Amazing.

Where energy minerals are concerned, President Trump reiterated his desire to establish a U.S. presence in or control of Greenland and its enormous known reserves of rare earth minerals and other critical energy minerals.

“I also have a message tonight for the incredible people of Greenland,” Trump said. “We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America.”

Trump said Greenland is not just about energy, noting its control is also crucial for national security and even international security. “One way or the other, we’re going to get it,” he said, adding, “We will keep you safe. We will make you rich. And together we will take Greenland to heights like you have never thought possible before.”

The president also spoke about his administration’s efforts to re-establish U.S. control over the Panama Canal, noting that “a large American company (which turns out to be a BlackRock-led consortium) announced they are buying both ports around the Panama Canal and lots of other things having to do with the Panama Canal and a couple of other canals. The Panama Canal was built by Americans for Americans, not for others. But others could use it.”

Preserving the free flow of shipping through the Panama Canal during times of peace and potential war is critical to U.S. energy security given that crude oil is the most internationally traded commodity and LNG is rapidly rising on that list. The maintenance of strong energy security is among the most crucial aspects of ensuring strong national security and economic prosperity.

In reference to the amazing progress his administration has made in securing the southern border without any help from congress, Trump mocked Biden-era claims by the “media and our friends in the Democrat Party that…we must have legislation to secure the border.”

“But it turned out that all we really needed was a new president,” he concluded.

It has become starkly obvious over the last 6 weeks that the same principle applies to energy policy. The whole world has changed since Jan. 20.

David Blackmon is an energy writer and consultant based in Texas. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, where he specialized in public policy and communications.

From from undercover news report from Project Veritas

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Michael Bastasch

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — yes, the agency that’s supposed to make sure the air and water is clean — has been caught red-handed in what, at least on the outside, looks like one of the most brazen and high-dollar left-wing political payouts of the century.

In what Trump EPA described in a letter to the agency inspector general’s office as “an unprecedented arrangement,” Biden-era bureaucrats used private Citibank bank accounts to squirrel away $20 billion in taxpayer funds — that’s right, billion with a “b” — much of which is earmarked for lefty “pass-through” organizations the agency itself determined “lacked basic financial competency.”

This $20 billion was ostensibly meant for “green banks” to finance all sorts of nice-sounding “climate justice” and green energy projects — but instead it steered billions upon billions to groups deeply tied into the Democratic Party machinery.

For instance, the current and former chairmen of one of the pass-throughs, called the Coalition for Green Capital (CGC), are both Democratic Party donors, each cutting sizable checks to Kamala Harris’ ill-fated 2024 run. CGC was on track to get $5 billion from Biden’s EPA.

In another case, a left-wing consortium tied to Stacey Abrams’s voter mobilization group was awarded $2 billion. In its letter to the IG, Trump’s EPA noted the former administration itself determined these groups “lacked basic financial competency,” but earmarked the cash anyway.

So, here we have billions in taxpayer funds being directed to Democratic insiders and donors — paging DOGE! No wonder bureaucrats shoveled this money into a seemingly untouchable Citibank account in the waning days of the Biden administration.

One former Biden EPA official was reportedly caught on tape gleefully comparing it to “tossing gold bars off the Titanic.”

Taken together, this looks like the left-wing political payout of the century. Rarely is rank political patronage so nakedly on display.

The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and FBI are currently asking tough questions of career EPA officials about these “gold bars,” but it’s unclear if the Trump EPA will be able to claw back any of the funds.

Accountability — after four years of virtually none of it — would not only be a victory for taxpayers, but also for good journalism.

It’s important to remember we’re only talking about this Biden EPA scandal because of the tireless efforts of one journalist. Long before the EPA inspector general, DOJ, the FBI, or even the Department of Government Efficiency, were alerted to this political payout, a reporter named Nick Pope was on the case.

Back in November 2023, when the Biden EPA announced it was handing out billions to so-called “green banks” in the name of “climate justice” and other high causes, Pope thought this might be the perfect cover for the Democratic Party to enrich itself at taxpayer expense.

No slouch, Pope dug in, and soon he saw smoke. Huge, billowing clouds of smoke. His first piece, published that same month, laid out in detail how the “green banks” on the shortlist for Biden EPA funding “all feature numerous individuals on their boards who work for influential organizations aligned with the Democratic Party or previously worked for Democratic administrations.”

But this was no one-off. Pope followed up when the EPA announced it was handing billions to the very groups he had just exposed as essentially being Democratic Party pass-throughs.

Government watchdog groups were put on alert. Congress eventually got involved, demanding answers from the Biden EPA about how something like this could even happen. Pope’s colleague Adam Pack left his own mark, first reporting about the billions going to the liberal consortium affiliated with Abrams’ get-out-the-vote efforts.

Even after the FBI got involved, Pope didn’t rest, pushing out yet another hard-hitting investigation exposing how heads of the groups slated to get billions in Biden bucks “collectively made hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal political donations to Democratic candidates and organizations in recent years.”

If Trump is actually able to claw back these “gold bars,” make sure to thank Nick Pope. Heck, even if we don’t get the money back, thank him anyway. Good journalism should be rewarded even if the ultimate outcome isn’t exactly what we wanted.

Besides, they don’t give out Pulitzers for exposing Democratic corruption, now do they?

While trust in media plummets, and the legacy press continues its liberal bootlicking, it’s even more important we support good journalists, like Pope and the rest of the Daily Caller News Foundation team, who are unafraid to report the truth and hold the powerful accountable.

Mike Bastasch is editor-in-chief of the Daily Caller News Foundation.