DOI Sec. Burgum Signs 6 Orders to Restart Drilling on Fed Lands
These days, we feel like a kid in a candy shop, with the actions being taken by President Trump and his all-star cabinet picks. “Ooooo, I love this chocolate (gobble gobble gobble). Oh! I love this one too! (gobble gobble gobble). And what about this one!!” Pretty soon, the kid gets a stomachache from overeating all that candy. In our metaphor, we’re getting a stomachache (headache) from trying to cover all the important energy-related news from Washington, D.C. The changes are MASSIVE. We previously reported on orders and missives issued by President Trump (see Trump’s First-Day EOs Nothing Short of Revolutionary for Oil & Gas), by the new Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright (see Energy Sec. Wright’s 1st Order Cancels Net-Zero, Streamlines Permits), and new EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin (see New EPA Plan Puts Energy to Power AI at Top of Agency’s Agenda). Now comes word of yet another key energy-related agency, the Department of the Interior (DOI), issuing earth-shattering directives. Read More “DOI Sec. Burgum Signs 6 Orders to Restart Drilling on Fed Lands”
As we reported yesterday, Chris Wright, now-former CEO of Liberty Energy (big fracking company), was confirmed on Monday to be the new Secretary of Energy (see 
Energy Sec. Chris Wright’s opening day directive (yesterday) to employees at the DOE got a fair bit of media attention (see today’s companion post). A day earlier, Lee Zeldin, the new Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, issued a similar directive to EPA employees. Zeldin announced the agency’s “Powering the Great American Comeback Initiative,” to achieve the agency’s mission while energizing the greatness of the American economy. The plan includes five pillars that will guide the EPA’s work over the first 100 days and beyond. The mainstream media has been completely silent on Zeldin’s plan. No coverage that we could find. 
Arguably the most qualified person to ever become Secretary of the Department of Energy, Chris Wright (CEO of Liberty Energy, a fracking company) was confirmed on Monday by the full U.S. Senate (59-38 vote), replacing arguably the most unqualified person to ever hold the position, Jennifer Granholm. The comparison is striking. Chris Wright not only headed a major oil and gas company, but he also has experience with the nuclear energy space and advanced degrees in electrical AND mechanical engineering. Smart guy. Granholm, on the other hand, was a complete political hack picked by Biden to do the bidding of the radicalized left. She’s been a political hack her entire adult life, first as Attorney General and later as Governor of Michigan. She didn’t know (still doesn’t) a darned thing about energy, which is quite obvious. 
The libs and swamp dwellers are apoplectic. The Bidenistas larded up government agencies with thousands of new employees over the past four years. The federal government added approximately 200,000 new employees in the past four years, with the most significant increase occurring in 2023, when the workforce grew by around 85,000 individuals. Donald Trump and his chosen ax man, Elon Musk (via the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE), are trimming the fat. Quickly. Including at the Environmental Protection Agency where 1,100 employees added to the payroll at EPA in the past year were notified that they are in danger of losing their jobs. Trump and Musk are hunting for swamp dwellers. 
Reading between the lines, we’d say the politicians in both Canada and Mexico are puking their guts out after Donald Trump actually did what he said he would do: He slapped a 25% tariff (i.e., tax) on any imports coming to the U.S. from either of our neighbors north and south. The new tax includes a 10% tax (tariff) on incoming oil and gas and other “energy products” from Canada. The new tariffs go into effect tomorrow (Tuesday, Feb. 4). Canada and Mexico will need to firm up their borders to stop illegal aliens from invading our country and to stop the cartels that are flooding America with drugs that are killing our residents. If Canada and Mexico don’t shore up the border and the tariffs remain in place long-term, their respective economies will tank, and their political “leaders” will be voted out of office so fast it will make your head spin. This is how real change happens, folks. 
In June 2019, the New York State legislature passed a horrific “energy” bill that was later signed into law by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (see 
Last November, three of five supervisors in Cecil Township (Washington County), PA, voted to ban all new fracking via a new setback (distance from well to nearest structure) requirement of 2,500 feet (see 
The PJM Interconnection electrical grid operator that covers Pennsylvania (along with all or parts of 12 other states and the District of Columbia) has caved to the political demands of PA Gov. Josh Shapiro to artificially cap the prices of the next capacity auction scheduled for July 2025. It means electric ratepayers won’t see as high of an increase in their electric rates (yah!), but it also means the risk of a blackout has just gone way up (boo!). As we’ve outlined in previous posts, electric prices are soaring in PJM because of the policies of Josh Shapiro. 
Both conventional and unconventional (shale) drillers in Pennsylvania were supposed to submit a new annual report to the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on December 10, 2023, detailing volatile organic compound (VOC) and methane emissions from their operations over the previous one-year period. Shortly before that deadline, the DEP suspended the due date and set a new due date of June 1, 2024 (see 
There’s a reason the Haynesville shale play in Louisiana and East Texas drills more wells than both the Marcellus and Utica shales combined. That reason? Lower taxes and less regulation. Particularly compared with Pennsylvania, where the taxes and “fees” are high and regulations are far too restrictive. Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano, who ran for governor against Josh Shapiro in 2022, is proposing to correct the situation with a new bill that would suspend the state income tax on shale drillers, among other positive moves. 
In February 2022, three Democrat Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) commissioners voted to adopt and immediately begin using new guidelines for approving pipeline projects by taking into account mythical global warming (GHG) factors (see 
We don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that the Trump freight train hit and ran over the left’s radical environmental agenda in a single 12-hour period on January 20th when newly-inaugurated President Donald J. Trump signed a flurry of Executive Orders (EOs). The Trump train hit and ran over the left, and they still don’t understand (can’t conceive) just how fundamentally and deeply they’ve been defeated. They can’t accept that their power has been completely emasculated. Their fantasy world of forced renewable everything is GONE. Now, renewables have to compete with fossil energy, and it’s no competition. No more shaming and blaming oil and natural gas (and shale energy). How did everything change on Jan. 20th? Let’s break it down for you, blow by blow…