Trump's big, oily bill
The anti-clean energy provisions in Trump's budget bill could raise household energy costs by as much as 7 percent.
If you need to show what it means to have a government bought and paid for by Big Oil, look no further than President Donald Trump’s "one big, beautiful bill."
The giant tax and spending legislation Republicans are advancing through Congress is basically a copy-paste of a secret oil industry wish-list HEATED reported on five months ago with the investigative outlet Field Notes.
In that wish-list, the American Exploration & Production Council (AXPC)—a large oil industry trade group—asked the Trump administration for two major things:
To stop taxing excess emissions of methane, a powerful pollutant responsible for nearly a third of climate change.
To limit environmental reviews for new fossil fuel projects to ensure their speedy approval.
Those wishes—and many others—would be granted by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which advanced out of the House Budget Committee in an unusual late-night vote Sunday. Trump is now urging Republicans in Congress to unite and pass it.
If passed, the bill would repeal a portion of the Clean Air Act which sets methane pollution limits for oil and gas facilities. Currently, that section states that oil and gas facilities must pay the EPA a fee on methane pollution that exceeds certain amounts.
Under Trump’s budget reconciliation bill, the methane fee would technically be retained, but altered so that the fee is not collected until ten years from now.
In addition, the bill would allow gas pipeline developers to pay a $10 million fee to bypass the normal permitting process. It would also allow fossil fuels companies to pay the Department of Energy a $1 million fee to determine that a proposed methane gas export facility is in the “public interest.”
“This makes a farce of our permitting process and essentially legalizes corruption with a pay-to-play privilege for gas pipelines,” writes the climate group Evergreen Action. “Americans will be severely impacted by gas pipelines built through their communities.”
Killing the clean energy competition
The White House isn’t trying to hide its close relationship with Big Oil, which directly donated $96 million to Trump’s campaign and spent $80 million on political advertising. On Monday, the White House released a list of organizations applauding the bill, and the very first statement was from AXPC.
But the White House, oil industry, and Congressional Republicans are trying to confuse Americans about the purpose of their partnership with Big Oil. They claim their intent is to “improve our nation’s energy landscape.” In reality, their intent is to improve the nation’s fossil fuel landscape. These are two very different things.
While Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” aims to speed up the development of fossil fuels in America, it aims to actively harm every other competing form of energy, including nuclear.
For example, the bill would “effectively eliminate [tax] credits for new nuclear — in particular, the clean electricity investment and production tax credits, known as the ‘technology-neutral’ credits,” the Washington Post reported on Thursday.
The bill would also phase out tax credits for production and investments in solar, wind, and batter storage products; end tax credits for home energy efficiency and heat pumps; and end tax credits for rooftop solar and batteries, among many other things.
The changes would have “far-reaching implications across the clean energy sector,” according to a Thursday release from energy analytics firm Wood Mackenzie. “The overall outlook for the industry appears challenging.”
Harming clean energy = harming the economy
Contrary tothe Trump administration’s narrative, fossil fuel jobs are not the only energy jobs in the United States. Renewable energy jobs comprise more than 40 percent of the country’s 8.35 million energy positions. Worldwide, clean energy workers outnumber fossil fuel workers.
Many of those jobs are in the solar and battery storage industries—and both would be catastrophically harmed if the budget reconciliation bill passes. In an analysis released Tuesday, the Solar Energy Industries Association warned that if enacted, Trump’s budget bill “could result in nearly 300,000 current and future American jobs to be lost, including 86,000 in solar manufacturing.”
“If this proposal becomes law, nearly 300 U.S. factories—mostly in red states—could close or never open, and we simply won’t have the energy we need to power American innovation in AI and data centers,” SEIA president and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper said in a statement.
Indeed, several groups have warned that hampering the renewable energy sector’s growth will result in higher electricity bills for the average American consumer. ConservAmerica, a conservative environmental group, has estimated that repealing renewable energy tax credits could cause U.S. electricity costs to rise by $51 billion per year by 2035.
According to a preliminary analysis from Rhodium Group, the anti-clean energy provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would “raise energy costs for American households by as much as 7 percent in 2035, stifle energy technology innovation, increase pollution, and could put a meaningful portion of half a trillion dollars of new manufacturing, industrial, and clean electricity investments across the country at risk.”
And the Clean Energy Buyers Association, which represents big tech companies that use a ton of energy for data centers and AI, also warned in a recent report that repealing clean energy tax credits would raise the cost of energy for consumers.
“Let’s not mince words: Republicans are trying to raise your energy bills and destroy thousands of American jobs—simply to pad the pockets of billionaires, fossil fuel executives, and their top corporate backers with massive tax cuts,” Evergreen Action said in a statement.
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Catch of the Day: Historic day over here at the pet section. I think this might be our first bird.
Sometimes bad news about climate policy drives Peanut to the bar. Thankfully, maroon-bellied conure feet can’t twist the lids off liquor bottles.
Thanks to reader Kevin for the historic (and appropriate) submission.
Want to see your furry (or non-furry!) friend in HEATED? It might take a little while, but we WILL get to yours eventually! Just send a picture and some words to catchoftheday@heated.world.
Section 80151 (from the Natural Resources Committee) is a pay to pollute provision for every project that requires a NEPA review. By paying a fee you get an expedited EIS and insulated from judicial review
Thanks for keeping up the work and bringing this to the world. It's a crock of garbage no matter how you slice it.