Policy Reversal Could Lead to Taxpayers Being on the Hook for $753 Billion In 2024, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) updated its oil and gas bonding requirements to more closely reflect the actual plugging and clean-up costs for orphaned wells, thus protecting taxpayers from industry bad actors who skip out on their promise to plug and clean-up their wells once done producing. The Trump Administration just announced that it is rolling back those reforms, thus putting the cost of dealing with orphaned wells back on American taxpayers. “Protecting taxpayers is the sole purpose of the 2024 bonding reforms. By rolling them back, this administration is siding with industry cheats and scammers over hard-working American taxpayers,” said David Jenkins, President of Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship. Jenkins continued: “One has to ask, why? Why allow the oil and gas industry’s worst actors to syphon out all the profit from a public resource while offloading the cost of doing business onto you and me. It’s a binary choice, and the Trump administration is choosing corporate cheats over honest taxpayers.” “Given the unprecedented drilling mandates enacted by Congress last year, this move presents a fiscal nightmare, leaving taxpayers and the U.S. Treasury holding the bag for up to $753 billion in potential plugging and clean-up costs.” “There is nothing remotely conservative about subsidizing dishonesty and failure within the oil and gas industry, worsening the national debt, and saddling the American taxpayer with up to a trillion dollars in clean-up cost. This is swamp politics at its worst,” Jenkins said. Currently, more than 130,000 abandoned oil and gas wells litter our public lands,...
KJZZ | By Mark Brodie The federal Environmental Protection Agency this month submitted a handful of air pollution waivers from California to Congress, according to Politico; the body can vote to nullify them under the Congressional Review Act. If that happens, it’ll mean carmakers wouldn’t be subject to those rules from California; other states, including New York, also generally follow California’s standards. The Trump administration has moved to scale back some environmental regulations nationwide. In Arizona, the Republican-controlled Corporation Commission this spring repealed the state’s renewable energy standard. But David Jenkins said the GOP should pay more attention to the natural environment. Jenkins is president of the group Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship. The Show spoke with him earlier, and asked what to him are the biggest environmental issues that conservatives should be talking about, but aren’t. Listen to the radio story at...
By David Jenkins, Andrew Rothman — David is President of Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship, and Andrew is the Wildlife Campaigns Director for Environment America Every year across our nation hundreds of people die, and tens of thousands are injured in vehicle-wildlife collisions — and the carnage doesn’t end there. The annual death toll for wildlife runs in the millions, not to mention the roughly $10 billion in property damage. It’s a huge problem in most states. Thanks to the efforts of the Utah Department of Transportation, along with its partners and federal grants, the Beehive State is one of a handful of states aggressively working to reduce vehicle-wildlife collisions with strategically placed wildlife crossings. Utah installed the first wildlife bridge in the nation, and it now has 60 wildlife crossings, which come in the form of specially designed bridges, tunnels, underpasses and fencing. For some folks, it might seem strange to expect animals to use an overpass or tunnel, but they do. A video posted by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources shows a diverse array of wildlife using the Parleys Summit wildlife crossing. Moose, deer, bears, bobcats, coyotes and even porcupines can be seen safely crossing I-80 while vehicle traffic passes underneath. Read the rest of the op-ed at Deseret News....
By Karl Schneider A coal-fired power plant in Indiana will receive millions of dollars from the federal government after the Trump administration on June 4 announced $700 million in subsidies to the U.S. coal industry. Hallador Power Company’s Merom Generating Station, which sits along Sullivan Lake south of Terre Haute, will receive more than $27 million to modernize. The 1080-megawatt plant is one of 12 listed on the U.S. Department of Energy website receiving subsidies under the 1950 Defense Production Act. “This modernization initiative will maintain operational reliability and promote environmental stewardship,” a DOE news release says. Hallador Energy, based in Colorado, did not immediately respond to IndyStar’s request for comment. President Trump announced the subsidies from the Oval Office, saying the federal money will support thousands of jobs and save Americans billions in electricity costs. “We’re officially invoking the Defense Production Act to save 13 coal plants …” Trump said. “These were incredible plants.” Congress established the federal law behind the infusion of funds in 1950 during the Korean War. The law gives the president authority to expand the U.S. industrial base. The news sparked disapproval from several corners. David Jenkins, president of the national nonprofit Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship, said the “taxpayer dollar handout to the coal industry is boneheaded on steroids,” in a news release. “This is a total misuse of the Defense Production Act, a giant gift-wrapped payout to subsidize and prop up a flailing industry that can no longer compete in the free market,” said Jenkins, whose group is based in Virginia. Read the rest of the story at...
New Coal-Fired Plants in Anchorage, Alaska, and Mt. Storm, West Virginia, Would Total 2.85 GW. They Would Be the First New U.S. Coal Plants to Come Online Since 2013. By Robert Walton, Senior Editor Dive Brief: The U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday committed up to $850 million to construct two new coal-fired power plants, modernize more than a dozen other facilities, and bolster coal export capabilities from the West Coast. The funds will support 17 total projects, including new coal-fired plants in Anchorage, Alaska, and Mt. Storm, West Virginia, which will have a combined capacity of 2.85 GW. “It’s all very clean,” President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House. Consumer and environmental advocates criticized Trump’s support for the ailing coal sector. It is “swamp politics at its worst, and there is nothing even remotely conservative about it,” David Jenkins, president of Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship, said in a statement. Read the rest of the story at Utility...
Utah Has an Opportunity to Lead by Example. By Steve Handy, Former Republican member of the Utah House of Representatives and a Board Member of Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship & Patrice Arent, former Democratic member of the Utah Senate and House of Representatives | For The Salt Lake Tribune Anyone who has encountered an uncollected mess on a neighborhood trail knows the basic rule: If you create a problem, you are responsible for cleaning it up. It is a simple expectation, and one that applies just as much to public policy as it does to everyday life. That principle is at the heart of a long-overdue effort underway in Utah: modernizing the state’s oil and gas bonding rules. We have both spent our careers working on issues where fiscal responsibility and sound environmental policy go hand in hand. In this case, they point in the same direction. Updating bonding requirements is a practical, balanced step that protects taxpayers while supporting a stable and accountable energy sector. Read the rest of Handy and Arents’ op-ed at The Salt Lake...
