Environmentalism 101

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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 12/23/2025

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The end of eco-tyrants?

Law and Liberty (12/15/25) podcast: "When environmental policies were first enacted, they were often supported by staunch conservatives like Richard Nixon and then-governor Ronald Reagan. Why do so many today now view environmental conservation as belonging outside the scope of conservatism? In his recent October forum lead, 'A New Environmentalism?' Steven Hayward traces how conservation efforts quickly became hijacked by extremists and what a conservative approach to environmental policy could look like. He joins the podcast to talk about this piece and why he is hopeful for the future."

"The Trump Administration’s proposal to increase the number of offshore lease sales is a prudent move. Expanding access to our oil and gas resources will signal to industry that it is a stable investment environment and ultimately make the US less dependent on the whims of other countries, especially those in OPEC+ who manipulate prices.”

– P aige Lambermont, CEI

Low prices = more holiday cheer.

Axios (12/22/25) reports: "It should be another record-setting year for holiday travel in 2025, AAA predicts, with 122.4 million Americans going at least 50 miles from home. The prediction comes fresh off a record-breaking Thanksgiving travel season, forecasting a 2.2% increase over 2024's record of 119.7 million Christmas season travelers, AAA says. The company's analysis is based on a 13-day stretch between Dec. 20 and Jan. 1. 'Year-end travel is a mix of family road trips, friend getaways and tropical vacations,' said AAA vice president of travel Stacey Barber. Driving continues to be a relatively cheap way to get around, with the national average gas price dropping below $3 per gallon this month, AAA says."

Investors return home.

OilPrice.com (11/11/25) op-ed: "Earlier this year, Infrastructure Investor reported that investors, previously focused on things like wind and solar, were returning to natural gas, sensing which way the demand winds were blowing. The publication quoted sources from the financial services industry as reporting a change in sentiment among investors as the realization dawns that the world will not be moving away from hydrocarbons and into wind and solar but would rather be adding new sources of energy to the older ones. More recently, Ninepoint Partners portfolio manager and frequent energy markets commentator for the media, Eric Nuttall, indicated this sentiment has only grown stronger. 'We see very strong demand drivers and also challenges to meaningfully growing supply over the short term,' he told Bloomberg this week, noting that his company’s energy fund has 27% oil exposure but 60% exposure to gas. The distribution of investments reflects a reality that those claiming natural gas was even dirtier than coal because it is made up mostly of methane have trouble swallowing. That reality is that natural gas burns more cleanly than coal, is relatively affordable, and abundant enough to secure baseload generation for what many say is the AI age where demand for electricity from Big Tech will soar. It is no accident that Big Oil is reorienting itself more towards natural gas, while staying in the oil game, of course. Yet oil majors have all signaled they have special plans for gas. Shell, for instance, said earlier this year it would make LNG a priority for the next ten years. CEO Wale Sawan said LNG would be the company’s 'biggest contribution to the energy industry' in the period. BP is making plans for both oil and gas production growth, revising its peak oil demand projection by five years."

Blue states, high rates.

Las Vegas Review-Journal (12/21/25) editorial: "Consumers don’t like higher electricity prices, but many don’t fully understand why their costs have increased. An Ipsos poll this year found that 73 percent of Americans were worried about increasing utility bills. Eighty percent said they didn’t feel they had any control over how much they paid. Many Nevadans share those concerns. In June, many ratepayers objected to NV Energy’s proposed price increase. Democrats are eager to pin this on President Donald Trump. They’ve decided that emphasizing affordability will lead them to electoral success. This may help them politically, but it won’t help those worried about their electricity bills. 'In total, 86 percent of states with electricity prices above the national average in the continental U.S. are reliably blue, having voted for the Democratic nominee for president in the 2020 and 2024 elections,' a report from the Institute for Energy Research found. 'In contrast, 80 percent of the 10 states with the lowest electricity prices are reliably red, defined as having voted for the Republican candidate in these contests.' This isn’t the result of chance. States create their own energy policies. Through measures such as renewable portfolio standards, many blue states require an ever-increasing amount of electricity to come from carbon-free sources. Ironically, those mandates usually exclude carbon-free nuclear power. Creating new power plants is expensive. So is the infrastructure to support them — hello, Nevada’s Greenlink debacle. Then, there’s the problem of reliability. The sun doesn’t always shine. The wind doesn’t always blow. Battery storage plants are expensive. When demand peaks and renewables can’t keep up, states must pay extraordinarily high prices on the open market."

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $58.03
Natural Gas: ↑ $4.03
Gasoline: ↑ $2.86

Diesel: ↑ $3.60
Heating Oil: ↑ $215.86
Brent Crude Oil: ↑↓ $62.13
US Rig Count: ↑ 567

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