Daily Caller
Biden’s Signature Climate ‘Boondoggle’ Might Be On Chopping Block After Trump Win
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
In the wake of the election of President Donald Trump to serve a second term in office, along with presumptive Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, many are now asking about what the future will hold for the oddly named Inflation Reduction Act.
Trump made it repeatedly clear on the campaign trail that he is not a fan of that law, which was passed on straight party-line votes in both houses of Congress, or of the hundreds of billions of dollars in green energy subsidies contained in it.
In a statement sent out in a post-election memo, Sierra Club President Ben Jealous took on a pessimistic tone, saying: “Donald Trump was a disaster for climate progress during his first term, and everything he’s said and done since suggests he’s eager to do even more damage this time.” Given the major role played by the Sierra Club and other climate-alarm groups in writing the IRA, that is exactly the kind of comments we might expect.
But a full repeal of the IRA seems unlikely to succeed, even with GOP control of the House and Senate. Republican majorities will be slim and the GOP has never shown an ability to hold all its members together when voting on controversial issues. Thus, a more scalpel-like approach seems more likely to succeed.
I asked Karr Ingham, a respected petroleum economist who serves as the president of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, if he thinks Trump and his administration would seek to repeal the Inflation Reduction act in full. Ingham said: “I certainly hope so.” Specifically, Ingham pointed to a need to repeal “the methane tax [waste emissions charge] in the IRA, and frankly, much of the spending boondoggle that is the IRA should simply be eliminated.”
Tom Pyle, president of D.C.-based think tank the Institute for Energy Research, said he believes President Trump “absolutely should” pursue a full repeal of that law. “The vast array of subsidies embedded in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is already destabilizing our electricity grid, while the spending further fuels inflation and contributes to soaring government deficits.”
Pyle further notes that Trump has promised an array of tax cuts for working Americans and families and will need to find budget offsets for those. Pyle believes the IRA offers such an opportunity. “Getting rid of subsidies for big corporations in exchange for tax relief on working families is both good policy and good politics,” he adds.
But American Petroleum Institute President Mike Sommers said his group favors retaining at least some major pieces of the IRA, specifically pointing to subsidies for carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen development. “We’ll advocate for provisions that we support, and we’ll seek repeal of provisions that we think don’t line up with continued production in the states of oil and gas,” Sommers told Politico. This is no surprise given that some of API’s biggest members have already made big bets on both CCS and hydrogen projects.
It is also important to remember that, since the IRA was signed into law in September 2022, renewable energy companies have invested hundreds of billions of dollars into wind, solar and electric vehicles projects, and a big portion of those investments are happening in key Republican states and counties.
Jason Grumet, CEO at the American Clean Power Association, said in a statement that, “Private sector clean energy investment is bringing jobs and economic opportunity to small towns and rural communities across the nation, while hundreds of new factories have come online in states that have seen far too many good jobs move overseas.” Grumet also pointed to the fact that quite a lot of investment into both wind and solar took place during Trump’s first term in office even without the added incentives from the IRA subsidy and tax incentive regimes, adding that ACPA and its members are “committed to working with the Trump-Vance administration and the new Congress to continue this great American success story.”
There is little question the Trump administration will take a hard look at many of the IRA provisions, but political realities combined with the billions already invested based on the continuation of these programs makes a full repeal seem highly unlikely.
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 the Daily Caller News Foundation
The FBI’s Salt Lake City field office released surveillance photos of a person of interest in the fatal shooting of Kirk, urging the public to submit tips as the manhunt intensifies. Appearing on “The Ingraham Angle,” Mauro pointed to unreleased surveillance footage and ballistic evidence as key factors likely to lead to the suspect’s identification.
“The videotape that they pulled the still from, is one of the real things here that is almost certainly going to be how we are going to get there. Somebody is going to recognize him. Somebody probably already has,” Mauro said. “My understanding is that they are still sitting on video that they have not released. That video, likely, would show, let’s say, the walk, so even if you are on the fence, walks are very, very telling. People recognize them.”
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Mauro said investigators are far from stalled, noting that authorities have several promising leads that could help pinpoint the suspect’s path after the shooter fled the campus.
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“So, if we don’t get something soon, expect more videotape, maybe something about where the scope and the rifle came from. Scopes can be bought separate. They can trace this kind of thing,” Mauro said.
“They have a number of notes to go down here. It’s not like they have not made any progress. It looks to me like they can track him leaving campus. They can use the video to get him leaving campus. It goes dark when he leaves campus and gets out into the neighborhood. And according to what I have heard, likely, was hopping backyards, still in the area, and then you have to assume maybe got hold of a vehicle, got to a bicycle, a motorcycle or whatever. And then he got out of Dodge.”
Mauro said investigators “are making progress” despite early missteps and public confusion over leads.
“Every investigation has its bad leads and blind alleys. The difference in this case is that they were more public than you usually get. Director Patel was being particularly transparent in what they were doing and what was going on. And so the information came out and looked like they had somebody at one point there. But this happens in many, many investigations,” Mauro told host Laura Ingraham. “I do think that they are making progress.”
Authorities said the shooter arrived on campus shortly after 11:50 a.m., climbed a stairwell to the rooftop, opened fire, and fled into a nearby neighborhood. At a Thursday morning press conference, officials said they recovered a weapon from a wooded area and obtained video footage of the suspect, described as a male of college age.
The FBI released photos of a “person of interest” wearing dark sunglasses, a black hat, and a black shirt, and urged the public to help identify him. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information that leads to the identification and arrest of the person or people responsible for Kirk’s murder. Tipsters can call 1-800-CALL-FBI and submit photos through the bureau’s online portal.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/Fox News)
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
Law enforcement officers released new surveillance footage Thursday that they say tracks the alleged assassin of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk as he fled the scene at Utah Valley University.
The FBI held a press conference Thursday to share new footage of the suspect fleeing the scene of Kirk’s assassination as agents asked the public for help in identifying him. Commissioner Beau Mason walked reporters through the enhanced video, pointing out critical details investigators believe will help identify the suspect.
“You will see a distinctive t-shirt with an American flag, and it appears to have an eagle on it. There’s a baseball cap with a triangle on it and a pair of sunglasses. All distinctive, all things we would ask the public to look for and try to identify if they know someone who has those items, who’s been seen wearing those items. We are looking for all of that information,” Mason said.
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“This is the video evidence we utilized to track his movements and to locate that firearm in that wooded area following the discovery of this evidence.”
Earlier Thursday the FBI released photos of “the person of interest” as agents from the bureau’s Salt Lake City field office posted two images showing a man dressed in dark clothing, a baseball cap and sunglasses. The FBI posted additional photos of the person of interest tied to the murder and urged the public to submit tips through its digital portal.
Kirk, 31, was gunned down Wednesday while speaking to students during an outdoor campus event. Authorities said the shot came from a rooftop approximately 200 yards away. Investigators later recovered ammunition in a wooded area near the university but have not confirmed whether it is tied to the shooter.
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