Bailing Out Big Oil: The Wrong Investment at the Worst Time
Yesterday, we highlighted a quiet revolution in clean energy: 24-hour solar power is no longer a dream — it’s a cost-effective, real-world solution. With solar-plus-storage prices falling sharply in recent years, and wind energy continuing to expand, we’re entering a new phase of the energy transition — one where fossil fuels simply can’t compete on cost, performance, or resilience.
So why, in the face of this progress, is the federal government choosing to bail out oil and gas?
In a sweeping $4 trillion package dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” the Trump administration has slashed support for clean energy while handing billions in subsidies to fossil fuel companies. The bill includes:
Increased subsidies for carbon capture — but only when it’s used to extract more oil from depleted wells.
Lower royalties for oil and gas drilling on public lands.
Delays to methane pollution penalties, effectively letting the industry off the hook for the emissions it promised to clean up.
Mandated lease sales across 200 million acres, including protected lands and offshore areas.
Expanded tax breaks for fossil fuel development — many of which date back to the 1910s.
All while cutting support for wind, solar, and energy efficiency — and increasing household energy bills by an estimated $280 a year.
Let’s be clear: this is not an energy strategy. It’s a political payoff.
The fossil fuel industry knows it’s on borrowed time. Global solar module prices have dropped by 50% since 2020, and battery storage prices fell more than 20% in the past year alone. Meanwhile, utilities across the U.S. are shutting down coal plants in favor of renewables — not because of mandates, but because clean power is simply cheaper. Natural gas is next.
At the same time, global markets are turning away from U.S. liquefied natural gas. Europe is accelerating its transition to renewables, and even major Asian economies are investing heavily in clean energy storage and domestic generation. As demand for U.S. gas exports shrinks, the only way for oil and gas companies to stay afloat will be more subsidies, more bailouts, and more lobbying.
This bill is the first installment in what will become a long, expensive series of taxpayer-funded lifelines for a dying industry — lifelines paid for by working Americans, many of whom are already struggling with rising energy costs.
We should be investing in the future — not propping up the past. Every dollar we spend subsidizing oil extraction is a dollar we don’t invest in grid resilience, clean manufacturing, or lowering long-term energy costs. And every delay in building out wind, solar, and storage puts us further behind in the global race for clean energy leadership.
The numbers don’t lie: clean energy is now the smart investment. The “Big Beautiful Bill” does the opposite — funneling public money into an outdated industry in decline. It’s not just a bad policy. It’s a bad bet on the past.
What You Can Do
If you believe our energy future should be clean, affordable, and built for the long haul — now is the time to act.
Contact your representatives in Congress and tell them this bill must be repealed or rewritten. Make it clear that if they continue to subsidize the past while sabotaging the future, they will not earn your vote. We need better leaders — ones who invest in the future instead of protecting obsolete industries for political gain.
Find your representative: house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
Contact your senators: senate.gov/senators/senators-contact
Speak up. Share the facts. And vote like the future depends on it — because it does.