Oil, gas & coal

Senate Democrats’ report: oil money helped elect Trump, and his agencies delivered the industry’s wish list

$96M from oil and gas to his campaign and super PACs (Climate Power count)

On Sept. 24, 2026, Senate Democrats led by Chuck Schumer and Sheldon Whitehouse released a staff report built on the April 11, 2024 Mar-a-Lago dinner at which, according to the Washington Post, Trump asked oil executives to raise $1 billion and promised to reverse Biden’s rules (“You’ll get it on the first day”). It cites a Climate Power count of about $96 million from the oil and gas sector to Trump’s campaign and super PACs ($201 million with other Republicans and issue ads included) plus $19 million to his inaugural fund. It then lists what followed: the LNG export pause lifted on day one, 26 senior officials drawn from polluting industries, Clean Air Act exemptions for more than 180 plants, repeal of the endangerment finding, and new tax and royalty breaks. That the policies were payment for the money is the report’s inference; it cites no court or inspector general finding of a quid pro quo.

Their response: White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told the Guardian: “These Democrat senators should do some self-reflection on their ties to the so-called ‘green’ energy industry. They wasted billions of American taxpayer dollars in the name of the Green New Scam.” In 2024, after House Democrats opened an inquiry into the dinner, American Petroleum Institute spokesperson Andrea Woods called its premise “patently false.”

Sources: Senate EPW Committee minority, press release (Sept. 24, 2026) · Senate Democrats, “The Billion Dollar Deal” report (Sept. 2026) · The Guardian (Sept. 24, 2026) · The Guardian (May 9, 2024) · The Guardian (May 15, 2024)

Trump exempted more than 180 polluting plants from air-toxics rules; the application was an email

In March 2025 the EPA opened an email inbox where companies could ask the president to exempt their plants from new limits on hazardous air pollutants, and from April 8, 2025 Trump issued proclamations, under a Clean Air Act provision never used before, giving two-year exemptions to more than 180 facilities in 38 states and Puerto Rico. They include 71 coal plants, Citgo and Phillips 66 refineries, Sterigenics sterilizer plants, Freeport-McMoRan’s Arizona copper smelter and a Pennsylvania plant that burns coal waste to mine bitcoin, ProPublica reported from 3,000 pages of emails; more than 70 had faced formal EPA enforcement in the past five years, and few requests appear to have been denied. The stated reasons were that the control technology is not available and that the exemptions serve national security, though utilities had said publicly they were already installing the controls, and the EPA said it played no role in the decisions. Five lawsuits were filed; four were consolidated and were pending as of May 2026.

Their response: White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers: “Exemptions were issued due to crushing Biden-era regulations that required large swaths of our industrial base to adopt technologies that don’t exist outside the imagination of Biden’s EPA bureaucrats.” The EPA said: “EPA played no role in the determinations set out in the statute and specifically vested in the President.”

Sources: White House proclamation, coal plant exemptions (April 8, 2025) · EPA, Clean Air Act Section 112 Presidential Exemption Information · ProPublica (May 8, 2026) · White House fact sheet (April 8, 2025)

Pipeline billionaire and his firm gave Trump’s super PAC $25 million; his LNG project then got more time

$25M to MAGA Inc. from Warren and Energy Transfer (FEC)

FEC records show Energy Transfer’s Kelcy Warren gave $12.5 million to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. on Feb. 20, 2025 and Energy Transfer LP gave another $12.5 million the next day, on top of more than $13 million Warren gave Trump committees in 2024. On Aug. 21, 2025, Energy Secretary Chris Wright signed an order giving the company’s Lake Charles LNG project more time to begin exports to countries without free trade agreements; a department official said the previous administration’s actions had “undermined the progress of Lake Charles LNG for years.” The extension was specific to one company, and any link to the gifts is an inference. Energy Transfer suspended development of the project on Dec. 18, 2025, saying it was “not warranted.”

Their response: No comment from Warren or Energy Transfer was found. The Energy Department’s stated reason, from Wright: “On the heels of President Trump’s historic trade negotiations, demand for secure, reliable American LNG is surging.” A department official said the extension “furthers the Trump Administration’s priority of unleashing American Energy.”

Sources: FEC, MAGA Inc. filing page showing Warren contribution (filed July 31, 2025) · Department of Energy press release (Aug. 21, 2025) · Brennan Center for Justice (Sept. 15, 2025) · Energy Transfer, LNG project page · East Daley Analytics (Dec. 2025)

Nearly $2.6 billion in federal money paid to cancel offshore wind leases, with firms steered to gas

$2.6B paid to cancel offshore wind leases (AP tally)

After federal courts blocked Trump’s attempts to halt offshore wind by executive action, his administration began paying developers to give up their leases, AP reported. TotalEnergies got nearly $1 billion in March 2026 on condition it invest the money in fossil fuels, Golden State Wind and Bluepoint Wind nearly $900 million in April, and Invenergy $765 million in June, for a total of nearly $2.6 billion; the payments reimburse lease fees the companies had paid the government. New York is leading a lawsuit against the TotalEnergies deal, California is investigating another, and congressional Democrats have opened an inquiry. Senate Democrats list the buyouts among the returns the fossil fuel industry got for its 2024 donations; that is their characterization, and the companies paid are wind developers, not donors.

Their response: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum: “Under President Trump, companies are shifting investment back toward dependable, secure energy infrastructure that can power our economy and lower utility costs.” Maine Gov. Janet Mills called the buybacks legally questionable and “a shortsighted decision.”

Sources: Associated Press (June 17, 2026) · Senate EPW Committee minority, press release (Sept. 24, 2026) · The Guardian (Sept. 24, 2026)

Trump’s 2025 tax law gave oil and gas new tax breaks, lower federal royalties and a methane fee delay

$18B in new oil and gas tax incentives (NYT estimate, via Brennan Center)

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025, included about $18 billion in new tax incentives for oil and gas companies, according to a New York Times estimate cited by the Brennan Center. It cut royalty rates on new federal oil and gas leases, which Resources for the Future estimated will cost the Treasury $6 billion from 2026 to 2035, and postponed the fee on wasted methane from 2024 to 2034, a fee that had been projected to raise $7.2 billion over a decade, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense. The oil and gas industry gave at least $75 million to Trump’s campaign and allied committees in 2024, by the Times’ count. The provisions apply to the whole industry and were passed by Congress; calling them a return on donations is the view of Democrats and watchdog groups, not a finding.

Their response: The White House has described its energy policy as lowering costs; responding to the Senate Democrats’ report in Sept. 2026, spokesperson Taylor Rogers said “the Trump administration is actively working to pass historic permitting reform to help improve energy infrastructure and lower costs.” No industry response specific to the tax provisions was found.

Sources: Brennan Center for Justice (Sept. 15, 2025) · Resources for the Future (June 13, 2025) · Taxpayers for Common Sense (July 21, 2025) · Sen. Bernie Sanders, press release on End Polluter Welfare Act · The Guardian (Sept. 24, 2026)

Coal executive who gave $1 million to the inauguration looked on as Trump signed orders to prop up coal

$1M to the inaugural committee (FEC)

Coal executive Joseph Craft of Alliance Resource Partners gave $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee on Dec. 27, 2024; Senate Democrats’ staff, citing the New York Times, say he helped lead Trump’s 2024 fundraising and gave $2 million with his wife. On April 8, 2025 Craft was in the East Room as Trump signed executive orders to boost coal, the same day as a proclamation exempting coal plants from the latest mercury and air-toxics limits for two years. In September 2025 the Interior Department opened 13.1 million acres to coal leasing and cut coal royalty rates. The measures benefit the whole coal industry, and the official reasons are grid reliability and national security; the link to donations is an inference.

Their response: No response from Craft was found. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said of the coal measures: “President Trump promised to put American energy workers first, and today we’re delivering.”

Sources: FEC Form 13, Trump Vance Inaugural Committee (April 20, 2025) · Kentucky Lantern (April 10, 2025) · White House fact sheet (April 8, 2025) · Interior Department press release (Sept. 29, 2025) · Senate Democrats, “The Billion Dollar Deal” report (Sept. 2026)

Ex-pipeline industry staff now run the pipeline safety agency, rewriting rules as enforcement falls

Four Trump appointees at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration previously worked for the pipeline industry or related fields, ProPublica reported, including deputy administrator Ben Kochman, a former director at the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, and chief counsel Keith Coyle, who did legal work for the group and more than 20 pipeline, oil and gas companies. In 2025 the agency published 23 proposed rules, more than in Biden’s four years, all signed by Kochman, one citing a criticism he himself had filed for the trade group; it dropped a leak-detection rule Congress required in 2020 and enforcement fell sharply. On Dec. 12, 2025 Sen. Maria Cantwell asked both men and the trade group for records.

Their response: An agency spokesperson said the two officials “are in full compliance with federal ethics requirements.” Transportation Department spokesperson Nate Sizemore said the department is “slashing duplicative and outdated regulations” and that “safety comes first.”

Sources: ProPublica (Dec. 15, 2025)

First U.S. sale of Venezuelan oil went to Vitol, whose senior trader was a major Trump donor, FT reported

$500,000 FEC gift listing Vitol; about $6M in all, per the FT

The first U.S.-arranged sale of Venezuelan crude after the January 2026 military operation, worth roughly $250 million, went to the trading house Vitol, the Financial Times reported. The FT said John Addison, a senior Vitol trader involved in securing the deal, had given about $6 million to groups backing Trump’s 2024 campaign and attended a White House meeting of oil executives on Jan. 9, 2026. Federal Election Commission records show a $500,000 gift to the pro-Trump group Turnout for America on Oct. 24, 2024 from a John Addison of Houston who listed Vitol as his employer; a $5 million gift to the super PAC MAGA Inc. on Sept. 30, 2024 under the same name and city lists a different employer. Nothing reported shows the donations decided the sale; that link is an inference drawn by critics, among them Sen. Chris Murphy.

Their response: The FT article could not be opened directly, so any response it carried is not quoted here. Per the FT as quoted by Common Dreams, Addison told Trump at the White House meeting that Vitol would get the best price for the oil “so that the influence you have over the Venezuelans will ensure that you get what you want.”

Sources: FEC itemized receipts, contributor Addison, Houston, $100,000 and over (API query) · Common Dreams, relaying the Financial Times (Jan. 19, 2026)