Press ReleaseUrgent2026-04-20

WATCH: Ranking Member Pingree Blasts Burgum for Sabotaging Renewable Energy as Gas Prices Soar

TaxesClimateEnvironmentEthics

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This press release from Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME) was published on 2026-04-20 and titled "WATCH: Ranking Member Pingree Blasts Burgum for Sabotaging Renewable Energy as Gas Prices Soar". It focuses on taxes and touches on climate policy, the environment.

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WATCH: Ranking Member Pingree Blasts Burgum for Sabotaging Renewable Energy as Gas Prices Soar

Today, during the House Appropriations Interior and Environment Subcommittee hearing for the Fiscal Year 2027 budget request with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Ranking Member Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) condemned the Trump Administration’s aggressive campaign against renewable energy as gas prices soar. In her opening remarks, Pingree outlined the Administration’s clear pattern of propping up Big Oil and sabotaging renewable energy projects, while also failing to uphold the Department’s mission to protect and manage our natural resources, to uphold our trust and treaty obligations, and to follow the science. Click here to watch Pingree’s full opening remarks; tune into the hearing live here . “All of these dirty deals are to benefit industry. And it’s at the expense of the American people. Americans are now paying an average of $4.04 for a gallon of gas. According to Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, gas prices could peak at $4.36 a gallon, costing the average household $740 more for gas this year,” Pingree said. “So it makes no sense to me why this administration would be actively sabotaging renewable energy, which we know is the cheaper and more affordable energy option for families. Honestly, it just makes me very angry. This administration’s policies are causing an affordability crisis and there seems to be a lack of focus on what the Department’s mission actually is.” The fiscal year 2027 budget requests $15 billion for the Department of the Interior: Renewable Energy: cuts $45 million from the Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and eliminates renewable energy funding which includes onshore and offshore wind energy. Bureau of Land Management: cuts $480 million and slashes funding for Wildlife and Aquatic Habitat Management by $139 million, which includes funding for sage grouse and threatened and endangered species. US Fish and Wildlife (FWS): cuts $526 million, decreasing the National Wildlife Refuge System by 20 percent, eliminates grant programs managed by States, Tribes, and other nations, and moves NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service into FWS ($125 million transfer). National Park Service: cuts $1.06 billion Operation of the National Park System: cuts $760 million or 26 percent. The skinny budget suggests they may change the funding formula to defund or drastically cut support for smaller or less visited park units. National Recreation and Preservation: cuts $86 million or 93 percent Historic Preservation Fund: cuts $170 million, or a 94 percent cut, and eliminates everything except funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Construction: cuts $40 million, or a 45 percent cut. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS): cuts $526 million, a 37 percent reduction that eliminates ecosystems, and dramatically cuts funding for core science and natural hazards. Bureau of Indian Affairs: cuts $378 million, including the elimination of the Indian Guaranteed Loan program and the Indian Land Consolidation program, and a 34 percent reduction in funds that support self-governance and directly fund tribal operations. Bureau of Indian Education: cuts $436 million, a 32 percent reduction; some eliminations include funding for Tribal Colleges and Universities, Replacement School Construction, and Early Child and Family Development. Wildland Fire: Transfers all U.S. Forest Service Wildland Fire Management functions to DOI. +++ Pingree’s remarks as prepared for delivery: Secretary Burgum, I appreciate you being here today. Unfortunately, after a year of observing this Administration and its impact on our country, I have some deep concerns. The Department of the Interior is supposed to protect and manage our natural resources, to uphold our trust and treaty obligations, and to follow the science. Instead, from my observation, this administration is bending the Department’s mission to serve the interests of oil and gas companies. This administration’s policies are allowing unfettered consumption of natural resources. We have seen that clearly in the Gulf of Mexico, where last month, the administration convened the so-called “god squad” and approved an extraordinary exemption from the Endangered Species Act protections for offshore drilling. That decision was alarming on its own. It was even more disturbing because it came from an administration that seems determined to weaken every safeguard that stands in the way of industry profits. Speaking of critical safeguards—16 years ago to this day, the Deepwater Horizon explosion killed 11 workers and devastated the Gulf with the largest and most destructive oil spill in America’s history. In wake of that disaster, investigations found that employees had inappropriately close ties to the oil and gas companies and the agency was then broken up because the oversight model had failed so badly. Yet this budget proposes reviving that disgraced structure—potentially returning us to the days of corruption and a model that

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WATCH: Ranking Member Pingree Blasts Burgum for Sabotaging Renewable Energy as Gas Prices Soar Today, during the House Appropriations Interior and Environment Subcommittee hearing for the Fiscal Year 2027 budget request with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Ranking Member Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) condemned the Trump Administration’s aggressive campaign against renewable energy as gas prices soar. In her opening remarks, Pingree outlined the Administration’s clear pattern of propping up Big Oil and sabotaging renewable energy projects, while also failing to uphold the Department’s mission to protect and manage our natural resources, to uphold our trust and treaty obligations, and to follow the science. Click here to watch Pingree’s full opening remarks; tune into the hearing live here . “All of these dirty deals are to benefit industry. And it’s at the expense of the American people. Americans are now paying an average of $4.04 for a gallon of gas. According to Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, gas prices could peak at $4.36 a gallon, costing the average household $740 more for gas this year,” Pingree said. “So it makes no sense to me why this administration would be actively sabotaging renewable energy, which we know is the cheaper and more affordable energy option for families. Honestly, it just makes me very angry. This administration’s policies are causing an affordability crisis and there seems to be a lack of focus on what the Department’s mission actually is.” The fiscal year 2027 budget requests $15 billion for the Department of the Interior: Renewable Energy: cuts $45 million from the Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and eliminates renewable energy funding which includes onshore and offshore wind energy. Bureau of Land Management: cuts $480 million and slashes funding for Wildlife and Aquatic Habitat Management by $139 million, which includes funding for sage grouse and threatened and endangered species. US Fish and Wildlife (FWS): cuts $526 million, decreasing the National Wildlife Refuge System by 20 percent, eliminates grant programs managed by States, Tribes, and other nations, and moves NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service into FWS ($125 million transfer). National Park Service: cuts $1.06 billion Operation of the National Park System: cuts $760 million or 26 percent. The skinny budget suggests they may change the funding formula to defund or drastically cut support for smaller or less visited park units. National Recreation and Preservation: cuts $86 million or 93 percent Historic Preservation Fund: cuts $170 million, or a 94 percent cut, and eliminates everything except funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Construction: cuts $40 million, or a 45 percent cut. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS): cuts $526 million, a 37 percent reduction that eliminates ecosystems, and dramatically cuts funding for core science and natural hazards. Bureau of Indian Affairs: cuts $378 million, including the elimination of the Indian Guaranteed Loan program and the Indian Land Consolidation program, and a 34 percent reduction in funds that support self-governance and directly fund tribal operations. Bureau of Indian Education: cuts $436 million, a 32 percent reduction; some eliminations include funding for Tribal Colleges and Universities, Replacement School Construction, and Early Child and Family Development. Wildland Fire: Transfers all U.S. Forest Service Wildland Fire Management functions to DOI. +++ Pingree’s remarks as prepared for delivery: Secretary Burgum, I appreciate you being here today. Unfortunately, after a year of observing this Administration and its impact on our country, I have some deep concerns. The Department of the Interior is supposed to protect and manage our natural resources, to uphold our trust and treaty obligations, and to follow the science. Instead, from my observation, this administration is bending the Department’s mission to serve the interests of oil and gas companies. This administration’s policies are allowing unfettered consumption of natural resources. We have seen that clearly in the Gulf of Mexico, where last month, the administration convened the so-called “god squad” and approved an extraordinary exemption from the Endangered Species Act protections for offshore drilling. That decision was alarming on its own. It was even more disturbing because it came from an administration that seems determined to weaken every safeguard that stands in the way of industry profits. Speaking of critical safeguards—16 years ago to this day, the Deepwater Horizon explosion killed 11 workers and devastated the Gulf with the largest and most destructive oil spill in America’s history. In wake of that disaster, investigations found that employees had inappropriately close ties to the oil and gas companies and the agency was then broken up because the oversight model had failed so badly. Yet this budget proposes reviving that disgraced structure—potentially returning us to the days of corruption and a model that