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Large parts of the American West are currently on fire. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed. At least seven people are dead in different states. An unknown number are missing. Tens of thousands remain under evacuation orders.

A new analysis from Bailoutwatch concludes that "fossil fuel companies participated in the government’s Paycheck Protection Program to bail out small businesses at far higher rates than companies in other key sectors".

“Today is a historic day for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the many people who have supported us in the fight against the pipeline,” said Chairman Mike Faith of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. “This pipeline should have never been built here. We told them that from the beginning.”

For years, coal lobbyists have been saying we needed the dirty fossil fuel for when the wind didn’t blow or the sun didn’t shine. We always knew that was a lie. For years, Donald Trump tried to prop up a dying industry. And now the market has proved them both wrong. And there will be no going back.

There is no doubt we are at a historical moment with the industry in deep structural and financial trouble and where a post-COVID-19 recovery could see a radical shift away from oil and into a just transition into renewables. But will that happen?

By all accounts Trump’s handling of the Coronavirus pandemic has been a disaster for months.

A day after meeting big oil bosses at the White House last Friday, Donald Trump was at his usual chest-thumbing best defending an industry he loves: “I am a big believer in our great energy business, and we’re going to take care of our energy business,” he said at a press conference.

Later today, U.S. President Donald Trump is set to meet with at least seven senior oil executives in person at the White House to discuss the historic plunge in the oil price.

Later today, the Senate is set to vote on an unprecedented $2 trillion bi-partisan stimulus package that is designed to try and prop up a creaking American economy, which has been brought to a juddering halt by the Coronavirus.

What America needs is a comprehensive vision for energy security, one that goes beyond fossil fuel independence. This plan should entail sustained investment in alternative fuel sources and technologies… If the United States really wants to be energy independent, it must look toward preparing for a post-oil future.”