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Secretary Wright Discusses Wind Subsidies and Gas Prices on Varney & Co., Aug. 27, 2025

August 27, 2025 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:04:11

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What happened

On Varney & Co., Secretary Wright said, as he stated it, that the President’s approach to wind will not lead to higher costs: because the wind does not always blow, adding wind and solar to a grid does not remove the need for coal, nuclear, and natural gas plants that run all the time, and maintaining what he called two grids is always more expensive, as he stated it. He said, as he stated it, that the subsidies are going to end — agreed, as he stated it, in the One Big Beautiful Bill — and will phase out, though tens of billions of dollars of subsidies will still be paid over coming years for projects already in the queue, as he stated it.

Wright also cited, as he stated it, the environmental impacts of offshore wind turbines on fisheries and whale breeding grounds, and said fishermen and local people who opposed projects were ignored before and that this President is listening to them, as he stated it. On gasoline, he agreed with the host, as stated in the exchange, that this year’s Labor Day gas prices will be at the lowest level in years, attributing lower prices to producing more energy in America, as he stated it. Asked what the picture would look like under the prior administration’s policies, he said, as he stated it, increasing blackouts and rolling brownouts, saying the prior administration was closing more than four times as much firm, reliable power as it planned to build, as he stated it.

Why it matters

The interview states the administration’s core electricity argument — that intermittent power raises total system cost — and ties it to a dated promise on Labor Day gasoline prices, the kind of pocketbook claim voters judge the energy record by.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Joins Varney & Co on Fox Business — August 27, 2025”, 2025-08-27 (official upload, embedded above; published 2025-08-27). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.