President-elect Trump will unleash American energy
Trump to tap Doug Burgum for interior secretary
During a speech at an America First Policy Institute Gala at Mar-a-Lago, President-elect Trump announced he has picked North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to serve as secretary of the interior.
During his first remarks after being elected Senate Majority Leader, Senator John Thune declared that a top mission of elected Republicans would be to "restore American energy dominance." In making this promise, Majority Leader Thune put his full support behind the number one goal of President Donald Trump’s energy agenda.
President Trump has always been driven by an ambitious goal to make America energy dominant in the world in order to drive down prices for consumers and manufacturers at home and to increase exports of American energy abroad. On the threshold of his second term, Trump has outlined a detailed policy agenda to make that happen.
The first step is fossil fuel deregulation. Trump has vowed to increase permitting for oil and gas extraction, greenlight construction of energy infrastructure from pipelines to refineries to shipping terminals, and reverse President Joe Biden’s power plant rule, which would force most of America’s legacy power plants to shut down.
LEAVE THE OIL TO ME: TRUMP VOWS TO UNLEASH US ENERGY, UNDO KEY BIDEN RULES IN SECOND TERM
However, Trump doesn’t – and has never – focused on fossil fuels alone. Trump’s first administration not only unleashed oil, but also helped finance the first new nuclear reactors built by the United States in over 30 years, supported small modular reactors (SMRs) and embraced biofuels and renewables.
Power lines come off of the nuclear plant on Three Mile Island, with the operational plant run by Exelon Generation on the right, in Middletown, Pennsylvania on March 26, 2019. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) (Photo credit should read ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds)
The end result was the start of the energy dominance Trump promised. For the first time in nearly seven decades, America became a net energy exporter and was a net natural gas exporter for three consecutive years. Under his leadership, LNG exports increased fivefold and solar power generation more than doubled.
But he didn’t just deliver record energy production and lower prices. Under President Trump, the U.S. cut carbon emissions to the lowest level in 25 years and provided other nations a significantly cleaner alternative to dirty Russian, Iranian, and Venezuelan fuel. The Trump energy boom did more to drive down carbon emissions than any climate change protest ever accomplished.
In round two, Trump will go even bigger. During the campaign, Trump promised to expand nuclear power and hydropower, modernize the electrical grid, prevent frivolous anti-energy litigation, slash every unnecessary regulation that curbs energy production, and embrace "every other form of affordable energy."
Trump isn’t an ideologue who sees renewable energy on one side and oil and gas on the other. He does whatever works, which means embracing any and every energy source necessary to accomplish his larger goals. With solar power costing half as much today as during his first year in office plus technological advances making hydrogen, SMRs, batteries, geothermal, and other power sources even more cost-effective, Trump can help make American energy dominant not just in legacy fields, but in every form of energy generation.
wind and solar panels merge in desert alternative energy site in Mojave, CA. . (Photo by: Visions of America/Joe Sohm/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)(Joe Sohm)
That’s exactly what America will need to thrive in the coming decades. With technologies like artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, data centers and the electrification of buildings and vehicles all advancing rapidly, our demand for energy will continue to skyrocket.
But it’s not just energy-intensive new technologies that will drive up demand. Trump’s plan to reshore manufacturing all while drastically lower energy prices for consumers will require more power than America has ever produced.
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According to the latest analysis, the U.S. industrial sector accounts for 33% of all energy consumption in the United States, and manufacturing alone accounts for 76% of the industrial sector’s usage. Energy follows the basic laws of supply and demand. President Trump can only succeed in bringing manufacturing back to America if energy prices are low because manufacturers are most likely to choose places where cost-of-production is cheaper. But if Trump succeeds in drawing manufacturing back to America, industrial energy consumption will go up. The only way to keep prices down for manufacturers and consumers alike is to drive energy production up even further to meet rising demand.
As such, Trump can only achieve his pro-innovation and manufacturing agendas by embracing every source of energy available – from LNG to nuclear to renewables.
Trump knows this – as does his electric vehicle, cryptocurrency, and battery-enthusiast right-hand-man Elon Musk – which is why Trump has indicated his second administration’s energy dominance strategy will be all-inclusive.
And yet again, Trump’s success will have positive externalities. Much like how increasing cleaner domestic energy production reduced greenhouse gas emissions during his first term, reshoring manufacturing away from high-polluting China to cleaner American facilities will also reduce carbon emissions in his second term. As a result, Trump has a chance to drive down energy prices, drive up manufacturing, and make the world a cleaner place all at the same time.
From Capitol Hill to the White House, energy dominance is at the top of the agenda, and for good reason. Trump and his most powerful Republican allies know that energy dominance is the key to everything dominance.
Neil Chatterjee served as chairman and a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. He has decades of experience working on the most important energy policy initiatives for Republican leadership in Congress.
