Trump talks increasing fossil fuel exports, relaxing offshore drilling rules

Six energy-focused initiatives, no mention of renewables.

President Trump gave a speech about energy in the US today, highlighting six policy issues that will direct his administration’s energy policy for the time being.

The initiatives Trump talked about today were a hodgepodge of new announcements and old policy, focusing on nuclear energy and fossil fuel exports. Despite calling for energy independence, Trump’s speech steered clear of renewable energy like wind or solar. Trump has falsely stated that climate change is a “hoax” and has appointed officials with close ties to the fossil fuel industry to top energy posts.
The new initiatives Trump did talk about included reviving and expanding the nuclear energy sector, reducing barriers to financing coal plants in foreign countries, opening up a new petroleum pipeline to Mexico, pushing more exports of natural gas, opening a natural gas export terminal in Louisiana, and relaxing restrictions on offshore oil and gas drilling.

Bloomberg noted this morning that Trump would order a complete review of policies to pinpoint where the US government could roll back nuclear energy regulations. The nuclear energy industry is facing considerable hurdles these days; nuclear energy is more expensive than cheaper natural gas, and the US still hasn’t made any decisions on where waste from the plants will go. Trump’s statements today echoed comments by Energy Secretary Rick Perry earlier this week, who said he wanted the Department of Energy to “make nuclear energy cool again.”

Trump specifically mentioned expanding coal trade in Ukraine by making it easier to finance foreign coal plants (although the Washington Post wrote that the US doesn’t have any prohibitions on private financing of foreign coal plants. Instead, the Obama administration said in 2013 that it would oppose using multinational bank funds to invest in coal plants.) Trump also said he would approve building an oil pipeline to Mexico “that’ll go right under the wall,” allow licenses to export liquified natural gas from Lake Charles, Louisiana, and support the export of natural gas to South Korea. CNBC notes that “President Barack Obama paved the way for Trump by lifting a 40-year ban on exporting US crude oil and by approving about two dozen liquefied natural gas export licenses.”

Finally, Trump pointed to efforts to roll back restrictions on offshore drilling. Back in April, the president instructed the Interior Department to come up with plans to roll back Obama-era rules that would prohibit new drilling on federal offshore areas.