In an executive order issued on Friday, President Trump established the National Energy Dominance Council and ordered it to expeditiously increase the already record-setting domestic production of oil and gas.
This is the first set of LNG exports to be greenlit since former Vice President Joe Biden put a hold on them a year ago, and the Trump administration has now made the announcement that a massive LNG project in Louisiana has been granted conditional export authorization.
Along those lines, Trump said that he has ordered Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to reverse Biden’s decision to prohibit East and West coast offshore oil drilling in the future. Last month, at the eleventh hour, Biden “viciously took out” over 625 million acres of offshore property that could have added to the country’s “net worth,” according to Trump.
Trump also promised to restore a dormant pipeline that would have transported natural gas from Pennsylvania to New York, claiming that doing so might reduce energy costs in the Northeast by a whopping 70%.
All things considered, Trump’s moves highlighted his determination to lessen regulatory hurdles that would delay the expansion of the United States’ energy output, with a focus on fossil resources like oil and natural gas. According to Trump, America has an abundance of “liquid gold” and he has pushed energy firms to increase sales of oil and gas to European and international partners.
“We’re going to make more money than anybody’s ever made with energy,” Trump declared at an event in the Oval Office on Friday. “Very clean and lovely energy” is available in the US. It’s a blessing that we have it. Beneath our feet is what I refer to as liquid gold. Plus, we’re planning to put it to good use.
Burgum will lead the newly formed council that will have extensive control over federal agencies that deal with energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation, and transportation. The council’s mission is to concentrate on innovation rather than “totally unnecessary regulation,” reduce bureaucratic red tape, and increase private sector investments.
Dishwasher and appliance efficiency regulations will be rolled back, according to Trump. The EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, has pledged to collaborate with lawmakers in order to revoke the waiver that Biden’s administration had granted California the authority to implement stringent vehicle emissions regulations.
Gas supplies to Europe and Asia have surged since Russia invaded Ukraine, but Biden stated in January 2024 that he was delaying approval of new U.S. natural gas export terminals.
Despite Biden’s campaign promise to halve climate pollution by 2030, his choice to back the massive expansion of LNG exports has put him in the same camp as environmentalists who are worried about the impact on the globe from this development.
Republicans and the oil and gas industry were outraged by the decision, which they characterized as a betrayal and a “broken promise” to American friends who rely on LNG imports for certain purposes, such as home heating.
On the first day of his new term, Trump signed an executive order lifting the delay, in response to his repeated calls to overturn Biden’s decision. Commonwealth LNG in Louisiana was granted conditional permission by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who appeared at the White House with Trump. According to the corporation, its new plant in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, would allow them to export 9.5 million tons of LNG per annum.
Wright said that he was “unpausing the pause in action” that Biden had imposed by signing the conditional export permission.
“It is an honor to work with President Trump to restore U.S. energy exports, as exporting American LNG boosts the economy, employs Americans, and ensures global energy security,” Wright stated.
According to a statement from Commonwealth LNG, which is owned by Kimmeridge Texas Gas, the moves taken by the government “demonstrate that President Trump is prioritizing the American energy industry.”
Wright has expressed confidence that the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission would approve the project this summer, but the approval is still pending a final order.
Commonwealth CEO Farhad Ahrabi stated that the company plans to make a final investment decision in September, and the first LNG production is projected to begin in early 2029.
Two weeks before his tenure ended, Biden blocked new offshore oil drilling. He said he was protecting offshore regions along the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and parts of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea under the federal Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. While the decision would shield the coasts of states like Florida and California from potential drilling in the future, it would not impact vast portions of the Gulf of Mexico, where the majority of offshore drilling in the United States takes place.
Since Trump may need an act of Congress to overturn Biden’s action, which safeguards over 625 million acres of federal waterways, it may be difficult for him to do so. In his reference to a statute that is 72 years old, Biden said that the president has the power to exclude parts of the outer continental shelf from mineral leasing, which includes the ability to lease regions for oil and gas drilling, if such areas are determined to be too sensitive to drill.
The sum that Biden removed from our financial statement was immeasurable, Trump stated on Friday. Just like that, he erased it. He just relinquished that substantial portion of the ocean.
With the reversal of the decision possible “in a very legal procedure,” Trump declared his confidence in the matter and said, “now it’s back in our balance sheet.”
