Trump's nominee for Interior Department says that boosting energy is key to US security
Doug Burgum, Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Interior Department said on Thursday that he would vigorously pursue President-elect Trump's goals to maximize energy production from U.S. Public Lands and Waters, calling it a key to national security. Burgum's remarks to lawmakers at his nomination hearing indicate a sharp change in policy. For years, President Joe Biden tried to limit oil-and-gas drilling by reducing federal leasing auctions and prohibiting future development in certain offshore waters in order to combat climate change. "America produces cleaner, safer and smarter energy than anywhere else in the world." Energy production restrictions in America don't reduce the demand for energy, they just shift production to other countries such as Russia, Venezuela and Iran, whose autocratic leadership doesn't care about environmental issues.
He said that maximizing energy output could lower consumer prices and ensure clean air and water.
Interior Department leases parcels of land and waters offshore from the Arctic to Gulf of Mexico. These operations produce about a quarter of U.S. gas and oil output. U.S. oil and gas production is the highest in the world thanks to years of drilling on private land, mostly in Texas and New Mexico. This boom was fueled by better technology and a strong global demand after Russia's invasion of Ukraine 2022.
ELECTRICITY - "AT THE BRINK" Burgum stated that as Interior Secretary, he will expand the drilling lease auctions in public lands according to law. He also said that he would support reforms in permitting that could accelerate energy projects. This includes those that boost transmission and pipelines feeding power sector.
"Electricity at the edge" "Our grid is at the point where it can become completely unstable," said he. "We have to start working on a permit reform right away and accelerate the permitting process." Burgum stated that the U.S. has an imbalance in intermittent power sources such as wind and solar and that it needs to be offset by an increase of baseload generation, like natural gas-fired plants that can produce power regardless of weather conditions.
He said: "If the sun isn't shining, the winds aren't blowing and we don't get base load then we have brownouts and blackouts."
He also criticised Biden's support of the electric vehicle industry. Biden said that it increased U.S. dependency on vital minerals from China.
Burgum is being considered for the position of head of a new council that will coordinate policies to increase U.S. Energy output once Trump assumes office.
He refused to state if he supports wind power if he is confirmed to be the Interior Department's leader by the Senate. Trump has
The industry will be stopped
He says that the cost of this project is excessive and it can cause harm to whales off-shore.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, North Dakota is third in U.S. States for crude oil production and reserves, behind Texas and New Mexico. (Reporting and editing by Richard Valdmanis, Alexander Smith, Lincoln Feast and Paul Simao).
(source: Reuters)
