One of the pillars of President Trump's campaign was bringing back American energy. He would always say we are going to "drill, baby drill," and unleash American energy by making ourselves more energy independent, rather than being dependent as we are now. So far, he has kept to that promise, and there is more to come in his first 100 days.
The President has now established a National Energy Dominance Council, which will be led by Secretary of the Interior Doug Bergum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright. In essence, the council will determine the best ways and strategies to bring the United States back to energy dominance.
David Holt of the Consumer Energ Alliance says this move shows that American energy is on a comeback, and lets the actual experts do their job.
"Giving the experts the authority to make the strong recommendations to relax permitting restrictions, and some of the regulatory onslaught we have seen the last few years," he says.
Permitting has become one of the biggest ropes holding back American energy independence. The process is bogged down by activist groups who sue to slow down the process of getting any projects approved.
That combined with stringent regulations, all enforced in insanity of 'going green,' has created more issues.
"All those things add costs and time to projects, prevents projects from coming online, and prevents new energy projects from helping Americans," he says. "They can start by looking at ways to they can reduce redundant regulations and streamline authority."
Another big part of Trump's plan is the oil and drilling. As mentioned, the term "drill, baby drill," was said at every rally in his campaign. Surely, he will look at the Keystone Pipeline project again, as well as other various sources of oil we desperately need.
But drilling is not the blanket solution to fix everything.
"It is also 'drill, baby drill,' but then get product to market for consumers to lower prices and expand our ability to meet energy needs here at home," says Holt.
After four years of a spineless administration that was hellbent on ruining American energy, President Trump is back in town. The road to bringing American energy all the way back is still a long one. But the wheels are finally in motion.
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