Op-Ed: Chris Barnard: How President Donald Trump can build a legacy on American energy dominance

"With a GOP trifecta, we have a unique opportunity to enshrine permitting reform into law. House and Senate Republicans should follow President Trump’s lead," Chris Barnard writes in his latest op-ed.

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump wasted no time in setting his energy agenda. With a slew of executive orders aimed at streamlining permitting processes, unleashing American natural gas, and even declaring an “energy emergency,” it's clear that energy is top of mind for the president.

There's no doubt that President Trump has a mandate from the American people to lower energy prices and assert leadership on the world stage. He must lead our nation to achieve reliable, affordable, and clean American energy.

For much of President Joe Biden’s tenure, Americans suffered under policies that placed pie-in-the-sky, progressive ideals above the boots-on-the-ground reality of ensuring reliable, affordable energy. Shortly after President Biden’s inauguration, the cost of electricity began to steadily increase, rising nearly 30 percent over 4 years — 13 times faster than in the previous 7 years. At the same time, warnings from grid experts increased about unprecedented demand growth outpacing our ability to deploy additional power supply. With rising energy costs forcing nearly 35 percent of Americans to cut back on necessary household expenditures and threats of blackouts increasing across the country, it’s clear that something needs to change.

One of the biggest barriers to deploying more clean American energy is none other than government red tape. Although President Biden claimed to be pro-permitting reform, he failed to make any meaningful progress on streamlining the permitting process for critical energy infrastructure. In fact, the average time to complete the permitting process today — around 4 years — is roughly the same as it was five years ago. Not to mention that some projects can take decades. If our goal is deploying innovative energy solutions to meet demand while lowering emissions, then we must cut the red tape that’s keeping us from doing that.

Additionally, exporting clean American energy abroad and embracing an all-of-the-above energy approach at home is critical to supporting our allies, bolstering our economy, and reducing global emissions. Yet, in January of 2024, Biden announced a pause on permitting new Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export facilities. Of course, this was nothing more than an election-year stunt, considering American LNG is a cleaner alternative to energy produced by other countries.

Providing our allies with the opportunity to purchase cleaner, cheaper forms of energy from us, rather than from our adversaries, is common sense policy. Under President Trump, America became the global leader in LNG exports for the first time in history. When America leads in energy production and exportation, our country and its people are richer, the world is a safer place, and our environment is cleaner.

President Biden’s misguided policies led to warnings from Republicans in Congress. When America doesn’t build, particularly as demand for energy rapidly increases due to AI data centers and domestic manufacturing, Americans lose access to reliable, affordable energy. This is precisely why President Trump implemented executive orders to unleash American energy. He rightfully prioritized the need to reform outdated permitting processes, overturning President Biden’s de facto LNG export ban, and acknowledging the seriousness of diminishing American energy supplies.

With a Republican trifecta in America’s government, we have a unique opportunity to enshrine permitting reform into law. House and Senate Republicans should follow President Trump’s lead.

The reality is that President Trump was exactly right in his inauguration speech: “no challenge is too great. Nothing we want for our future is beyond our reach.” With a Republican trifecta in America’s government, we can and should lead the world in an all-of-the-above energy system.

While many of President Trump’s recent executive orders are headed in the right direction, there’s still much that can and should be done. For example, reforming the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) process to build more nuclear, streamlining the permitting process for transmission lines that will strengthen the grid, mining critical minerals will bolster domestic supply chains, and using Chris Wright's Department of Energy to invest in critical energy innovation will launch our nation to international leadership.

The Trump administration is well-positioned to continue pursuing an American energy dominance agenda. While climate alarmism is unproductive and misinformed, there’s no doubt that America can and should lead the world in reliable, affordable, and clean energy production, ensuring that our country has the cleanest water, cleanest air, and the most beautiful parks and outdoor spaces anywhere on planet Earth.

Chris Barnard is the president of the American Conservation Coalition (ACC). Follow him on X @ChrisBarnardDL.