SCOOP: Secretary Doug Burgum and API make the bipartisan case for permitting reform
Secretary Doug Burgum and API's Mike Sommers explained why permitting reform is critical to the Trump administration's energy policy.
Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum made an impassioned case for President Donald Trump’s America First energy policy at a conference hosted by the American Petroleum Institute (API), telling a packed room that, under Trump, “we’re doing what people said was impossible.”
“This is a bipartisan issue,” API’s CEO Mike Sommers stressed on stage with Burgum, who told Sommers and the assembled crew of energy advocates that “the permitting you’re working on is central; it’s nothing short of prosperity at home and peace abroad.” He added that if people want to work on something “meaningful” in their lives, permitting is the way to go.
The well-coiffed Burgum also laid out the case for the Trump administration’s agenda. “At the highest levels we’re looking at a couple metrics,” he said. On critical minerals, policymakers look at the periodic table and ask “how fast can we get secure on those supply chains?” On artificial intelligence, he made it simple: “we need more gigawatts.”
Burgum added that he’s not a one-man-band when it comes to energy dominance, even though he is the Chairman of the newly-created National Energy Dominance Council. For example, Energy Secretary “Chris Wright is exercising his authority to keep power plants open that were scheduled to be closed.”
America, Burgum said, is not in an energy transition, as many claim. We are in an era of “energy addition.” That includes topics like energy diplomacy, which is “how we stop wars.” The Interior Secretary stressed how important it is that countries around the world buy American energy, instead of energy from America’s adversaries.
Burgum also highlighted the contrast between America and China on multiple levels. “China’s government is not shut down this month,” he said, referring to the Schumer Shutdown.
While “companies in America try and do the right thing,” the reality is that “none of what they’re [China] doing has anything to do with climate.”
Sommers, for his part, told the Reporter that “the message was clear: Fixing America’s broken permitting system is one of the biggest challenges — and opportunities — facing our nation. As energy demand surges, we need real reform to build the infrastructure needed to deliver it and strengthen America’s energy future.”