WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order formally creating a National Energy Dominance Council and directed it to move quickly to drive up already record-setting domestic oil and gas production.
Trump's administration also announced it has granted conditional export authorization for a huge liquefied natural gas project in Louisiana, the first approval of new LNG exports since former President Joe Biden paused consideration of them a year ago.
And Trump said he has directed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to undo Biden's ban on future offshore oil drilling on the East and West coasts. Biden's last-minute action last month “viciously took out” more than 625 million acres offshore that could contribute to the nation's “net worth,” Trump said.
Trump also vowed to revive a canceled pipeline that would carry natural gas from Pennsylvania to New York, saying it could slash energy prices in the Northeast by as much as 70%.
Taken together, the actions underscored Trump's commitment to increase U.S. energy production, particularly fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas, and remove regulatory barriers that may slow that down. Trump said the United States is blessed with “liquid gold” and has urged energy companies to sell more oil and gas to allies in Europe and around the globe.
“We're going to make more money than anybody's ever made with energy,'' Trump said at an event Friday in the Oval Office. The United States has “clean energy, very clean beautiful energy. We're lucky to have it. I call it liquid gold under our feet. And we're going to utilize it.”
The new council, to be headed by Burgum, will be granted sweeping authority over federal agencies involved in energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation, with a mandate to cut bureaucratic red tape, enhance private sector investments and focus on innovation instead of “totally unnecessary regulation,” Trump said.
Trump also said he would roll back efficiency standards for dishwashers and other appliances. And Lee Zeldin, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said he would work with Congress to repeal a waiver Biden's EPA granted allowing California to impose strict air pollution standards on cars and trucks.
Biden said in January 2024 that he was delaying consideration of new natural gas export terminals in the United States, even as gas shipments to Europe and Asia have soared since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Biden's election year decision aligned him with environmentalists who fear the huge increase in LNG exports is locking in potentially catastrophic planet-warming emissions, even as the Democratic president pledged to cut climate pollution in half by 2030.
But the move infuriated the oil and gas industry and Republicans, who called it a betrayal and a “broken promise” to U.S. allies who depend on LNG imports for home heating and other needs.
Trump has repeatedly called to undo Biden's action, and an executive order he signed on the first day of his new term lifted the delay. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, appearing with Trump at the White House, said he granted a conditional approval to Commonwealth LNG in Louisiana. The company has said it will export 9.5 million tons of LNG per year at a new facility in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.
By signing the conditional export approval, Wright said he was “unpausing the pause in action” imposed by Biden.
“Exporting American LNG strengthens the U.S. economy and supports American jobs while bolstering energy security around the world, and I am proud to be working with President Trump to get American energy exports back on track,” Wright said.
Commonwealth LNG, owned by Kimmeridge Texas Gas, hailed the administration's actions, saying in a statement that they “demonstrate that President Trump is prioritizing the American energy industry."
Wright's approval is subject to a final order by the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but the company said it was confident the panel would approve the project this summer.
Commonwealth anticipates reaching a final investment decision in September, with the first LNG production expected in early 2029, said CEO Farhad Ahrabi.
Biden, in blocking new offshore oil drilling two weeks before his term expired, said he was using authority under the federal Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to protect offshore areas along the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea. The order does not affect large swaths of the Gulf of Mexico — where most U.S. offshore drilling occurs — but would protect coastlines along California, Florida and other states from future drilling.
Biden’s action, which protects more than 625 million acres of federal waters, could be difficult for Trump to unwind, since it would likely require an act of Congress to repeal. The 72-year-old law that Biden cited allows the president to withdraw portions of the outer continental shelf from mineral leasing, including leasing to drill for oil and gas, if the areas are deemed too sensitive to drill.
“The amount of money that (Biden) took off our balance sheet was incalculable,'' Trump said Friday. “He just wiped it out. That's a major part of the ocean and he just gave it away, he took it away."
Trump said he was confident the order could be undone “in a very legal procedure,” adding: "now it's back in our balance sheet."
Matthew Daly, The Associated Press
