President Donald Trump touted how his reversal of Obama-era regulations on the fossil fuel industry has led to the United States as being the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world during his State of the Union address on Tuesday at the U.S. Capitol.
“Thanks to our bold regulatory reduction campaign, the United States has become the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world, by far,” Trump said.
“With the tremendous progress we have made over the past three years, America is now energy independent, and energy jobs, like so many elements of our country, are at a record high,” Trump said.
Trump’s speech, dubbed “The Great American Comeback,” was criticized by the left even before it was given, including E&E News:
In his past speeches to Congress, Trump has ignored climate change and the environment, instead touting his administration’s regulatory rollbacks and focus on the fossil fuel industry.
That’s likely to continue, although Trump’s tone has changed in recent months to mirror the evolving rhetoric on climate from Republicans on Capitol Hill.
The president in the past has variously called climate change a “hoax” and suggested that it could be reversed. More recently, he’s continued to mock and mislead about climate science in some settings, but in others he has connected climate change to flooding and called it “a very serious subject.”
But the critical report also noted that crude oil production reached 12.2 million barrels per day in 2019, up 1.3 million barrels a day from 2018 and the most in the world. Natural gas production and liquefied natural gas also reached record highs.
Read more at Breitbart
OK, a FACT check is in order (here). First of all, 85% of all domestic oil & gas production in the U.S is on PRIVATE land. Second, STATES regulate oil & gas operations on the private domain. Any federal regulations that overlap (i.e. Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, etc.) are administered by State environmental agencies through primacy. As far as “rollbacks,” I’d categorize that as an EXAGGERATED viewpoint. Yes, federal agencies are looking at MODIFICATIONS of NEPA, WOTUS, ESA & CPP, but those foundational environmental laws are NOT being materially impacted, with the exception of the new ACE rule. I’d suggest that Trump, by continually touting “rollbacks” is doing nothing but providing the Environmental NGO’s a FUND RAISING opportunity and media platform for the ongoing activist misinformation campaign. I’d suggest, like so many other things, if Trump would just simply “tone down” the rhetoric, it would make the process of updating the regulatory framework a lot easier & less contentious…
Put another way, I guess I see a President much like the media will treat a quarterback. You get way too much praise when you succeed and way too much scorn when you fail. Oil production in the U.S has steadily risen (primarily) over the past 10 years due to technological advances and the discontinuation of the oil export ban, which Trump can claim as a victory. The U.S is NOT energy independent. It is energy INTERDEPENDENT in a worldwide market. We are (still) importing oil. Now, we are exporting (domestically produced) lighter crude blends and refined products to allies in Europe & Asia and importing heavier crude blends to run our own refineries. The U.S has helped STABILIZE the world oil market. Our surplus of natural gas & LNG shipments to Europe deleverage Russia. But, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Personally, I do not concur with EIA estimates that the shale oil boom will continue for years to come. The record U.S production in oil (especially) will peak, I’m afraid, a lot sooner than expected. Let’s enjoy this ongoing “hiatus” from OPEC dominance while we can and start a rational policy debate regarding our ongoing energy TRANSITION. Enough drama & theater. Time to roll up our sleeves and go to work on whatever the “Next Big Thing” is in energy…
We all know by how the Democrats are all for more rediculous Regulations and Red Tape and tons of useless paperwork their in the pockets of the Eco-Nazis/Watermelons