US President Donald Trump declares national energy emergency

Washington, Jan 21 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) US President Donald Trump on Monday declared a national energy emergency in an executive order with an eye on driving down energy costs and boosting U.S. oil and gas production.

As the first of this kind declared by the US federal government, the emergency is expected to enable the federal government to crank up energy production by tapping emergency powers, Xinhua news agency reported.

The United States is the largest producer of both crude oil and natural gas in the world and is also the top exporter of liquified natural gas (LNG) globally.

The emergency declaration is just one of many actions Trump was expected to take on Monday to bolster the US oil, gas and power industries and put a brake on former President Joe Biden’s efforts to accelerate the electric vehicle industry.

“America will be a manufacturing nation once again, and we have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have, the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we are going to use it,” Trump said in his inauguration speech in the US Capitol.

“We will drill, baby, drill.”

Biden came into the White House vowing to wean the US off fossil fuels, but US oil and gas production hit record levels under his watch as drillers chased high prices in the wake of sanctions on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

Trump has said the US is in an artificial intelligence arms race with China and others, making the industry’s voracious power needs a national priority.

US data center power demand could nearly triple in the next three years, and consume as much as 12 per cent of the country’s electricity on demand from artificial intelligence and other technologies, the Department of Energy projects.

The first Trump administration had considered using emergency powers under the Federal Power Act to attempt to carry out a pledge to rescue the coal industry but never followed through.

This time, the US President could use emergency powers to ease environmental restrictions on power plants, speed up construction of new plants, ease permitting for transmission projects, or open up federal land for new data centers.

Trump also said the US would revoke what he called an electric vehicle mandate, saying it would save the US auto industry.

“The common theme is really unleashing affordable and reliable American energy,” a Trump official said earlier in the day.

“Because energy permeates every single part of our economy, it’s also key to restoring our national security and exerting American energy dominance around the world.”

Trump has said the US is in an artificial intelligence arms race with China and others, making the industry’s voracious power needs a national priority.

Trump also said the US will “fill our strategic reserves up again, right to the top” and export energy all over the world.

Biden had sold a record amount of crude oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve at more than 180 million barrels.

The sale helped keep gasoline prices in check after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but sank the SPR to the lowest level in 40 years.

Trump had pledged in his first administration to fill the SPR in an effort to help domestic oil companies who were suffering from low demand during the height of the pandemic. The pledge was not fulfilled.

Trump is also expected to sign another order aimed at utilising natural resources in Alaska, repealing several of Biden’s electric vehicle initiatives and protecting gas-powered appliances from federal and local regulators who want to phase them out of homes and businesses, the incoming official said.

Alaska has been a contentious area of the country when it comes to energy and the environment, with Republicans having long seen opportunities for oil and gas production there while Democrats have sought to preserve pristine land.

The official said Trump would take “decisive action to unleash Alaska’s natural resource potential,” citing an abundance of resources such as oil and gas, seafood, timber, and critical minerals.

Many of the actions were expected and fulfilled campaign promises Trump had made on the campaign trail.