Trump's Energy Secretary vows reversal of Biden climate policies

by John BIERS

The US Energy Secretary vowed Monday to reset federal energy policy to favor fossil fuels and deprioritize climate change as industry leaders gathered at their biggest event since President Donald Trump returned to office.

In the conference's opening session, Energy Secretary Chris Wright cited the Trump administration's moves to cut red tape delaying oil projects and promote liquefied natural gas exports (LNG) as examples of a pivot away from policies pursued under former president Joe Biden.

"The Trump administration will end the Biden administration's irrational quasi-religious policies on climate change that imposed endless sacrifices on our citizens," Wright told a packed auditorium for the annual Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) conference.

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Since returning to Washington less than two months ago, Trump and his team have overhauled the existing economic order at a dizzying pace, launching trade wars against allies and hollowing government agencies the president and his allies dislike.

Trump made energy policy a central part of his agenda with his day-one "Unleashing American Energy" executive order, promising during his inaugural address to "end the Green New Deal" in favor of "that liquid gold under our feet."

Environmentalists have criticized these shifts as leaving the world vulnerable to catastrophic climate change.

Wright's "speech made clear that he and the rest of the Trump administration are ready to sacrifice our communities and climate for the profits of the fossil fuel industry," said Allie Rosenbluth, US campaign manager for Oil Change International, which planned a rally in downtown Houston outside the CERA event.

- How much change ahead? -

Energy played a key supporting role in Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, in which he pointed to higher gasoline prices as a reason more production was needed, embodied by his slogan: "Drill, Baby, Drill."

Trump's January 20 executive order represents a potentially wide-ranging attack on tax incentives which had been embraced by energy companies to advance billions of dollars of energy transition projects.

These projects were connected to laws enacted during Biden's presidency to mitigate climate change.

Some pundits think Trump will stop short of actions canceling existing projects where workers have been hired, including many in conservative districts.

But the abrupt shift from the climate-focused Biden to Trump likely "turns 2025 into a paralyzed year where folks are hesitant to push on any kind of decarbonization," said Dan Pickering of Pickering Energy Partners, a Houston advisory and investment firm.

Wright described his approach as an "all the above" stance that can include renewable energy, although he told a press conference after the address that offshore wind projects were a waste of money that are "very unpopular" with communities.

At an event last week in Louisiana, Wright touted an announcement by Venture Global of an $18 billion expansion of a liquefied natural gas export facility, highlighting Trump's reversal of a Biden freeze on permitting new LNG export capacity.

Trump has ridiculed the environmental concerns at the center of Biden's policy, championing LNG exports as a way to strengthen America's ties with energy importing countries.

But there has been widespread skepticism about Trump's message urging the industry to significantly boost oil and gas drilling in order to lift output and lower energy prices.

Wall Street has also signaled a clear preference for robust industry profits that can continue to allow for dividends and stock buybacks.

- Questions for Europe -

At CERA, European officials will meet on panels to discuss Europe at a crossroads after shifting away from Russian energy supplies.

In the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, US LNG "played a super important role" for Europe as the continent sought to lessen its dependence on Russian gas, said Jonathan Elkind, a fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.

However, Trump's realignment with Russian President Vladimir Putin has forced European leaders to reckon with the system's long-term viability.

For the near future, including at CERA, Elkind expects European officials to continue to speak optimistically of the prospects for more US LNG.

But "at the back of their mind... it's pretty hard to tell whether Donald Trump is friend or foe and that's a shocking thing to say after 70 years of a close alliance," Elkind said.