Trump appointees offer muscular support for energy.
The Trump administration is promising to slap a testosterone patch on the oil and gas industry to help it bend nature and the world to its will.
“How do we incentivize American energy dominance? And I choose my words carefully: dominance,” Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke declared. “There is a difference in energy independence, and there is a difference in energy dominance. We’re in a position to be dominant. And if we, as a country, want to have national security, and an economy that we all desperately need, then dominance is what America needs.”
Zinke is a convincing emissary for President Donald Trump’s macho approach to public policy. The former college football player spent nearly half of his address to the Offshore Technology Conference touting his background as a Navy SEAL commander. As a congressman, he voted consistently against applying new regulations to the
oil and gas industry.
Let’s give credit where credit is due, though. Trump introduced this new buzzword into the oil patch lexicon. Zinke is merely implementing Trump’s policy, which begins with reviewing the Department of Interior’s five-year plan for leasing offshore blocks to oil and natural gas companies.
Trump signed an executive order last week instructing Zinke to review the current five-year plan issued by the Obama administration. In a signing ceremony at OTC on Monday, Zinke ordered his deputy/acting assistant secretary for land and minerals management, Katharine MacGregor, to begin the review.
On Wednesday, MacGregor repeated the call to dominate, which by definition, requires someone or something else to submit.
“What is the task at hand? I think the secretary has been very clear, it’s energy dominance,” she said with a selfconscious chuckle. “It’s not energy independence. He’s focused on energy dominance. Both President Trump and Secretary Zinke have been clear on that goal.”
And, of course, that means drill, baby, drill.
“We cannot achieve energy dominance without a vibrant offshore energy economy,” she added. “We need to signal that new areas are open.”
All areas are on the table for drilling, she suggested, including the Atlantic Seaboard and the West Coast, two areas that are currently off limits.
MacGregor also stressed clearing the way for collecting more seismic data, which reveals what natural resources may lie below the seafloor. Environmental groups have opposed new seismic testing off the East and West coasts, arguing that it is unnecessary in areas off limits. Some groups also argue that the sound waves produced by the equipment hurt wildlife.
Zinke and MacGregor insist that we need to know what’s out there before the government rules out drilling for it. The politics will be tricky since many people along those coasts, especially in California, oppose anything that could move the industry a step closer to drilling in those waters.
“Clearly, the coastal governors will have different views about where they want to see offshore development,” MacGregor admitted, though she indicated that Zinke maybe looking to pick a fight with Democratic California Gov. Jerry Brown. “The secretary has had quite a few questions about California, and other areas that seem to come up every time you talk about a fiveyear plan.”
MacGregor asked offshore industry executives to do their part to support the review, since publishing a new five-year plan requires 255 days of public comment before it can take effect.
“It is so critical that we seize this opportunity right now, because when it comes to leasing and access, you are putting us on a path now for a more diverse future,” she added.
Zinke and MacGregor received enthusiastic applause from the industry audience, most of whom left the presentations with Cheshire cat grins.
But the Interior Department will almost certainly face significant pushback elsewhere in the country, and more than likely a flood of lawsuits from landowners and conservationists who want to keep drilling limited to the Gulf of Mexico.
That’s because many Americans will see this bid for energy dominance as an attempt to make them submit to the oil and gas industry. And they will not give up without a fight, even if a former Navy SEAL is on the other side.