Trump approves a pipeline to Mexico ‘that’ll go right under the wall’
‘Golden era of American energy is now underway,’ U.S. president said in speech
WASHINGTON— U.S. President Donald Trump wants to build that wall, and then he wants to dig a pipeline right under it.
Trump said in a speech at the Department of Energy that his administration has approved construction of a new oil pipeline to Mexico. The announcement Thursday came as part of a broader unveiling of White House plans to expand oil drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans to push for U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market.
“That’ll go right under the wall,” Trump said to laughter at one point, making a hand motion to mime the pipeline’s path under the barrier.
“Have it go down a little deeper in that one section, you know. A little, like this,” he said. “Right under the wall.”
The Department of the Interior is rewriting a five-year drilling plan established by the Obama administration, with an eye toward opening areas in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans that now are off limits to drilling. It’s one of six initiatives the president unveiled Thursday in hopes of generating more energy exports and jobs.
“The golden era of American energy is now underway,” Trump said in the speech.
“And I’ll go a step further: The golden era of America is now underway, believe me. And you’re all going to be a part of it in creating this exciting new future.”
U.S. oil production has boomed in recent years, and exports of oil and natural gas are surging, primarily because of improved drilling tech- niques such as fracking that have opened up production in previously out-of-reach areas.
Trump has pledged to ramp up production further, withdrawing from the Paris climate change agreement because of the limitations that it could have placed on the burning of fossil fuels.
While Trump has promised that the initiative will create millions of jobs, the energy sector employs fewer workers than it did a decade ago despite the recent boom.
The Department of Labor said there are 655,300 jobs in mining coal and extracting oil and natural gas, down from a peak of 1.18 million jobs in 1981.
As the administration celebrated a self-proclaimed “energy week,” Trump said more steps are needed to “unleash” domestic reserves and remove government regulations that could prevent the U.S. from achieving global dominance in energy.
Trump and other officials say they are confident the country can pave the path toward energy dominance by exporting oil, gas and coal to markets around the world, and promoting nuclear energy and even renewables such as wind and solar power.