Former President Donald Trump reportedly urged a group of oil executives to back his presidential campaign so he could get to the White House and reverse Biden administration policies curbing energy production during a meeting at Mar-a-Lago last month.
Trump urged the executives, which reportedly included representatives from Chevron, Continental Resources, Exxon, Cheniere Energy, and Venture Global, to boost his campaign with up to $1 billion in donations. During the Florida meeting, Trump blasted President Joe Biden’s energy regulations and push for wind power, saying a second Trump administration would focus on oil and gas.
According to the Washington Post, Trump told the execs that he would immediately stop Biden’s block on granting permits for new liquified natural gas exports. You’ll get it on the first day, Trump said of a move to reverse Biden’s freeze.
The former president also said he would auction off more leases for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, eliminate Biden’s ridiculous new pollution standards for combustion engine vehicles, shift away from wind energy, and reverse actions taken to decrease energy production in Alaska.
Last month, the Department of Interior enacted a new rule blocking the granting of any new leases for oil drilling or mining on 13 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Biden’s push for a green transition also resulted in the cancelation of the Keystone XL pipeline expansion.
Trump’s pitch to oil executives has been supported by North Dakota Republican Governor Doug Burgum, who discussed energy policy with potential Trump donors in Palm Beach on Saturday. Burgum is considered a possible vice presidential running mate of Trump.
What would be the No. 1 thing that President Trump could do on Day 1? It’s stop the hostile attack against all American energy, and I mean all, Burgum said. Whether it’s baseload electricity, whether it’s oil, whether it’s gas, whether it’s ethanol, there is an attack on liquid fuels.
Burgum, a former Republican presidential rival of Trump, tore into Biden over his administration’s environmental regulations on everyday products.
They’ve got some liberal idea about what products we need, Burgum said. You all need EV cars. You don’t need internal combustion. We’ll decide what kind of car you’re going to drive, and we’re going to regulate the other ones out of business. I mean, it’s just in every industry, not just in cars, not just in energy. They’re telling people what stoves you can buy. This is not America.
