Trump, Congress can advance American energy, says Western Energy Alliance

Western Energy Alliance today congratulated the newly re-elected president Donald J. Trump. The association of western oil and natural gas exploration and production companies also recognized Senator Steve Daines (MT) for his successful chairmanship of the National Republican Senate Committee flipping the U.S. Senate.

“Staring down the barrel of another four years of the hostile Biden/Harris Administration’s anti-oil-and gas policies, we faced election day knowing the Senate was all but guaranteed to provide some basic defense and opportunity,” said Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Alliance. “Waking up this morning and knowing that we’re going to return to the energy dominance agenda of the first Trump term improves our mood considerably. With the House still too close to call, we can also confirm the strategy of our Political Action Committee to reach out to moderate Democrats who support responsible energy development, many of whom won re-election or are still too close to call. We will be able to continue to work with the House constructively, whoever is in charge.”

“We’re looking forward to reversing many of the policies of the Biden/Harris Administration, particularly on federal lands. First and foremost is to overturn the misguided LNG export pause and help our allies lower greenhouse gas emissions in their electricity sectors as we have done in the United States with natural gas. That sounds like a day-one executive order, which would make a nice contrast to Biden’s Keystone XL cancelation order and send a strong message about the new direction,” added Sgamma. “Then Western Energy Alliance will be focused on overturning, with many other public lands stakeholders, the BLM conservation and leasing rules and other policies meant to stop oil and natural gas development on federal lands. We’ll also be working with EPA to fix the four interlocking methane rules that are in technical shambles. Our industry will continue its three-decade record of success reducing methane emissions through technological innovation, but the four ill-conceived and unworkable rules need to be fixed. Permitting reform will also be a priority, as both Democrats and Republicans recognize that NEPA has turned into a weapon for stopping necessary infrastructure and energy projects rather than being a means to protect the environment.”