WASHINGTON — Reviving nuclear power, smoothing regulatory pathways for new coal projects, building a petroleum pipeline to Mexico and opening new offshore areas to oil and gas drilling are among the initiatives President Donald Trump introduced Thursday, the fourth day of what the White House called “Energy Week.”
“The golden era of American energy is now underway … and you’re all going to be a part of creating it,” Mr. Trump told industry executives, labor leaders and members of Congress, who convened to talk policy at the Department of Energy ahead of the president’s speech.
Among them was Consol CEO Nick Deluliis, who said he had time to talk privately with Energy Secretary Rick Perry and other cabinet secretaries. He said he drove home a message that the Pittsburgh region is at the center of the energy revolution the administration envisions.
“We were able to marry up what they’re seeing globally and nationally when it comes to policies and the opportunities they see and what they’re trying to do for middle class jobs, balance of trade and low-cost energy. We were able to match that up with what’s actually occurring within our industry of natural gas,” Mr. Deluliis said after the forum.
“There’s no doubt that Western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and northern West Virginia are the basin of the energy future,” he said.
The region is rich in coal and natural gas, both key parts of the president’s “all of the above” strategy aimed at achieving world energy dominance in order to reduce the influence of resource-rich foreign countries.
“We have a near limitless supply of energy,” Mr. Trump said Thursday. “Powered by new innovations in technology, we are now on the cusp of a true energy revolution.”
Traditional sources of fossil fuel are part of the energy portfolio the president envisions. He drew attention to a Corsa Coal Company’s recent opening of a new mine in Somerset County.
“We are putting the coal miners back to work, just like I promised,” he said, promising to relax environmental regulations to allow more development.
That worries the nonprofit National Resources Defense Council, which called the president’s plans disastrous.
“Trump’s dirty energy nightmare is a wake-up call for the country. He wants to retreat from millions of clean energy jobs, expose our oceans and coasts to the next BP-style disaster and turn our country into a national sacrifice zone to fuel prosperity abroad,” said Rhea Suh, the council’s president.
“We get the harm; foreign countries get the power; and big oil, gas and coal take the profits,” she said.
Mr. Trump on Thursday also announced new approvals allowing more liquid natural gas to be sold to South Korea.
Two U.S. producers — Alaska LNG and Lake Charles LNG in Louisiana — announced Wednesday and Thursday that they’ve signed memorandums of understanding with Korea Gas Corp. The agreements were made possible by conditional approvals already allowing limited exports.
The announcements coincided with a White House visit by South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
Washington Bureau chief Tracie Mauriello: tmauriello@post-gazette.com; 703-996-9229 or on Twitter @pgPoliTweets.
First Published: June 30, 2017, 4:00 a.m.