Trump to declare ‘national energy emergency’ to open up resource extraction
President-elect Donald Trump plans to declare a “national energy emergency” that would give him authority to increase U.S. energy production, including opening up drilling in Alaska.
President-elect Donald Trump plans to declare a “national energy emergency” that would give him authority to increase U.S. energy production, including opening up drilling in Alaska.
Incoming White House officials said Monday that given the “resounding mandate” he had received in the wake of the election, Trump would seek to reorient U.S. energy production away from “parochial interests” of the past — an apparent reference to backing renewable resources — and toward “putting the American people first.”
The officials said the emergency declaration would enable Trump to “unlock a variety of different authorities” that would allow the U.S. to build up natural resources, including drilling in the Arctic ocean, something outgoing President Joe Biden had sought to block.
In addition to lowering energy costs, the executive order was also designed to improve national security, especially the development of advanced artificial intelligence — the computing for which requires enormous amounts of electricity.
The emergency declaration comes as the U.S. remains near historic heights of energy production, so much so that the country has been a net exporter of energy in recent years.
Rating: 5