Alex Mills
By Alex Mills
Less than 50 days remain before Americans decide between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton for President.
When it comes to each candidate’s energy policy, there are plenty of differences.
Trump wants to make the U.S. energy independent.
Harold Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources in Oklahoma City, advises Trump regarding energy policy. Hamm also served as energy advisor to Mitt Romney during his Presidential campaign four years ago, and he led the successful charge to lift the ban on crude oil exports last year.
Trump has talked about America’s “Energy Renaissance”, and the many regulatory roadblocks to energy independence that have been set up by the Obama administration since 2008.
When U.S. oil production peaked at 9.7 million barrels per day in April 2015, the nation was within 5 million barrels per day of being entirely self-sufficient in crude oil. Oil production has declined to 8.9 million barrels per day in April 2016 because of low prices, a decline in activity, and burdensome regulation.
At the height of the renaissance, employment in the petroleum industry was rising at a record pace. Net imports of petroleum liquids fell to 25 percent of U.S. consumption; Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facilities that were originally designed to import LNG have been retrofitted to export LNG because America now produces excess natural gas, resulting in a nationwide oversupply.
Trump believes each barrel of oil produced in the U.S. creates jobs, pays taxes, builds the economy, and replaces another barrel of oil that must be imported.
Domestic oil production enhances national security, he said.
He points out that building a strong domestic energy industry would “make America great again.”
Clinton hasn’t talked much about energy, but has said she supports increasing wind and solar power through policies restricting the usage and production of fossil fuels. She emphasizes the importance of expanding the implementation of exotic energy sources, and wants to have 500 million solar panels installed by 2025.
Clinton believes America can and should reduce greenhouse gases by reducing its consumption of coal and oil, but has also acknowledged that natural gas should be a “bridge fuel” to facilitate increased use of wind and solar.
She stated during a town hall meeting that she’s “going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”
The Democratic Nation Committee has formally adopted a proposal calling for an America “run entirely on clean energy by mid-century.”
Regarding oil and gas drilling in the U.S., Clinton said in a March debate that if elected president, she “[does] not think there will be many places in America where fracking will continue to take place.”
Alex Mills is President of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers. The opinions expressed are solely of the author.
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