Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, promised on Thursday, to roll back some of America’s most ambitious environmental policies, actions that he said would revive the ailing US oil and coal industries and bolster national security.
Trump addressed an audience of 7,7000 people at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in Bismarck, the capital of oil-rick North Dakota. It was Trump’s first speech detailing the energy policies he would advance if elected president. He received a loud applause from the crowd of oil executives.
The comments painted a stark contrast between the New York billionaire and his Democratic rivals for the White House, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, who advocate a sharp turn away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy technologies to combat climate change.
Trump slammed both rivals in his speech, saying their policies would kill jobs and force the United States “to be begging for oil again” from Middle East producers.
“It’s not going to happen. Not with me,” he said.
Trump’s comments drew quick criticism from environmental advocates, who called his proposals “frightening.”
But industry executives cheered the stance.
Trump hit Clinton hard in his speech, saying the former secretary of state would be more aggressive than Obama on regulations. He repeated several times Clinton’s March comments that her policies would put coal miners out of work.
“Hillary Clinton’s agenda is job destruction,” Trump said.
Until Thursday, Trump had been short on details of his energy policy. He has said he believes global warming is a hoax, that his administration would revive the US coal industry, and that he supports hydraulic fracturing – an environmentally controversial drilling technique that has triggered a boom in US production.
But in North Dakota, he seemed to speak with greater clarity. He said slashing regulation would help the United States achieve energy independence and reduce America’s reliance on Middle Eastern producers. “Imagine a world in which oil cartels will no longer use energy as a weapon,” he said.
Trump’s advisers, including US Representative Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, have said they suggested Trump examine the role of OPEC in the global oil price slump since 2014, which has contributed to the demise of a handful of smaller US oil companies. Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members have declined to cut production to support prices.
Earlier this month, he told Reuters in an interview that he would renegotiate “at a minimum” the UN global climate accord agreed by 195 countries in Paris last December, saying he viewed the deal as bad for US business.
He took that a step further in North Dakota. “We’re going to cancel the Paris climate agreement,” he said.
Trump also promised he would invite Canadian pipeline company TransCanada to reapply to build the Keystone XL pipeline into the United States, reversing a decision by Obama to block the project over environmental concerns.
Trump’s pledge briefly sent TransCanada’s shares 29 Canadian cents higher to C$54.13 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, but the stock quickly levelled back off and close up two Canadian cents at C$53.86.
“The pipeline will benefit American workers long term as the companies they work for have signed contracts to ship and refine oil through Keystone XL,” Millar said in an email.
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