Interior Secretary Doug Burgum made it clear to oil, gas, and mining executives this week that the Trump administration stands behind them, reports CNBC.
"I'm going to share two words that I do not think that you have heard from a federal official in the Biden administration during the last four years, and those two words are: thank you," Burgum, who previously served as governor of North Dakota, a state that produces 1.2 million barrels of oil per day, told a crowd at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston Wednesday.
"If we're going to 'drill, baby, drill,' then we've got to be asked to also mine, baby, mine."
Burgum also said he views companies developing resources on federal lands as "customers" who are contributing revenue to the national "balance sheet."
"If someone was sending me revenue, they weren't the enemy. They were the customer," Burgum said.
He also said he believes the Trump administration can unwind between 20% and 30% of the country's regulations and estimated that doing so could sharply cut the cost of producing oil.
President Donald Trump's plan to unleash American energy started on his first day in office when he began dismantling his predecessor's climate change and renewable energy policies, declaring a national energy emergency to speed up fossil fuel development — a policy he has summed up as "drill, baby, drill."
The declaration calls on the federal government to make it easier for companies to build oil and gas projects, in part by weakening environmental reviews, with the goal of lowering prices and selling to international markets.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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