It's hard to believe the current administration has only been in office for 21 days; so much has happened that it's difficult to keep up. President Trump's actions on the energy sector in particular are hopeful, and now Congress is on the field. On Friday, a bill barring future presidents from unilaterally banning hydraulic fracturing (fracking) passed the House of Representatives. Sixteen Democrats joined the Republican majority in this 226-188 vote. The bill moves now to the Senate.
Sixteen Democrats joined all Republicans in voting for the Protecting American Energy Production Act, which will block future bans on hydraulic fracking without congressional approval, if enacted.
“When President Biden took office, his administration took a 'whole of government' approach to wage war on American energy production, pandering to woke environmental extremists and crippling this thriving industry,” the bill’s sponsor, Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, said on X following the vote. “My legislation that passed today is a necessary first step in reversing Biden’s war on energy.”
Former president Joe Biden enacted several regulations against oil drilling and restricted liquified natural gas (LNG) exports during his term, prompting several lawsuits.
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump declared a national energy emergency and called for the “unleashing” of American energy. His now-confirmed pick for Energy secretary, Chris Wright, is the founder of fracking company Liberty Energy.
President Trump has, from the campaign and on into his second term, vowed to make America energy-independent again, and fracking as an extraction technology is vital to that end, but he won't be president forever.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) had this to say about the bill:
“Today’s passage of the Protecting American Energy Production Act helps restore American energy dominance and protects the jobs of hardworking men and women,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson.
“This bill ensures fracking will remain an essential tool in our nation’s energy production, allowing us to harness regions like the Permian Basin rather than turning to foreign adversaries for our energy needs, and helping to fully unleash America’s energy potential,” he added.
This is how you do it. President Trump, to enact many, if not most, of his policy proposals, will need Congressional action; it looks like that's starting to roll ahead. When President Biden (remember him?) left office, several of his last-minute actions were attempts to stamp down on the production of American energy; the Trump administration is now rolling those actions back.
See Related: NEW: Trump Taps Fracking Exec As Next Energy Secretary
Hydraulic fracturing, we should note, isn't a new technology. An 1865 patent was issued to a Civil War veteran, Edward A.L. Roberts, for an "exploding torpedo" to be used to increase the amount of extractable oil and gas from wells. The first hydraulic fracturing tests were conducted in Kansas in 1947, with the first commercial uses of hydraulic fracturing taking place in Oklahoma and Texas in 1949. Since then the process has been applied over a million times in both oil and gas wells. Fracking allows companies to extract oil and (especially) gas from places where it would otherwise not be economically viable to do so.
America's energy sector is rolling again.
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