By Timothy Gardner
HOUSTON (Reuters) -U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told a packed room of energy executives on Wednesday that he wants their industries to ramp up drilling and mining on America’s public lands, telling the crowd: “We love you!”.
Burgum’s comments to the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston underscored President Donald Trump’s agenda to unfetter fossil fuels and metals production by slashing as much red tape as possible.
“If we’re going to drill, baby, drill, then we’ve got to be asked to also mine, baby, mine,” he told the crowd.
U.S. oil and gas production struck record highs under the administration of former President Joe Biden, and it was unclear if energy companies are keen to ramp up investment with oil prices plumbing three-year lows.
Burgum 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.
He added that speeding up energy and mining project permitting would be a crucial focus of the administration’s National Energy Dominance Council, which he leads and which is responsible for coordinating government policies to maximize production.
Burgum said boosting U.S. electricity generation and transmission capacity is key to winning what he called the “AI arms race” with China.
Burgum added that he believes enforcing sanctions on Iran, which are designed to bring the OPEC member’s oil exports to zero, could end that country’s funding of “terror groups.”
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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