Trump’s fossil fuel drive comes as war prompts energy security worries

{"text":[[{"start":8.113,"text":"US President Donald Trump has moved to accelerate fossil fuel development as pressure grows for further reforms in the oil and gas sector, with the Iran war prompting fresh questions about energy security around the world."}],[{"start":20.72,"text":"Since returning to the White House for his second term, Trump has used executive powers and legislation to speed up approvals for projects including oil and gas production, pipelines and exports."}],[{"start":32.08,"text":"At the same time, he has used his powers to halt or restrict offshore wind projects across the US, calling wind and solar the “scam of the century”."}],[{"start":43.13,"text":"Trump’s politicisation of US energy policy has been put in the spotlight as the conflict in the Middle East sends shockwaves through global energy markets, with the price of petrol and diesel hitting record highs."}],[{"start":53.92,"text":"With the AI build-out in America also threatening to dramatically increase consumer prices and strain scarce power resources, there are increasing calls in Washington to pass a bill that would overhaul the country’s costly and slow permitting system in order to build desperately needed energy infrastructure."}],[{"start":71.04,"text":"“The urgency [for reform] is very real in terms of the process being so fundamentally broken,” says Dustin Meyer at the American Petroleum Institute, a trade association that represents all aspects of the US oil and natural gas industry."}],[{"start":85.54,"text":"However, he warns: “I do think there is a broader recognition that next year’s Congress, the prospects of getting something done are much lower.”"}],[{"start":94.56,"text":"Before the US Senate recessed ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, leaders introduced a permitting bill called the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act to reform the process."}],[{"start":106.04,"text":"The bill seeks to protect against Washington disfavouring projects. It would also streamline a process that is beset by legal challenges that stall or block energy projects across the country, irrespective of whether they are fossil fuels or clean energy."}],[{"start":120.6,"text":"While there is consensus among Republicans and Democrats that reform needs to happen, the two political parties have struggled to reach a final deal despite two attempts in 2022 and 2024."}],[{"start":131.92,"text":"The bill aims to facilitate the construction of energy infrastructure needed to expand energy production from all sources, sustain the data centre boom and power the reshoring of industry. The bill advanced through the Senate on Monday but would need to go back for another vote. It would also need to pass through the House."}],[{"start":149.74,"text":"In the current climate, it can take years before critical infrastructure projects are approved, including pipelines and transmission lines."}],[{"start":157.5,"text":"“What you’ve seen for so many large infrastructure projects, the gauntlet of the permitting process and the inevitable litigation that has followed, it has really chilled investment,” Meyer says, explaining it can take several years before building starts on projects. “That’s really hard to deal with.”"}],[{"start":173.5,"text":"Tim Ryan, a former Democratic congressman in Ohio and co-chair of Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future, an industry group that promotes natural gas, says the affordability crisis in the US has raised the stakes for energy reform in the country."}],[{"start":188.12,"text":"“If you want to relieve some of the pressure of the economic squeeze right now at the gas pump or utility bill, this is the way to go,” says Ryan, who senses Democrats are becoming more pragmatic over fossil fuel production following Joe Biden’s administration."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":202.5,"text":"Ryan pointed to Democratic governor of Massachusetts Maura Healey, who this year called on the Trump administration to expand natural gas in the state, and Democratic governor of New Jersey Mikie Sherrill who is supporting an “all of the above” energy policy, which utilises a range of power sources, to expand electricity production."}],[{"start":220.66,"text":"While Washington is able to influence policy at a federal level, the states exercise tremendous control over their energy strategies."}],[{"start":228.1,"text":"Seth Blumsack, an energy professor at Penn State, says that historically, federal policy in the US tended to be reactionary, while state policies were far more proactive."}],[{"start":238.98,"text":"Blumsack points to California’s green energy push and Pennsylvania’s embrace of fracking in the early days of the shale revolution as examples of states embracing different policies. Texas is the country’s largest oil producer but also generates the most wind energy among the states."}],[{"start":254.74,"text":"“One of the great truths about US energy policy at the federal level is that more than anything else, it tends to respond to disaster,” says Blumsack. “At the state level, you do see examples of a much more proactive energy policy that can further other state policy goals.”"}],[{"start":270.1,"text":"Mark Finley, a non-resident fellow in energy and global oil at Rice University’s Baker Institute and former US economist for BP, says that America’s strength is in its “highly decentralised nature of policymaking,” adding: “It’s not just what happens in Washington that matters, it’s what happens in Austin or Sacramento or even at a more local level.”"}],[{"start":292.94,"text":"The Iran war has put the focus on energy security not only in the US but around the world, Finley says. The need to modernise the system in the US is an opportunity to break the cycle of partisan warfare that has hamstrung infrastructure development in America, he adds."}],[{"start":308.66,"text":"“Industry hates that you just get whipsawed every four years. It may be a politically winning strategy, but it’s not going to improve the investment climate.”"}],[{"start":321.66,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1794462633_6476.mp3"}