Donald Trump’s campaign will lay out its energy policy agenda soon, after receiving the first round of formal advice from his recently appointed energy adviser, Rep. Kevin Cramer.
The North Dakota Republican sent Trump a four-page document Thursday that makes several recommendations on how to structure the presumptive presidential candidate’s energy policy.
A campaign spokesman told The New York Times Friday that Trump will being laying out his energy policy “soon,” but wouldn’t comment on specific policies he would be endorsing. Trump is scheduled to address the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in Bismark, N.D., on Thursday.
Trump has been vague on the specifics of his energy and environmental policies, outside of general statements about having problems with climate change and saying he would renegotiate the Paris climate deal.
Cramer, a self-described climate skeptic, discussed his recommendations in interviews with Bloomberg News and the Times. The recommendations include everything from creating a commission to defend shale U.S. energy producers from Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ market manipulation practices, to repealing President Obama’s climate regulations, and increasing coal, oil and natural gas production.
He said energy security was his highest priority in making his recommendations to Trump. “I think the national-security angle is really the richest,” Cramer told Bloomberg. “We can use the peaceful tools of energy development against the bad guys,” alluding to the use of U.S. oil and gas exports as a national security tactic.
The OPEC commission would “send a clear message to the competitors that we’re watching, and we hope everybody plays good in the sandbox,” Cramer said. On the domestic side, he wants states to have control of fracking regulation by repealing recently imposed Environmental Protection Agency rules for controlling methane as part of the president’s climate policy.
“Let’s start with a states-first regulatory regime, roll back a lot of the federal regulations,” said Cramer, whose home state is a major energy producer through fracking. “Let states handle methane and fracking.” He is also recommending to repeal the EPA’s contentious Waters of the United States rule, which extends federal enforcement powers over private land owners.
He also is advising Trump to phase out EPA’s renewable fuel program, which was recently updated this week.
“I think the whole thing should be allowed to expire because the market has been created,” he said.
Cramer also wants Trump to let a key subsidy for wind energy projects expire.
“Free markets are free markets and they help keep the price down for consumers.”
Cramer told the New York Times that the paper supports an “all-of-the-above, America-first energy message.” He said, however, that it’s important that energy policy not “punish coal” or other fossil fuels.
