Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday, President Donald Trump tied his loosening of energy restrictions with the greater goal of “[putting] the regulation industry… out of business.”
Building upon his victory over opponents of the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines, Trump told the audience that “we’re preparing bold action to lift the restrictions on American energy, including shale oil, natural gas, and beautiful, clean coal. And we’re going to put our miners back to work.”
“We have begun a historic program to reduce the regulations that are crushing our economy… and not only our economy—crushing our jobs because companies can’t hire,” he continued. “We’re going to put the regulation industry out of work and out of business.”
This comes as Trump attempts to deregulate not just the energy sector but also much of the federal government in general. In late January, he signed an executive order requiring agencies to cut two regulations for every new rule. Trump then repealed the coal-related Stream Protection Act last Thursday; meanwhile, proposals about the Clean Power Plan remain in the works. And right after Friday’s speech, the president signed an executive order requiring every agency to have a task force that would determine which regulations should be modified or removed within 90 days.
Opponents have previously argued that reducing energy regulations would harm the environment and put public health at risk.
When Trump repealed the Stream Protection Act, Deborah Murray, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, told Bloomberg News: “Leaders in Congress and the administration chose to put coal-mining profits over the health and safety of Appalachian communities. Limiting the toxic waste coal companies can dump in our rivers and streams is not a burdensome government regulation; it is common sense and, quite frankly, the job of our federal government.”
The president, however, doesn’t think that his approach is contradictory.
“By the way, I want regulation. I want to protect our environment. I want regulations for safety. I want all of the regulations that we need, and I want them to be so strong and so tough,” he said later in the speech. “But we don’t need 75 percent of the repetitive, horrible regulations that hurt companies, hurt jobs, make us non-competitive overseas with other companies from other countries.”
“That we don’t need,” Trump continued. “But we’re going to have regulation. It’s going to be really strong and really good. … We’re going to protect our environment, and we’re going to protect the safety of our people and our workers.”
