Donald Trump will emphasize getting rid of regulations in a major energy speech Thursday, while emphasizing fracking, coal and energy exports.
Trump previewed his energy policy at a press conference Thursday ahead of the speech.
“I think the federal government should get out of the way” when it comes to energy, the Republican presidential nominee told reporters.
“I want to be energy independent” and be able to sell the nation’s crude oil, gas and coal resources abroad, he said.
“We are sitting on energy you couldn’t believe,” he said.
He said the Obama administration’s regulations on coal are “out of control,” and that as president “all I can do is free up the coal.”
He said if the U.S. does what his Democratic rivals suggest, which is to ban fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, it would send the country straight “back into the Middle East.”
Fracking has been mostly responsible for the U.S. energy boom of the last decade that has vaulted the country to be the world’s biggest crude oil and natural gas producer.
Trump said he supports all types of energy, even solar. But there’s a problem with renewables, which is that most aren’t commercial “without subsidy,” he said.
“The problem with solar is it’s very expensive,” he said. “Wind is very expensive,” he said, adding that it also kills birds.
“Wind is killing hundreds and hundreds of eagles … killing by the hundreds.”
