Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke says President Trump’s approach to energy policy will put the U.S. on a path toward energy independence and help advance the nation’s interests across the globe.
Mr. Zinke said the Trump administration is adopting an “all of the above” energy policy and is not interested in picking winners and losers.
“Producing energy domestically and reasonable regulation is far better than watching it being produced overseas with no regulation,” Mr. Zinke said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Mr. Trump is scheduled to issue an order Tuesday that rolls back regulations that the Environment Protection Agency adopted under President Obama — a move that is being panned by Democrats and environmentalists and well-received by Republicans and the energy industry.
“If we do have energy here produced, I will tell you it makes us a lot stronger overseas, and strategically as well,” Mr. Zinke said. “Look at Russia. Russia is in the news everyday. So how to do you combat Russia? Economically. We export liquid natural gas to eastern Europe. We replace a lot of what they are providing to eastern Europe.”
He also said increasing domestic energy production and exports could also put economic pressure on Iran.
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• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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