The Trump administration wants to unleash a golden age of energy production that prioritizes reliability, abundance, and safety. They argue more domestic development won’t imperil our clean air, water, and lands.
During four years of the Biden Administration’s climate-first policies, we ceded energy dominance to China and Russia, nations with terrible environmental footprints, in the name of climate change. But not anymore.
This Earth Day, the U.S. can demonstrate that harnessing more American-made energy won’t despoil the environment. Rather, it stands to improve it.
President Donald Trump and his National Energy Dominance Council want to “drill, baby, drill”—for more offshore oil and gas. It’s not only beneficial to the economy and our national security interests, but it bolsters the environment in part through a longstanding program called the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).
The LWCF is entirely funded by offshore oil and gas royalties at no cost to the taxpayers. $900 million in royalties annually goes to improving public lands and expanding outdoor recreational opportunities across the U.S. In 2020, President Trump signed the Great American Outdoors Act, the most seminal conservation bill in a century, into law to permanently fund LWCF so Americans could enjoy spaces like National Parks, trails, national forests, and historical and cultural sites. The Biden-Harris administration actively discouraged oil and gas production and approved the fewest offshore oil and gas leases in history, risking future LWCF funding. The Trump administration is expected to take the opposite approach and not deplete this essential program because of its inherent conservation benefits.
With respect to onshore oil and gas development, this same balanced approach of promoting both resource development and conservation of natural resources equally applies. The American Petroleum Institute (API) and its members have adopted a reasonable conservation framework to boost species and wildlife habitats. Many energy workers are also avowed hunters and anglers—dedicated conservationists who pay for the majority of conservation funding in the U.S. As a result, energy development and true conservation aren’t mutually exclusive.
Reliable clean energy sources like nuclear power are also being supercharged by the Trump administration. Despite accounting for only 20% of current U.S. electricity generation, nuclear power is the most reliable and environmentally friendly source available today. The good news is that an American nuclear renaissance is imminent. Thanks to innovation and technological improvements, today a 1,000-megawatt nuclear plant, for instance, produces near-zero emissions for 93% of the year and is the least land-intensive project, only requiring about a square mile of land. In contrast, utility-scale solar and wind projects—falsely billed as clean energy sources—require 75 and 360 times more land to produce the equivalent amount of energy for 25% and 35% of the year, respectively.
Contrary to popular belief, nuclear plants are secure, safe, and are laser focused on preventing any accidents that would spill nuclear waste, or spent fuel, into our waterways or air. Spent nuclear fuel, or nuclear fuel used in reactors, is safely stored and can be repurposed to fuel small nuclear plants like small modular reactors (SMRs) and microreactors.
The recently completed Plante Vogtle in Georgia, the largest constructed nuclear power plant project in decades, is actively involved in wildlife habitat restoration efforts surrounding its facilities. For example, their efforts have resulted in 1,000 acres of forest acres being conserved for various species. Georgia Power, the utility overseeing Plante Vogtle, has also worked in concert with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to bolster habitat for a growing and thriving gopher tortoise population on protected property adjacent to the plant. The same can’t be said for solar and wind projects.
The Trump administration’s goal to harness more clean coal isn’t in conflict with conservation efforts, either. American coal, the third largest source of U.S. electricity generation, is much cleaner than that produced by other countries. The Department of Energy notes new U.S. coal plants boast pollution controls that reduce “nitrogen oxides by 83%, sulfur dioxide by 98%, and particulate matter by 99.8% compared to plants without controls.” This oft-vilified source is also gaining newfound appreciation to help back up artificial intelligence (AI)- powered data centers.
Similarly, former coal sites also make great habitat for deer and elk. In spring 2019, I visited southwest Virginia to see how reclaimed coal fields are being repurposed for elk habitat. Elk have been reintroduced in my adopted home state, thanks, in part, to energy workers—including those in the coal industry.
Here’s an inconvenient truth for environmentalists: Harnessing more American-made energy isn’t at odds with conservation. The more we sustainably develop energy here at home, the better off society is.
Gabriella Hoffman is the director of Independent Women’s Center for Energy and Conservation and senior policy analyst at the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow. Follow her on X at @Gabby_Hoffman
