President Donald Trump said on Monday he will declare a national energy emergency aimed at boosting US oil and gas production, and lowering costs for US consumers.
The emergency declaration is just one of many actions Trump was expected to take on Monday and in the coming days to bolster the US oil, gas and power industries.
"America will be a manufacturing nation once again, and we have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have, the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we are going to use it," Trump said in his inauguration address in the US Capitol. "We will drill, baby, drill."
Biden came into the White House vowing to wean the U.S. off fossil fuels, but US oil and gas production hit record levels under his watch as drillers chased high prices in the wake of sanctions on Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Trump has said the US is in an artificial-intelligence arms race with China and others, making the industry’s voracious power needs a national priority.
US data center power demand could nearly triple in the next three years, and consume as much as 12 per cent of the country's electricity on demand from AI and other technologies, the Department of Energy projects.
The first Trump administration had considered using emergency powers under the Federal Power Act to attempt to carry out a pledge to rescue the coal industry, but never followed through.
This time, he could use emergency powers to ease environmental restrictions on power plants, speed up construction of new plants, ease permitting for transmission projects, and open up federal land for new data centers.
His White House said in a document that Trump's policies will, "end leasing to massive wind farms," and close the door on, "policies of climate extremism." It said he would withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement, a move Trump took in his first term.
"The common theme is really unleashing affordable and reliable American energy," a Trump official said earlier on Monday. "Because energy permeates every single part of our economy, it's also key to restoring our national security and exerting American energy dominance around the world."
Mike Sommers, the head of the American Petroleum Institute lobbying group, told reporters last week he would welcome Trump's executive orders on energy ad hopes that congress, where Trump's fellow Republicans have majorities, will pass laws to open up drilling.
Trump also said the US will, "fill our strategic reserves up again, right to the top" and export energy all over the world.
After the invasion of Ukraine, Biden sold more than 180 million barrels of crude oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a record amount. The sales helped keep gasoline prices in check, but sank the SPR to the lowest level in 40 years.
Trump had pledged in his first administration to fill the SPR in an effort to help domestic oil companies who were suffering from low demand during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pledge was not fulfilled.
Trump is also expected to sign another order aimed at utilising natural resources in Alaska.
Alaska has been a contentious area of the country when it comes to energy and the environment, with Republicans having long seen opportunities for oil and gas production there while Democrats have sought to preserve land.
The official said Trump would take, "decisive action to unleash Alaska's natural resource potential," citing an abundance of resources such as oil and gas, seafood, timber and critical minerals.
Many of the actions were expected and would fulfill promises Trump had made during his 2024 presidential campaign.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, David Lawder, Jarrett Renshaw, Timothy Gardner, Valerie Volcovici and Dan Burns; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Heather Timmons, Alistair Bell and Paul Simao)