Energy Emergency is a Farce

Dear Editor,

Declaring a 'National Energy Emergency', as President Trump did in the prior week, is an unprecedented move by a US president; unprecedented is a warranted term here as such a declaration has never happened before. Citing high fuel prices and a need to secure domestic energy production, that executive order gives President Trump broad powers to expedite projects related to 'energy', including fast-tracking or disregarding environmental review processes and increasing production of fuels.

From an environmental standpoint, this decision is a disgrace. Given that President Trump is known to be in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry (witness the dinner hosted last May, attended only by fossil fuel execs, when he pined for campaign donations from the industry), this can only mean expediting more methane and oil drilling, processing, transportation, and burning. Every step along that line will release more planet-warming emissions.

We are hardly in an energy emergency; the US is now historically the largest producer and exporter of 'natural gas' (methane), and we are clearly not slowing that production anytime soon. Larger, more efficient renewable projects are coming online almost monthly across the US, expanding our access to energy that doesn't require razing the land and polluting the sky. Unlocking the power to ignore environmental review and expand production for fossil fuels is clear cronyism at its finest, designed only to line President Trump and the oil major's pockets at the expense of US citizens.

Sincerely,

Nathan Dombeck

Janesville, WI