Trump woos oil, gas industry in Pittsburgh visit
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump promised more than 1,000 oil and gas professionals gathered Thursday in Pittsburgh that he would be the energy industry's ally as president by lifting regulatory restrictions, streamlining the permitting process and welcoming construction of more pipelines.
“Oh, you will like me so much. ... You are going to like Donald Trump. All of the workers that are being put to work, they are going to love Donald Trump,” he said at the Shale Insight conference at Downtown's David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
“Energy is central to my plan to make America wealthy again,” Trump said, claiming that his energy plan would boost the gross domestic product by $100 billion, create 500,000 jobs annually and generate trillions of dollars in new taxes over the next several decades.
Although Trump was speaking at a shale industry conference, he dedicated about a third of his half-hour speech to reacting to violent protests in Charlotte following the latest fatal police shooting of a black man.
“America desperately needs unity and the spirit of togetherness. ... We do have a wounded country right now,” Trump said in a reserved tone that he maintained throughout much of his speech.
When he spoke about energy, Trump didn't focus solely on oil and gas.
As he has throughout his campaign, Trump said he would fight for the coal industry and coal miners by rescinding a moratorium on new coal-mining leases on public land and conducting a “top-down review of all anti-coal regulations issued by the Obama administration.”
“Those policies are unfair to our people and our workers,” Trump said.
With regard to natural gas, Trump said he would support expanding drilling rights on federal land and offshore areas where it is restricted. He would not stand in the way of projects to develop “energy infrastructure that's needed to move our energy resources to the marketplaces,” including pipelines. Since 2012, he said, the federal government has rejected projects totaling $33 billion.
Trump also said he'd streamline the process for oil and gas companies to get projects moving forward and dramatically reduce regulations that he described as burdensome on the industry.
“If I'm president, they'll happen quickly. You'll be amazed how quickly,” Trump said.
Ironically, Trump's call for eased restrictions on drilling came in Pittsburgh — a city that adopted a fracking ban ordinance, the first of its kind in the nation, in 2010. Fracking does take place in surrounding Allegheny County and elsewhere in Western Pennsylvania, one of the most productive shale fields in the nation.
The easing of restrictions was welcomed by David Hill, president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association and his own exploration company, David R. Hill Inc. of Byesville, Ohio, which employs about 25 people.
Hill said he spends about 60 percent of his time dealing with regulatory concerns and 10 percent on geologic research that could help him determine where to drill his next well.
“Think if that was reversed,” Hill said.
Toby Mack, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based Energy Equipment & Infrastructure Alliance, said Trump's proposals wouldn't just benefit oil and gas companies.
“There's a vast supply chain that prospers when energy prospers,” Mack said, citing companies that make or sell construction equipment, pumps, generators and steel tanks, as well as steel fabrication firms.
In advance of Trump's speech, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a report estimating that the shale industry's impact on Pennsylvania's economy is “difficult to overstate.”
The expansion of the oil and gas industry gave the state's gross domestic product a $4.5 billion boost last year alone, and generated $2.3 billion in additional wages and 27,500 jobs tied directly to the industry, according to the report.
“The energy renaissance in this country would not have happened without Marcellus and Utica shale, and Pennsylvania is blessed to sit atop the lion's share of those resources,” said Gene Barr, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry.
The Chamber report does not refer to Trump or any of his energy policies, but it does cite two quotes by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton as “examples of the type of political rhetoric we continue to see from those who seek to turn back the clock to a time when domestic energy was less abundant, less reliable and more expensive.”
Clinton declined an invitation to speak at the conference, organizers said, but she has promoted the shale gas industry in the past.
While Clinton served as secretary of State, her special envoy for international energy affairs launched the Global Shale Gas Initiative to assist other countries in developing shale resources, noted campaign spokeswoman Jaclyn Rothenberg.
Foreign dignitaries have regularly visited Pennsylvania's shale operations to speak with regulators and industry officials.
“The United States will promote the use of shale gas. Now, I know that in some places is controversial. But natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel available for power generation today,” Clinton said in a 2009 speech to the Inter-American Development Bank.
Quoting Politifact, Rothenberg said after Clinton left the State Department, she continued to support fracking but repeatedly called for “smart regulations” in speeches and in her book.
Tom Fontaine is a staff writer for the Tribune-Review. Reach him at tfontaine@tribweb.com or 412-320-7847.
