Trump touts TX energy permits while attacking Dems

President Donald Trump visited a fracking hub on the West Texas plains on Wednesday to sign four critical permits granting approval to vital pipeline and railway infrastructure on the nation's border.  My administration is announcing today that export authorizations for American liquefied natural gas can now be extended through the year 2050," said Trump.

"This will include two permits allowing the export of Texas crude to Mexico, a giant victory for the workers of this state that you've been after for many years." The president went on to say electing Democrats would take their energy jobs away. "While, my administration is fighting for workers like you. The radical left. Have you ever heard of the radical left,You don't want to hear about them," said Trump.

"You don't want to know about them. Is fighting to abolish American energy, destroy the oil and gas industries and wipe out your jobs." Even as Air Force One carried Trump to Texas on Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported U.S. petroleum use plummeted to a nearly 40-year low this spring, owing to the pandemic lockdown and to market oversupply due in part to intensive oil and gas production that Trump encouraged.

Oil and gas prices and production have picked up somewhat since, but it's still a tough time in U.S. oilfields. Trump’s government has exerted itself for the oil and gas industry at least as hard it has for any other sector. That includes rolling back environmental and public health protections while promoting a technology-driven surge in U.S. oil and gas production - begun under President Barack Obama - as part of what Trump describes as an American march to global energy dominance.

His administration has moved to open up vast wilderness areas to oil and gas interests over the objections of environmental groups. Trump also has sought to override various regional objections to oil and gas pipelines with executive orders. And next month, the administration is expected to announce its latest effort to block regulation of the industry’s emissions of methane, a potent agent of climate change.

West Texas environmental activists say the methane emissions are part of a too-little-regulated industry’s assault on the air, water and public health in the region’s yearslong expansion of oil and gas production. Successful legal challenges stopped the administration's earlier attempts. Trump is also combining some fundraising with his first trip to an oil and gas rig and to his first visit as president to the Permian Basin. He'll pull in up to $100,000 per person at a roundtable with supporters. He is expected to raise about $7 million.