President Donald Trump made a series of promises to expand domestic energy production in his inaugural speech Monday as he vowed to undo the Biden administration’s policies.
Speaking from the U.S. Capitol after his swearing-in ceremony, Trump promised to usher in a “golden age” for the country as he announced sweeping changes to domestic energy policy.
“We will drill, baby, drill,” Trump said. He outlined a series of executive moves he plans to make on the first day of his administration, including the declaration of a national energy emergency, moving to undo the Biden administration’s electric vehicle policies and setting up a so-called Department of Government Efficiency that’s aimed at downsizing the federal government.
“We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it,” Trump said. “With my actions today, we will end the Green New Deal, and we will revoke the electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto industry and keeping my sacred pledge to our great American autoworkers.”
The Trump team earlier Monday previewed a series of executive orders the president planned to sign after his inauguration, including moves to declare an energy emergency, an order aimed at “unleashing American energy” and an order focused on boosting energy production in Alaska.
Trump also plans to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” he said Monday, and to restore the name of Mount McKinley in Alaska. President Barack Obama changed the mountain’s name to Denali, the name given to it by Alaska Native people.
The Trump White House on Monday announced a series of energy and environmental priorities, including reviewing “all regulations that impose undue burdens on energy production and use.”
Trump will “empower consumer choice in vehicles, showerheads, toilets, washing machines, lightbulbs and dishwashers,” the White House said, signaling revisions to Biden-era regulations.
The administration will “end leasing to massive wind farms that degrade our natural landscapes and fail to serve American energy consumers,” the White House announced after Trump repeatedly derided wind turbines as unsightly on the campaign trail.
Trump “will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord,” the White House said, following through on his pledges to do so after Trump withdrew from the agreement in his first term and the Biden administration rejoined the international accord.
‘Drain the swamp’
After promising to overhaul the federal government, the White House on Monday said plans to “drain the swamp” would be among the administration’s top priorities.
Trump will “freeze bureaucrat hiring except in essential areas to end the onslaught of useless and overpaid DEI activists buried into the federal workforce,” the White House said, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Trump “will pause burdensome and radical regulations not yet in effect that Biden announced,” the White House said.
“The President will also return federal workers to work,” the White House said Monday.
