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Interior Secretary Doug Burgum heard viewpoints that differed from his opposition to renewable energy. | Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images |
| By Benjamin Storrow, Shelby Webb and Charlie Cooper, Politico Surge
HARD SELL IN HOUSTON: The G20 energy ministerial in Houston this week is displaying a schism in the global gas market: The Trump administration is using the conference as a sales pitch for exporting more fuel, while European and Asian countries are emphasizing alternatives. “The whole point around the United States achieving energy abundance or energy dominance is to have the energy for prosperity at home and peace abroad,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Monday. “That means that we have enough energy to sell to our friends and allies around the world.” The world is indeed buying more American LNG than ever. But countries are also looking for alternatives, as officials in Houston made clear. The European Union’s ambassador to the United States, Jovita Neliupšienė, touted regulations aimed at streamlining the construction of renewable projects. Japan’s representative, Takeshi Sekiya, put it even more succinctly. “We are promoting the green transformation policy,” Sekiya, the vice minister for global environmental affairs, said Monday. The goal, he said, is to achieve a “stable supply of energy, economic growth, and environmental outcomes.” The gulf between the U.S. and its allies already existed due to differences over climate policy. That was punctuated by the Trump administration’s high-profile rollback Monday of a climate rule that sought to reduce carbon emissions from coal and gas plants. It also reflects geology. The U.S. is awash in gas, while Europe and some Asian countries like Japan and South Korea have little of their own. That gap has grown since the U.S. attacked Iran in February, leaving 20% of global LNG supplies bottled up in the Persian Gulf. ____________________________________________________ |
