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Energy

GOP governors announce plan to ‘unleash American energy’

Published

1 year ago

5 minute read

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry

From The Center Square

By Bethany Blankley

“The reason that inflation is out of control is because of the federal government. If the federal government took its foot off of the neck of American energy, we could absolutely lower the cost of everyday goods.”

Republican governors on Monday announced a plan to “unleash American energy.” They also called on President Joe Biden to protect U.S. energy security after they say his administration has taken more than 200 actions against the oil and natural gas industry.

The governors unveiled their plan in front of a the PBF Energy Chalmette Refinery on the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, led by Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.

“American energy has done more than any other industry to lift more people out of poverty globally than any other industry that I’ve known of,” Landry said.

He said governors know the needs of Americans more than anyone else.

“What we hear from our constituents is that inflation is eating into the pockets of Americans. One of the greatest drivers of that inflation is energy,” Landry said. “The reason that inflation is out of control is because of the federal government. If the federal government took its foot off of the neck of American energy, we could absolutely lower the cost of everyday goods.”

The Louisiana governor listed actions the president took “attacking the industry” from his first day in office, including pausing new oil and gas leases, cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline, prioritizing foreign energy over domestic energy, and releasing agency “rules and regulations at a neck-breaking speed,” that hurt Americans’ pocket books and prioritize “government regulations over free market solutions.”

Joining Landry were governors Mike Dunleavy of Alaska, Brian Kemp of Georgia, Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, Doug Burgum of North Dakota, Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, and Glenn Youngkin of Virginia.

“Americans are paying 40% more every time they fill up their gas tanks and Republican governors believe one of the best ways to help Americans with all these rising costs is to support an ‘all-of-the-above’ approach to American energy production,” Stitt said, similar to those being implemented in Republican-led states.

“Oklahoma has some of the most affordable reliable energy in the entire country,” he said, because of its “all-of-the-above approach.” Oklahoma is the 6th-largest producer of crude oil and natural gas, the third-largest producer of wind-generated electricity, has among the lowest electricity prices for commercial and industrial consumers, and reduced its electricity generation carbon intensity by 61% over the last two decades, he said.

Stitt cited examples of the president’s “regulatory war on American energy,” including another new EPA emission rule over which 25 attorneys general sued.

“When you’re a governor, you’re working for everybody,” Burgum said, including Republicans, independents and Democrats. “Right now, we’ve got so many Americans that are struggling to put gas in their tank and food on the table.” The governors are “fighting for every American who’s having to pay more than they should,” he said, because of Biden administration policies under the guise of “a big lie that says, ‘if we do all this it’s going to be good for the environment.’”

The U.S. is producing roughly 13 million barrels of oil a day but could be producing “15, 16, 18, 20 million barrels a day,” he said. “That would be not just energy independence, that would be energy dominance. We’d be selling that to our allies instead of our allies having to buy from our enemies,” which is what happened, he said.

The governors are part of a 21-governor coalition who called on the president to pursue “an all-of-the-above energy approach that will promote homegrown energy” instead of pursuing policies that benefit China.

Their solutions include ending regulatory overreach that restricts domestic energy production, including reversing policies on the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines; increasing onshore and offshore lease sales for all forms of energy production, including in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska; expediting approval of federal drilling permits; removing the pause on LNG exports; reversing EPA rules; working with Congress to enact comprehensive permitting reform, among others.

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Published on October 26, 2025

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CAPP CEO warns that Canada’s energy advantage is slipping away through incrementalism and policy paralysis

The productivity fix starts with pragmatism

Lisa Baiton, President and CEO of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), told the B.C. Business Summit 2025 that Canada is in danger of squandering its global energy advantage through hesitation and half-measures. Representing the upstream oil, gas, and LNG producers that account for more than 20 percent of Canada’s total balance of trade, she said the sector directly employs 450,000 Canadians and supports more than 900,000 jobs nationwide.

“Our industry contributes over one-fifth of Canada’s entire balance of trade,” Baiton said. “Yet we’re operating in a global environment where state actors like Russia, China, and OPEC are weaponizing resources, controlling markets, and coercing trade. Even our closest ally, the United States, is reminding us that we can’t rely on a single customer.”

She argued that the world’s energy order is shifting in ways Canada has been slow to recognize. “Institutional investors are now talking less about energy transition and more about energy addition,” she said, citing Blackrock’s Larry Fink. “Global energy demand is rising across the north and south — and with the AI revolution driving new consumption — we’re going to need all forms of energy for decades to come.”

Baiton said that despite encouraging words from Ottawa about the importance of natural resources, policy still lags reality. “We have a prime minister who recognizes the role of oil and gas in national security and Indigenous reconciliation, but words alone don’t attract capital. Without a clear policy reset, Canada will miss the investment window.”

Incrementalism will be the death of us

Baiton’s warning was blunt: Canada’s productivity crisis and its policy gridlock are converging into a national risk. “We’ve woken up to the threats, but we’re falling back into our usual Canadianism — plodding along,” she said. “This window of opportunity won’t stay open long, and incrementalism will be the death of Canada.”

She said a “pragmatic policy reset” is required, one that reflects the resources Canada actually has and moves with speed. “Supernaturalism will be our death,” she said. “We have to get out of our own way.”

Baiton called for an overhaul of policies built during a previous decade aimed at making oil and gas “existential.” Canada, she said, now has a government that understands “you can’t have national security without energy security,” and that the resource sector is key to funding the military and rebuilding economic strength.

Oil and gas: Canada’s fastest path to growth

She pointed out that Canada ranks last among OECD nations in growth and competitiveness, and said oil and gas is “the only sector that can be leveraged fast enough” to reverse that trajectory. The industry, she added, is already a national leader in Indigenous partnerships.  It’s the largest employer of Indigenous peoples, the largest user of Indigenous supply chains, and a growing field for Indigenous private equity ownership.

But without a policy reset, Baiton said, that progress will stall. “We need to take on key policies like the proposed emissions cap, which is already scaring investors, and fix permitting timelines that run nine to sixteen years. In Germany, it took three years to build three LNG import terminals. In Canada, one project can take 21 years from discovery to dollar.”

The message from Baiton was clear: Canada must rediscover the discipline to build, not just talk about building. The productivity fix starts with speed, pragmatism, and confidence in Canada’s own energy advantage.

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Trans Mountain executive says it’s time to fix the system, expand access, and think like a nation builder

Published on October 26, 2025

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Mike Davies calls for ambition and reform to build a stronger Canada

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A year after the Trans Mountain Expansion Project came into service, Mike Davies, Senior Director of Marine Development at Trans Mountain, told the B.C. Business Summit 2025 that the project’s success should mark the beginning of a new national mindset — one defined by ambition, reform, and nation building.

“It took fifteen years to get this version of the project built,” Davies said. “During that time, Canadian producers lost about $50 billion in value because they were selling into a discounted market. We have some of the world’s largest reserves of oil and gas, but we can only trade with one other country. That’s unusual.”

With the expansion now in operation, that imbalance is shifting. “The differential on Canadian oil has narrowed by about $13 billion,” he said. “That’s value that used to be extracted by the United States and now stays in Canada — supporting healthcare, reconciliation, and energy transformation. About $5 billion of that is in royalties and taxes. It’s meaningful for us as a society.”

Davies rejected the notion that Trans Mountain was a public subsidy. “The federal government lent its balance sheet so that nation-building infrastructure could get built,” he said. “In our first full year of operation, we’ll return more than $1.3 billion to the federal government, rising toward $2 billion annually as cleanup work wraps up.”

At the Westridge Marine Terminal, shipments have increased from one tanker a week to nearly one a day, with more than half heading to Asia. “California remains an important market,” Davies said, “but diversification is finally happening — and it’s vital to our long-term prosperity.”

Fixing the system to move forward

Davies said this moment of success should prompt a broader rethinking of how Canada approaches resource development. “We’re positioned to take advantage of this moment,” he said. “Public attitudes are shifting. Canadians increasingly recognize that our natural resource advantages are a strength, not a liability. The question now is whether governments can seize it — and whether we’ll see that reflected in policy.”

He argued that governments have come to view regulation as a “free good,” without acknowledging its economic consequences. “Over the past decade, we’ve seen policy focus almost exclusively on environmental and reconciliation objectives,” he said. “Those are vital, but the public interest extends well beyond that — to include security, economic welfare, the rule of law, transparency, and democratic participation.”

Davies said good policy should not need to be bypassed to get projects built. “I applaud the creation of a Major Projects Office, but it’s a disgrace that we have to end run the system,” he said. “We need to fix it.”

He called for “deep, long-term reform” to restore scalability and investment confidence. “Linear infrastructure like pipelines requires billions in at-risk capital before a single certificate is issued,” he said. “Canada has a process for everything — we’re a responsible country — but it doesn’t scale for nation-building projects.”

Regulatory reform, he added, must go hand in hand with advancing economic reconciliation. “The challenge of our generation is shifting Indigenous communities from dependence to participation,” he said. “That means real ownership, partnership, and revenue opportunities.”

Davies urged renewed cooperation between Alberta and British Columbia, calling for “interprovincial harmony” on West Coast access. “I’d like to see Alberta see B.C. as part of its constituency,” he said. “And I’d like to see B.C. recognize the need for access.”

He summarized the path forward in plain terms: “We need to stem the exit of capital, create an environment that attracts investment, simplify approvals to one major process, and move decisions from the courts to clear legislation. If we do that, we can finally move from being a market hostage to being a competitor — and a nation builder.”

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