In his address to Congress tonight, President Donald Trump called for increasing mining, building a methane pipeline across Alaska, and defended Elon Musk’s firing of thousands of civil servants.
The Center for Western Priorities released the following response from Executive Director Jennifer Rokala:
“President Trump can’t balance the budget by firing the park rangers, veterans, scientists, and foresters who maintain our public lands. Members of Congress are cowering at home in their districts, afraid to face the constituents who are the victims of Elon Musk’s rampage, as a government shutdown looms in ten days. That’s the state of the union today, just six weeks into Donald Trump’s second term.
“Oil and gas production hit an all-time high under President Biden, and oil CEOs have made it clear they won’t increase production — they just want to pay less to taxpayers when they extract resources that are owned by the American people, while freely polluting our air and water. That’s why President Trump wouldn’t promise to lower energy prices for Americans tonight.
“Alaska has already wasted a billion dollars trying to build a methane pipeline that will trash America’s public lands, in hopes that foreign nations might want to buy something that is already being produced in record-breaking amounts in the Lower 48. Now President Trump wants to throw even more money away on this foolish endeavor. Shipping American methane overseas might be great news for oil and gas billionaires, but it’s a terrible idea for consumers and the planet.”