Energy independence key to national security, America’s future, new DOE Deputy Secretary says

PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Building energy independence will create jobs and secure America’s future, Deputy U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette says.

Brouillette, speaking at the Shale Insight 2017 conference in Pittsburgh, said the administration intends to create an energy-dominant America that doesn’t rely on foreign oil. He said natural gas supply and domestic production are increasing even as energy consumption in the United States is falling, in part because of gains in fuel efficiency.

“We are poised to become a ‘net energy’ exporter,” Brouillette told several hundred industry leaders at the conference. “We’re going to do that over the next decade, perhaps earlier … That spells not just energy independence, it spells energy dominance.”

It also espouses clean coal technology to revive the nation’s coal industry and reducing or eliminating “burdensome” government regulations as well as “responsible stewardship of the environment.”

Decades ago, Brouillette said U.S. leaders had lamented dwindling natural resources “(but) they forgot that people are our greatest resource of all, they forgot who created resources by applying ingenuity.”

“Human ingenuity created hydraulic fracking and horizontal drilling,” Brouillette said. “The rest is history.”

Hydraulic fracturing, used in so-called “unconventional” gas production, and horizontal drilling techniques have made it possible for the energy industry to extract oil and gas from shale rock formations far below the surface. DOE researchers contributed to that renaissance through development of polycrystalline diamond compact drill bits, which cut faster and last longer than other drill bits and can power through harder rock.

“DOE researchers solved that problem,” Brouillette noted, adding the administration has vowed to “review every regulation that burdens energy production” and also is lifting restrictions and repealing laws that have hampered coal development, such as the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule.

Brouillette said the United States needs to “get the right mix of energy resources onto the nation’s energy grid,” pointing out shale oil and gas “has been a game changer.”

Brouillette said the coal industry “needs to invest in technology allowing clean coal to flourish.” He also said the U.S. can’t ignore nuclear power, pointing out its both clean and reliable.

“We have to harness more, not less, of our resources,” Brouillette said.

“We’re in the midst of an historic energy revolution that is leading us to energy dominance … if we stay the course and embrace (the opportunities) we’ll surely achieve that dominance. It will benefit our security here at home and our allies abroad.”

Brouillette was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in August. As Deputy Secretary of Energy, Brouillette serves as DOE’s Chief Operating Office, directing a $30 billion annual budget and overseeing the work of nearly 100,000 federal and contractor employees. He previously had been Assistant Secretary of Energy for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs from 2001-2003 in the Bush administration. Private sector work included stints as senior vice president and head of public policy for USAA and with Ford.