During his first week in office, President Donald Trump issued several executive orders reshaping U.S. energy policy, reversing measures from the previous administration. Key actions included halting permits for new onshore and offshore wind developments, resuming oil drilling leases in the Arctic and large areas of the U.S. coastline, and declaring a national energy emergency, granting the president special executive powers to influence the energy sector.
Aaron Cirksena, founder and CEO of financial consulting firm MDRN Capital, provided insight into how these changes might affect consumers. Speaking with Straight Arrow News, Cirksena suggested the rollback of renewable energy policies and emphasis on domestic oil and gas production could lead to lower energy costs for Americans.
“In all likelihood, with Trump’s mandates coming in, hopefully, energy prices are going to be reduced,” Cirksena said. “We should see a gradual decrease in things like prices at the pump. The more reliant that we can be on our own energy sources it’s just going to long-term cause our prices to go down because we become far less reliant on foreign oil.”
The administration’s shift toward prioritizing fossil fuels, Cirksena forecasted, could result in lower power bills than those associated with renewable energy. He emphasized that Trump’s actions do not constitute a subsidy for oil and gas companies, but rather amount to a lifting of restrictions on the industry to encourage domestic production.
“This is hopefully going to lower the overall energy prices that we pay in the country,” Cirksena said. “It’s going to produce lower overall prices, comparative to what renewable energy sources like wind energy, are going to be able to provide.”
Despite the focus on fossil fuels, Cirksena said he does not see this policy shift as an end for the renewable energy sector. Instead, he said he believed it will provide clean energy developers with more time to improve the intermittent nature of most green technology without relying on federal funding, prior to its eventual more widespread implementation in the future.
“It’s going to give the renewable energy sector more time to get more private investment to improve their technologies,” Cirksena said. “Eventually, over a period of decades, we are going to have to transition more to sustainable renewable energy sources. It’s just right now that isn’t the case.”