Dan Kish, senior vice president of policy at the Institute for Energy Research, says it only makes sense.
"Under the Biden administration, there was literally … an assault in every aspect – timber, mining, oil, and gas," says Kish. "There's an area called the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, which is the size of Indiana. The local indigenous people support drilling, and [Biden] stopped drilling there."
In addition to drilling, Governor Mike Dunleavy (R-Alaska) wants the Trump administration to reverse restrictions on logging and road-building in other areas of the resource-rich state. Kish says he is essentially asking for Alaskan children to have a chance for jobs and opportunities in the future to contribute to the economic wealth of the United States.
Environmental groups will frown on more oil and gas development, the argument being that it is harmful to wildlife and the overall environment. As for concerns about running out of the traditional energy sources needed to run the U.S. economy, Kish asserts there is plenty.
"We have centuries of oil and coal and gas right under our own feet … and we have the expertise and the know-how, the technology to be able to do it cleanly and to benefit not only ourselves, but our allies and other people around the world," he says. "We ought to be taking advantage of that."
"Thank God for these gifts that He's given us," Kish adds.
