Trump Pushes His Fossil Fuel-Focused Energy Agenda in State of the Union Speech
In his State of the Union Speech, President Trump pushed fossil fuel extraction, a plan for developing critical minerals and an Alaska natural gas pipeline
U.S. President Donald Trump during a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, March 4, 2025.
Win McNamee/Getty Images/Bloomberg
CLIMATEWIRE | President Donald Trump lampooned Democratic efforts to fight climate change early and often during his joint address to Congress on Tuesday while vowing to rapidly ramp up fossil fuel and mineral production in the United States.
Trump delivered a speech celebrating the first few weeks of his second term, including declaring an energy emergency. Democrats — those who didn’t boycott the address — responded with derision to how the president has run the country since Jan. 20.
“I terminated the ridiculous Green New Scam, I withdrew from the unfair Paris climate accord, which was costing us trillions of dollars,” Trump said. “We ended all of Biden’s environmental restrictions that were making our country far less safe and totally unaffordable.”
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Even though Congress never enacted the Green New Deal, the president and Republicans use it as shorthand for Democratic actions against climate change. The GOP is in the process of rolling back broad swaths of former President Joe Biden’s environmental legacy.
Trump slammed the Biden administration for moving to limit oil and gas leasing, even though production remained high. He also appeared to blame the former president for the closure of coal-fired power plants.
“We have more liquid gold under our feet than any nation on Earth by far, and now I fully authorized the most talented team ever assembled to go and get it. It’s called: Drill, baby, drill,” Trump said.
Beyond well-worn rhetoric, the president said he would announce “historic action to dramatically expand production of critical minerals and rare earths here in the USA.” He did not provide details.
Trump, when talking about Ukraine, said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had written him a letter keeping a minerals deal between the two countries alive.
The president took credit for ending what he called the Biden administration’s “insane electric vehicle mandate, saving our autoworkers and companies from economic destruction.”
The former president didn’t enact an EV mandate as Republicans claim, but he did push rules that would promote the transportation sector’s electrification.
Trump touted a “gigantic” natural gas pipeline project in Alaska. The president was referring to a pending cross-state pipeline and liquefied natural gas export project that has been in the works for years, and he’s been pushing Asian countries to invest.
“Japan, South Korea and other nations want to be our partner with investments of trillions of dollars each,” Trump said.
Trump spoke about retaking the Panama Canal. And even though he said Greenland had the right of self determination, he reiterated his intention to take it over.
“I think we’re going to get it one way or the other,” said the president. “We’re going to get it.”
Democratic protests
Democrats hold protest signs U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 4, 2025.
Win McNamee/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Presidential speeches to joint sessions of Congress have become increasingly acrimonious and partisan. Republicans cheers were met with Democratic silence.
Several Democrats — like Senate Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Senate Environment and Public Works ranking member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) — skipped the speech.
Some invited guests were affected by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Trump praised Musk’s cost-cutting moves during his remarks. Democrats have called many of the billionaire’s actions illegal.
Democrats also held up signs of protest. Some read “False” and “Musk steals.” Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) held a sign behind Trump’s back as he walked into the chamber that read, “This is not normal.” Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas) grabbed it and tossed it in the air.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who invited a guest tied to the natural gas industry, had Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) removed for repeatedly interrupting the president.
“These people sitting right here, will not clap, will not stand and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements,” Trump said. “It’s very sad, and it just shouldn’t be this way.”
During the official Democratic response, Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin accused Republicans and the president of wanting to cut government to benefit billionaires.
“America wants change,” she said. “But there is a responsible way to make change and a reckless way.”
Slotkin said Trump’s tariffs would hurt consumers, including through higher energy prices. “Change doesn’t need to be chaotic,” she said.
Trump offered a strong defense of his tariffs so far and said he would soon enact more. He said they may cause “a little disturbance” that in the end would pay off.
“I was saved by God to make America great again,” the president said, referring to the assassination attempt against him last year.
This story also appears in Climatewire.
Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.