Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Joining us now, as you can see if you're with
Speaker 2: us on Bloomberg TV, is the Secretary of the Interior.
Speaker 2: Doug Bergam, mister Secretary. Great to have you with us
Speaker 2: here on Bloomberg TV and radio. I'd like to zero
Speaker 2: win on the President's speech with you from your vantage point,
Speaker 2: record length and a lot to talk about. What did
Speaker 2: he propose for the year ahead that's important to your agency.
Speaker 1: Well, let's just start at the top line. This is
Speaker 1: incredibly courageous, forward looking talk and celebrating our two hundred
Speaker 1: and fiftieth anniversary as a country, going literally back to
Speaker 1: our founding. And then tonight who would have known when
Speaker 1: you're coming to hear the speech, you're going to get
Speaker 1: an opportunity to be present for the Medal of Honor
Speaker 1: being delivered twice, one for heroics from a warrior from
Speaker 1: World War Two and Korea War who's one hundred years old,
Speaker 1: and then someone who just weeks ago was courageously led
Speaker 1: the charges one of our helicopter prit's when they were
Speaker 1: arresting Maduro. So it spanned the whole two hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty years. But again I would just say it. Two takeaways.
Speaker 1: Peace around the world, prosperity for Americans, af affordability. President
Speaker 1: Trump's policies turning this country around in the last twelve months.
Speaker 2: A lot of focus on energy, as we expected this evening,
Speaker 2: as he reminded, drill, Baby, Drill, but also talked about
Speaker 2: what he would like to see the ability of the
Speaker 2: big tech companies, the hyper scalers having the opportunity to
Speaker 2: bring in their own power plants to put aside their
Speaker 2: data centers essentially off the grid. Is that something that
Speaker 2: the Interior Department is in the process of unlocking.
Speaker 1: Well, absolutely, through the National Energy Dominance Council that runs
Speaker 1: out of the White House. That President Trump has asked
Speaker 1: Secretary of Chris Wright and I to lead Secretary of Energy.
Speaker 1: We're working hard to make sure that we can do this,
Speaker 1: have this behind the meter capability byop bringing your own
Speaker 1: power because we need power. This is about energy addition.
Speaker 1: There is no energy transition. President Trump understands that we've
Speaker 1: got to have energy abundance. We've got to be able
Speaker 1: to sell owners need to our friends and allies, including
Speaker 1: those that have been dependent on our adversaries. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you're getting energy from Iran or Russia, and they're
Speaker 1: funding terrorism or wars. I mean, we can stop wars
Speaker 1: and stop terrorism by having energy abundance from the US,
Speaker 1: but enough abundance that we can keep prices for energy
Speaker 1: here at home low even with the demand increase, so
Speaker 1: that we can win the AI arms race against China,
Speaker 1: which part of that race is who can generate the
Speaker 1: most electricity, because this is the first time in history
Speaker 1: you can take a killo loot of electricity and turn
Speaker 1: it into intelligence. President Trump understands that his policy is
Speaker 1: going to work for both winning the aarms race and
Speaker 1: for keeping electricity affordable for Americans.
Speaker 2: Wait, there's so much there. Do you worry about some
Speaker 2: of the concern that people have expressed about data centers,
Speaker 2: the nimby concerns, the worry about their electricity bills rising.
Speaker 2: Is this plan the way around that?
Speaker 1: Absolutely, because if it's off the grid, it's not putting
Speaker 1: any burden on the grid itself, and it's not putting
Speaker 1: any pressure on rate pairs. Matter of fact, in North Dkota,
Speaker 1: when I was still a governor, they are just fifteen
Speaker 1: months ago we were completing a one point two billion
Speaker 1: dollar data center, and the electricity rates were going to
Speaker 1: go down for all the people, and then that are
Speaker 1: because you're spreading the cost across a big industrial buyer
Speaker 1: in a rural area. So there are ways where you
Speaker 1: can add capability add a big power user like that.
Speaker 1: If you do it in the right way, it actually
Speaker 1: brings power down. So it's only people that would be
Speaker 1: opposed to for other reasons, including the climate extremists, would
Speaker 1: come up with a story that says that the artificial
Speaker 1: intelligence is going to raise your rates automatically. That's only
Speaker 1: with the wrong policies. With the right policies, they'll stay
Speaker 1: the same or go down.
Speaker 2: Really interesting. The audience is deeply concerned about the future
Speaker 2: of that AI race, what it means for this country.
Speaker 2: The President said a bit about that evening, but clearly
Speaker 2: it's one of many priorities that he's pursuing in this
Speaker 2: new year. What's the most important way to win that
Speaker 2: AI race? Even as the markets start to question some
Speaker 2: of the spending that we're seeing from these massive companies,
Speaker 2: they're the size of countries, mister Secretary.
Speaker 1: Yes, well, but again, this is a recovery new territory
Speaker 1: and we're going to see incredible capital flows around the world,
Speaker 1: and those capital flows, record capital flows are going to
Speaker 1: go to places that have ample, affordable, reliable and secure power.
Speaker 1: And that's going to be countries, and it's going to
Speaker 1: be states within those countries. Within Europe, it may be
Speaker 1: certain countries as opposed to all of the EU. Secretary
Speaker 1: Chris Right and I today met with twenty one energy
Speaker 1: ministers from Central and Eastern Europe. Again, the race is on.
Speaker 1: People that have sensible energy policies that focus on affordable,
Speaker 1: reliable and secure energy are going to see a boom
Speaker 1: in investment going forward, because it's not just the data center,
Speaker 1: it's what follows that advanced manufacturer, the physical AI, because
Speaker 1: AI will be the greatest productivity increase that humanity has
Speaker 1: ever seen. It really is an extension of human capability,
Speaker 1: whether it's curing cancer, providing a tutor for every school
Speaker 1: kid in the world, or solving the most clipplex problems
Speaker 1: that we've ever faced. This is something that we need
Speaker 1: in America and the free world needs to make sure
Speaker 1: that we're competitive in this aarms race, and the way
Speaker 1: we do that is generate more power energy addition, there
Speaker 1: is no such thing as energy transition. If you're shutting
Speaker 1: down seven x twenty four, secure base load and adding
Speaker 1: intermit unreliable foreign sourced energy. That's energy fantasy. President Trump's
Speaker 1: focused on energy reality.
Speaker 2: You're not only the Interior secretary, but you're also a
Speaker 2: surrogate of the president. Typically, after the State of the Union,
Speaker 2: we see cabinet secretaries fan out across the country to
Speaker 2: hit home to deliver the message that the president began tonight.
Speaker 2: Do you have travel plans, what are the next weeks
Speaker 2: and months look like for you?
Speaker 1: Well? Absolutely, and of course all the cabinet sectors will
Speaker 1: tie it in with part of their job. So I'm
Speaker 1: going to be heading heading out to Western States where
Speaker 1: we have a large degree of federal land, a lot
Speaker 1: of intersection with those federal assets. What we like to
Speaker 1: say the Apartment of Materia has got the largest balance
Speaker 1: sheet in the world. Five hundred million acres of land,
Speaker 1: seven hundred million acres of subservice rich with minerals, three
Speaker 1: billion acres of offshore from American Samoa, the US Virgin Islands,
Speaker 1: Gulf of America, which represents a huge energy component mixed
Speaker 1: for our country. But yeah, we'll be spanning out delivering
Speaker 1: the message. And the message is one that's a forward
Speaker 1: looking prosperity. When you talk about the policies through your businessors,
Speaker 1: we're talking about cutting taxes, massively, cutting regulations. Record investment,
Speaker 1: incomes are up, inflation is down, interest rates are down,
Speaker 1: and affordability of housing is becoming more affordable. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is President Trump's right. We are entering a new
Speaker 1: golden age of abundance. This first year was an amazing
Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty degree turnaround. The next year going
Speaker 1: forward could be nothing short of an economic miracle.
Speaker 2: We'll be watching for you here in Washington on the
Speaker 2: campaign trail throughout the midterms. Mister Secretary, thanks for joining
Speaker 2: us once again on Bloomberg TJ Radio.
Speaker 1: Thank you for being here.