WEBVTT - Interior Secretary Doug Burgum Talks Energy Plan 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:08.280 Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. We do want to 0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:12.799 stick with energy twenty eight Democratic California lawmakers writing a 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:16.520 letter to the Trump administration condemning plans to boost oil 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:20.360 drilling along the state's coastline. US Interior Secretary Doug Bergham 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:23.360 joins US now Secretary Burgram, thank you so much for 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:25.400 being with us. I want to start with just how 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:27.960 important it is right now for the United States to 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:31.440 increase energy supplies across the board, not just with drilling, 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:34.920 but across the board the face of the demand coming 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:35.360 from AI. 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:36.800 Well, good morning, Lisa. 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:39.839 Yes, it's absolutely essential, and this is part of the 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:45.400 just announced National Security Plan that the White House has released. 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:50.279 That Security plan mentions energy twenty three times. There's an 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:53.560 entire section about energy dominance, and folks should think about 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:56.720 energy dominance as the ability for the US to sell 0:00:56.840 --> 0:00:58.840 energy to our friends and allies so they don't have 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:01.520 to buy it from adversary. Is particularly those adversaries that 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:07.600 are either funding terrorism or are funding wars, actively funding 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:10.920 war machines, and so it's core to the strategy right now. 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:12.880 But it's also, as you've talked about on the show, 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:15.839 is about with AI because never before in a history 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:17.600 have we been able to convert a kill a lot 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:21.640 of electricity into intelligence. The demand for that, regardless of 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:25.520 stock prices or stock movements, the demand for AI for 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:28.840 intelligence applied to every job, every company, every industry is 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:32.080 going to continue to increase the demand for electricity around 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:35.720 the world. The US as an energy dominant country, now 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:39.480 the largest oil producer in the world, largest LNG exporter 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:43.200 in the world, and growing quickly with that strategy. It 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.200 bodes well for the future of the US, both in 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:48.160 terms of peace and in terms of prosperity. 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:51.000 Secretaire, I'm sure you're aware WTI is under sixty dollars 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:53.840 a barrel. What's the impetus for the oil and gas 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:56.800 companies in the United States to continue drilling wells at 0:01:56.800 --> 0:01:59.520 this price level, which potentially could be a loss for them. 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:02.160 Well, I think one thing that we know that in 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:07.360 Trump administration, we're cutting red tape so rapidly. We think that, 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:10.120 you know, one of the early targets we had was 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:12.799 cut ten percent of the cost away from those producers 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:15.760 just by cutting red tape. So if you think about, 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:18.920 you know, sixty bucks a day might be what sixty 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:24.200 seven bucks was a year ago because of our ability 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:25.480 to take cost out. 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:26.240 For those producers. 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:29.720 And there's example after example, whether it's from the EPA, 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:32.280 the Department of Energy, Department of Interior, where we've been 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:35.079 able to help reduce costs. And of course this industry 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:37.920 has been better than almost any in terms of gaining 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:41.480 you know, productivity. The shale producers now drilling three mile 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:44.360 laterals instead of two mile laterals, up to four mile 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:49.040 laterals in many places offshore. We've seen examples overseas of 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:52.560 people driving building ten mile laterals when they're getting after 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:55.919 the shale rock, all with the same small well pad 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:58.840 on the surface. So, you know, great for great for 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:01.200 land management, and great for energy production. 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:02.919 And kudos to this industry. 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:07.320 This, the entire shale revolution has occurred through innovation, and 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:10.240 that innovation is going to continue, and with AI applied 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:12.040 to that, it's going to even get even better. So 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:15.680 I see the leading companies are getting their costs down 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:17.760 even as demand is going up. 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:20.720 But Baker Hughes is talking about drilling reactivity has fallen 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:24.280 sixteen percent since Trump took office this year. The President 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:27.560 loves to talk about drill, baby, drill. Do you expect 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:30.280 that to change those numbers to change next year. 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:33.200 Well, I think again, I have to take a look 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:36.040 at the at the numbers. When we talk about drilling activity. 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:38.320 In my home state of North Dakota, we had a 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:41.520 number of the well count was going down, but the 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:44.960 miles of lateral productive rock could be going up. And 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:47.120 so you know, analysts have got to make sure that 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:50.240 they're actually keeping up with how fast this industry is changing, 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:55.040 because we've got again record production occurring right now and 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:57.960 we expect to see records through twenty twenty six. 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:00.800 One area where you have seen price increases has been 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:03.480 natural gas. Natural gas prices rising to the highest levels 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:06.400 in the US going back to twenty twenty two, and 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:09.240 a real question on how much the US can continue 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:12.120 to export to places like Europe in the face of 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:14.040 significantly higher prices here in. 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:14.840 The United States. 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:16.960 How do you plan to sort of set policy so 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:19.320 that the US can be a big exporter to places 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:22.280 like Europe while not allowing prices to go up so 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:23.560 significantly in the future. 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:27.560 Well, again, the key is its supply and its infrastructure. 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:30.560 We have places in the US right now where again 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:33.120 there's not one price for gas in America. As you know, 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:35.400 I mean, even though we've got the markets and we've 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:39.080 got Henry Hub, but we've got we've got. 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:40.239 Widely raging prices. 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:43.120 I mean even in the difference of price in Pennsylvania 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:46.839 versus in New England because the lack of natural gas 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:49.480 pipelines that have been blocked into places like New England. 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:52.080 And when we think about we think about markets, you're 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:55.080 talking about AI and the capital span and going against 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:59.679 AI where we're an AI factory, where we're actually creating 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:03.880 in manufacturing intelligence, those plants are going to go to 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:07.560 the places where states have low electricity prices, and policies 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:11.080 are setting price, not just markets, and we've got policies 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:15.640 in blue states around our country. California. You mentioned California. 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:19.800 Sixty three percent of California's oil is being imported from 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:24.200 foreign countries because of blocking of pipelines coming into that state. 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:29.039 They have a record number of internal combustion cars in California. 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:31.440 They have more internal combustion cars than any other state 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:34.880 as cars. And yet two refineries have announced that they're 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:38.480 shutting down in California because of policies, not because of 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:41.760 lack of demand, not because of lack of consumers, and 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:42.840 so what's. 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:43.200 Going to happen. 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:47.279 You're going to have oil tankers and refined products coming 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:49.800 into San Francisco Bay and coming into Long Beach and 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:53.599 record numbers in California because of policies, they will have 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:57.400 higher gas prices than virtually any other state. So again, 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:01.359 we have a strategy in America to help every state. 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:05.680 The Trump administration wants to have low affordable energy prices 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:08.320 for everybody, whether it's heating your home or driving your car, 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:10.599 or producing electricity for AI. 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:15.560 But we're going to need the collaboration from states to 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:15.920 make sure. 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:18.440 And if states don't want to collaborate on that, then 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:22.080 you're going to see this trillion dollars at AI, a 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:24.839 historic amount of spend, all going towards states that have 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:28.520 pro energy policies that drive down prices. 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:32.920 Secretary, we've seen a significant increase in energy costs, especially 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:35.719 for individuals who live near data centers. How is the 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:39.040 US going to do both at once, both support these 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:43.560 AI inities but also make sure consumers energy prices remain affordable. 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:45.840 Well, if you said on the show, I mean these 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:50.560 prices are in electricity are local, not national. And so 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:54.440 there are the examples that you think we're driving that 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:57.280 analysis right now and we're going to be publishing that 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:00.000 from the White House to the National Energy Dominance Council, 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:03.039 the Department of Energy doing great work on that. But 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:05.479 a lot of the higher prices that you're seeing are 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:07.960 not related to the AI data centers. A lot of 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:09.720 the day A data centers are going to be off 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:13.680 the grid, behind the meter and then producing adding more energy, 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:16.160 and then and putting some of that energy onto the grid. 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:18.280 So we could be actually increasing. 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:20.400 The supply in some of those areas where we've got 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:23.200 increased pricing, it's because of the policies they pursued the 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:29.440 last five years of having unreliable, intermittent and highly subsidized 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:34.800 and projects, including things like offshore wind where people were 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:38.240 spending eleven billion dollars to create one gigawatt of intermittent 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:40.960 you know, versus spending one or two billion dollars to 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:45.239 create one gigawat of assured seven by twenty four hour power. 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:48.320 So the policy choices of the last five years, driven 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:52.560 by sometimes climate extremists, were the ones that were that 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:53.480 were that are. 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:54.760 Driving up the prices that you're seeing. 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:57.000 I mean, electricity costs three times as much in New 0:07:57.040 --> 0:08:00.840 England as it does in North Dakota. That is not 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:04.120 that is not because of data centers. That's because of policies. 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:06.600 US Interior Secretary Doug Brogham, thank you so much.