January 21, 2025--Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--During his 30-minute inaugural speech Monday, amid promises to retake the Panama Canal and plant the U.S. flag on Mars, President Donald Trump declared a national energy emergency, laying the groundwork for executive orders to suspend or streamline federal rules to expedite construction of power plants, oil and gas pipelines, and oil and gas drilling on federal lands. He also vowed to "end the Green New Deal," his term for the Inflation Reduction Act, "and revoke electric vehicle mandates."

His vow to "drill, baby, drill" drew standing ovations at the Capitol Rotunda, an overflow viewing room and a packed Capital One Arena located a few blocks away. In invoking a national energy emergency, Trump declared, "America will be a manufacturing nation once again, and we have something no other manufacturing nation will ever have--the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we are going to use it."