Expert touts Trump's energy sector nominations, outlines hopes for administration agenda to spark energy boom

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Energy expert sheds light on hopes for actions incoming Trump admin will take

Fox News Digital spoke to Gabriella Hoffman, Independent Women’s Forum Center for Energy & Conservation Director, about what she hopes the Trump administration will prioritize in the energy sector

President-elect Trump is expected by many of his supporters to preside over an energy "boom" in the United States by slashing Biden administration regulations, and one industry expert told Fox News Digital that she is encouraged by Trump’s energy sector cabinet nominees while outlining specific moves she hopes to see over the next four years.

"I think the three cabinet picks that Trump has so far chosen to lead EPA, Interior and Energy are a vast improvement to who we have currently in those respective positions," Gabriella Hoffman, Independent Women’s Forum Center for Energy & Conservation Director, told Fox News Digital. 

"They're going to be taking a more tactful approach to energy development. They're not going to be keeping things in the ground. They're going to be prioritizing reliable energy sources like coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear even, and most recently, geothermal has also taken a renewed interest by Congress, and we will probably see geothermal as well unleashed. But also there's going to be this balance of this energy abundant mindset with promoting land stewardship, expanding hunting and fishing opportunities, expanding ocean access, and reevaluating so-called clean energy projects that promise to be greener or are believed to be green but actually might be worse for the environment and don't produce enough reliable energy or electricity."

Hoffman told Fox News Digital the country is going to see a "reassessment of what conservation looks like" that is "balanced out by this robust kind of development of energy here in the United States.

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"So it's going to be great for the economy, we believe. As a center, we believe it's going to lead to better national security with more energy being produced here. We're going to be less reliant on countries that produce certain energy sources less cleanly, less environmentally friendly than we do."

In recent days, President-elect Trump has named former Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin to head the EPA, Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright to head the Energy Department, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to oversee the Interior Department. 

Hoffman outlined several top line agenda items that her center hopes to see from the three departments.

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"Emphasizing reliable energy production, moving away from sources that are subsidized like solar and wind to reliable sources that don't really need to be subsidized or that are actually very plentiful and can be extracted safely and responsibly here in the United States," Hoffman said. 

"Another priority is to kind of clamp down on this regulatory overreach we have seen across all three agencies. We have seen them take extreme positions with devising so-called tailpipe emissions standards, all these different green energy efficiency, household appliance directives. We've seen them take extreme positions on policies like the America the Beautiful Plan, or the 30 by 30 plan to protect so-called 30% of waters in lands by 2030, which is a very extreme position, not rooted in conservation whatsoever. It's a control mechanism, not a conservation tool."

Hoffman said she anticipates a "return back to true conservation" under Trump "where you don't see environmentalist groups suing agencies in perpetuity to block different measures of progress to go into effect."

Trump often vowed on the campaign trail to unleash an energy boom in the United States by slashing regulations and expanding drilling in the United States and Hoffman told Fox News Digital she is optimistic that will happen.

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A Valero refinery in Benicia, California, US (David Paul Morris)

"Our center is very optimistic that there will be an energy boom," Hoffman said. "It's not going to happen overnight, but it could be seen within a couple of months. I think realistically, once we hit the six-month mark, perhaps the year-end mark if President-elect Trump is going to be able to repeal some of the Biden-Harris directives as it relates to all the climate measures, the day one executive orders are really going to be a weight off of the administrative state’s shoulders and then all other policies that emanate from that tackling the climate crisis executive order will similarly be probably clamped down."

Trump has for months vowed to "undo" the Inflation Reduction Act, the Democrats' marquee climate and clean energy spending legislation that allocates $369 billion in subsidies aimed at re-shoring investments for electric vehicle manufacturing and battery production as well as new utility-scale wind and solar projects.

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Hoffman told Fox News Digital that repealing the IRA will be critical to unleashing American energy despite possible opposition from some Republicans in Congress who like certain aspects of the bill. 

"For gas prices, electricity prices to truly be lowered, you're going to have to see that law terminated or repealed, because that is what invited a lot of the so-called energy or environmental inflation," Hoffman said. "These higher prices at the pump, higher utility bills, higher food costs, because everything emanates from energy, transportation, food delivery, things of that sort. So that law really does have to be kind of called into question. And perhaps Trump will work with Congress to ensure that that is repealed."

Hoffman also explained that a focus on nuclear energy will be critical over the next four years.

"It is a really safe technology, especially produced here, and we don't want China or Russia to have an edge," Hoffman said. 

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.