Trump touts environmental deregulation in Philadelphia

This story originally appeared on StateImpact Pennsylvania. 

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President Donald Trump promised more environmental deregulation at an event in Philadelphia Tuesday afternoon, telling a group of electrical contractors that his recent moves to roll back environmental rules will help business.

“We took regulations off that allow us to do things we would never have been able to do,” Trump told a gathering of the National Electrical Contractors Association at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in downtown Philadelphia. “Think about it. We’re the single largest energy producer in the world.”

The U.S. is expected to surpass Russia and Saudi Arabia in crude oil production this year.

Trump began his talk by telling attendees that he had “paid them so much money over the years,” referring to his career as a builder.

As president, Trump has worked to get rid of environmental regulations. He told the contractors that will mean more business.

“To get you more contracts and more jobs we’ve slashed a record number of regulations,” he said.

The Trump administration recently announced weakening Obama-era restrictions on air emissions from oil and gas operations on federal land. It has also proposed rolling back fuel efficiency standards for trucks.

Pennsylvania is pursuing its own rules for oil-and-gas-related methane emissions.

The electrical contractors support oil and gas production, but they also back renewables and upgrades to the country’s transmission lines.