SOAE 2025: New Energy Opportunities in Congress

Alex Leif
Posted January 22, 2025

American energy was on the ballot in November and won. How Washington will respond dominated last week’s State of American Energy (SOAE) – API’s annual policy event.  

New Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Natural Resources Committee Chair Bruce Westerman headlined conversations on ways America can leverage its domestic oil and natural gas resources to strengthen U.S. energy leadership and boost the economy.  

API’s Five-Point Policy Roadmap, charting the energy path forward for new administration and Congress, framed SOAE, and segments featuring Leader Thune and Chairman Westerman tackled a key question:   

• How can the new administration deliver on its promise of abundant, affordable energy to American consumers? 

Below, Leader Thune’s conversation with API President and CEO Mike Sommers: 

Key excerpts from Leader Thune: 

Securing American energy leadership: 

“It is a huge opportunity. And having an administration that actually is pro-energy development, working with the Congress, where we want to be supportive in any way that we can, in ensuring that the President and his team have success in making America energy dominant…There’s a whole range of things that I think we can, should, and will be doing. And a lot of it is in the tax space and the regulatory space—everything with an eye toward making America energy dominant.” 

Prospects for bipartisan permitting reform: 

“I’m hopeful that with the new Congress, as the House begins their work on it, that we can find some Democrats in the Senate that would enable us to enact permitting reform at the traditional 60-vote threshold. And part of that, I think, will happen. Because there are a lot of Democrats…who have projects that they want to see advance that are being blocked right now as well just because it takes so darn long to get a siting and permitting and everything else. Streamlining that process, again, making it easier and not harder and less expensive, not more expensive, and not getting bogged down in the courts for literally decades.” 

Lifting the LNG pause: 

“Again, that’s another example of Biden administration policies that just appear to be very anti-energy. And if you look at what’s happening around the world today…[we] believe that America has to be prepared to face the threat matrix that exists. Part of that is military readiness…[and] another way that we deal with that, of course, is energy production…. [So] many of our allies learned the hard way that when you become dependent upon hostile adversaries for energy, it comes back to bite you.” 

Below, Chairman Westerman’s conversation with Amanda Eversole, API executive vice president and chief advocacy officer: 

Key excerpts from Chairman Westerman: 

Energy’s positive impact on the economy: 

“Countries around the world that I think are moving the right way are the ones that are building more energy and are going to have plenty of energy to do the things they need, whether it's AI or data processing or the manufacturing that's never going to go away.” 

Unlocking America’s natural resources: 

“[Energy production] has a very strong link to national security and to our position in the marketplace… And we've only just begun, especially with the amount of natural gas that we have and the known deposits.” 

Bottom Line: U.S. voters expect action from their election officials on energy and other issues. Leader Thune and Chairman Westerman’s remarks show that at least two congressional leaders understand the energy mandate from the election, which bodes well for American oil and natural gas.