> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.quittingcarbonmedia.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Trump’s ‘energy dominance’ agenda is only making renewables more attractive – at home and abroad - URL: https://www.quittingcarbonmedia.com/trumps-energy-dominance-agenda-is-only-making-renewables-more-attractive-at-home-and-abroad/ - Published: 2026-09-24T14:30:58.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-24T18:24:44.000Z - Description: The Trump administration is pushing LNG exports, while his war in Iran is driving up energy prices at home and abroad. More leaders are turning to renewables as a salve for fossil fuel volatility. - Author: Justin Gerdes - Tags: Commentary **Quitting Carbon* is a 100% subscriber-funded publication. To support my work, please consider* [*becoming a paid subscriber*](https://www.quittingcarbonmedia.com/#/portal/signup)*,* [*making a one-time donation*](https://www.quittingcarbonmedia.com/#/portal/support)*, or* [*gifting a paid subscription*](https://www.quittingcarbonmedia.com/#/portal/gift)*.* As with so many Trump administration policies, you wonder if this one was thought all the way through. The administration’s chest-thumping “[energy dominance](https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/02/american-energy-dominance-is-back-under-president-trump/?ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com)” evangelists like Energy Secretary [Chris Wright](https://www.quittingcarbonmedia.com/why-does-chris-wright-insist-on-being-so-wrong-on-the-energy-transition/) are so eager to export U.S. fossil fuels overseas, they seem oblivious that fuel sent abroad could mean constrained capacity – and higher prices – at home. How might that happen? Americans feeling the pinch of [rising electricity bills](https://www.quittingcarbonmedia.com/soaring-electricity-rates-threaten-climate-action/) are looking for someone to blame, and that someone is increasingly the tech barons racing to build AI data centers across the country – [with the full support of Donald Trump](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/15/us/politics/trump-truth-social-ai-data-centers.html?ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com). The colossal fossil gas-burning power plant Amazon is building to power a data center campus in Pecos County, Texas, to cite one especially egregious example, “could become the largest single source of climate pollution in the United States,” [reports The New York Times’ Hiroko Tabuchi](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/08/climate/amazon-data-center-texas-pollution.html?unlocked%5Farticle%5Fcode=1.DFE.c%5FMg.2I3kjjsmYU9n&smid=url-share&ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com). Thirty-five gas-burning turbines would generate up to 7.65 *gigawatts* to support the data center. It is “new on-site generation that won’t raise electricity costs for Texas families,” the company told Tabuchi. 📖 ****Read more:** [****Why does Chris Wright insist on being so wrong on the energy transition?**](https://www.quittingcarbonmedia.com/why-does-chris-wright-insist-on-being-so-wrong-on-the-energy-transition/) **The U.S. LNG export boom** The U.S. is [on track for record fossil gas production](https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67944&ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com) in 2026, surpassing the previous record set just last year. But the Trump administration is also pushing to send as much of that gas as it can overseas. U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports during the first half of this year were [up by 23% over the same period last year](https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=68064&ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com). And the country's LNG export capacity is [expected to nearly double from December 2025 levels by 2031](https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67224&ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com). Not satisfied with already being [the world’s largest LNG exporter](https://www.energy.gov/articles/fact-sheet-energy-department-celebrating-president-trumps-great-american-energy-comeback?ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com), the Trump administration is working to send more of the country’s gas to yet more markets. [Support Quitting Carbon with a paid subscription](https://www.quittingcarbonmedia.com/#/portal/signup) In March, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) [launched the Global Gas Initiative](https://ustda.gov/ustda-launches-u-s-global-gas-initiative/?ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com), “a new effort to expand U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports by accelerating the deployment of U.S.-made gas infrastructure to emerging markets.” USTDA said it would host six reverse trade missions, “bringing delegates from approximately 12 countries to the United States for firsthand exposure to American LNG technologies and services across the full value chain.” Just last week, the agency said it was [bringing an energy industry delegation from Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco to the U.S.](https://ustda.gov/ustda-supports-u-s-gas-infrastructure-exports-to-the-middle-east-and-north-africa/?ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com) to pitch them on the LNG exports. The group will visit Washington, D.C., “where the President’s National Energy Dominance Council will host a U.S. Government Engagement Day at the White House,” and Houston, Texas, to meet with LNG infrastructure companies. **Meeting demand at home and overseas** With the White House so focused on gas exports, what happens when Amazon and its rivals begin to power up gas-fired AI data centers like the behemoth Amazon is building in West Texas? After all, the gas used to power turbines at that data center is gas that could be used to deliver power to the grid or to heat homes or businesses. Already, [25% of U.S. fossil gas production is being dedicated to exports](https://www.citizen.org/news/trumps-lng-energy-export-policy-cost-households-12-billion-in-first-nine-months-of-2025/?ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com). Can the U.S. natural gas industry meet increased demand expected to come from data centers at home *and* terminals exporting LNG around the globe? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/97/a2/97a2d4c5-8e93-4ddc-b34c-aaaff1b1b93a/content/images/2026/09/US-LNG-gross-exports_EIA.png) [Credit](https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67224&ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com): "Ten years after first Sabine Pass cargo, U.S. LNG exports are still on the rise," U.S. Energy Information Administration. “We are definitely going to 30 BCF \[billion cubic feet\] of LNG export. So at the time at which all of this natural gas is going to be coming online, we’re going to need a lot more natural gas production in this country,” Jigar Shah, who led the Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office during the Biden administration, [said on a recent episode](https://www.latitudemedia.com/news/open-circuit-power-is-caught-in-ais-doom-loop/?nab=0&ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com) of the “Open Circuit” podcast he co-hosts. “And when that happens,” he went on, “because we’re not out of natural gas, we’re just out of natural gas that pencils at $3 a million BTU to pull out of the ground. We’re going to have to go to some of the other shale plays and they pencil at $4 a million BTU, which is a 33% increase in the cost of the fuel. And some of them pencil at $5 a million BTU to get out of the ground. And that is a 66% increase in the cost of the fuel right at the time where people are not diversifying and they’re going all in on gas, gas ends up getting all of the \[utility\] CEOs fired.” Can gas producers resist the siren song of sending ever-more of their product overseas? Likely not, when gas can be sold to buyers in Asia or Europe for [four or five times the price in the U.S.](https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=68064&ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com#:~:text=The%20average%20price,to%20Bloomberg%20data.), as it could [during the first half of 2026](https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/hist/rngwhhdm.htm?ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com). “Global LNG prices remained sufficiently high throughout \[the first half of 2026\] to continue incentivizing U.S. exports near maximum output levels,” as the U.S. Energy Information Administration [noted recently](https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=68064&ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com). **The fallout from two misbegotten policies converges** The Trump administration’s unflinching support for LNG exports threatens to constrain supply for gas at home and [raise prices for consumers](https://www.citizen.org/news/trumps-lng-energy-export-policy-cost-households-12-billion-in-first-nine-months-of-2025/?ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com). How long before even GOP lawmakers lobby President Trump to limit LNG exports – especially if the president’s allies in Big Tech succeed in building gigawatt-scale, gas-fired AI data centers and households feel no relief from surging electricity bills? But Trump’s quandary doesn’t end there. His catastrophic decision to start a war with Iran has not only increased domestic prices for [diesel](https://sg-mktg.com/MTc4OTk2MzU5MHxGZGVDQWdyR19BcFpRTlRPWm5ONkozZ0JqMnRJWXU2S2syLTRKbC1LQTBrQnc2MERXNkZHTHU1YUNWc2I5WXNmUDBiMk9razBUeFEwYzVVem1TWmxFcDlNY29Ec2IwaG0wai1kaTd1R0pObV9lT0FDcUZVUFFYamJKVEVqSU5GSzhPVkVTV0VkU0V3ZTZ2MHB0Z0FwdVZKdy1PNjBTdVRuVlRiVFJQMDg0c0JFZ3JoRFRyeTVldHFHaFQ4MlZjY3ZkN21DbkIwOHFGQ1dqeGE4YTFIdzc0ZER6dTVlQzNjRDgzQjl3Q1p2WUd5eHBxMHdPVzhuQkNxTzdPSC1pM0RrQWtZVTdnPT185Ux6q-Awt4Cqb7pB4Slfqeg9WyrXz1B6knmGKlZecbQ=?ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com), [gasoline](https://abcnews.com/US/wireStory/rising-gas-prices-frustrate-voters-trump-inexpensive-price-136597370?ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com), and [heating oil](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/business/energy-environment/heating-oil-winter-iran-war.html?ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com). It is also pushing other countries to reject investing in the infrastructure needed to import the LNG that Trump and Wright are [so determined to push on them](https://www.energy.gov/articles/fact-sheet-energy-department-celebrating-president-trumps-great-american-energy-comeback?ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com#:~:text=of%20the%20decade.-,Since%20January%202025,-%2C%20the%20Energy%20Department). 📖 ****Read more:** [****Trump’s Iran war is driving politicians and consumers to embrace clean energy**](https://www.quittingcarbonmedia.com/trumps-iran-war-is-driving-politicians-and-consumers-to-embrace-clean-energy/) Asian demand for LNG is set to [decline by up to 10% from 2025 levels this year](https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/asian-lng-demand-set-fall-second-year-war-shrinks-supply-2026-09-17/?ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com). The Financial Times [reports](https://www.ft.com/content/31f41c2e-084b-4bdf-a548-bf3d1139dbbe?syn-25a6b1a6=1&ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com) that the Strait of Hormuz crisis “threatens to undermine long-term LNG demand.” “Given what’s happening, the disruption to the oil supply means Thailand, like many countries, is speeding up the energy transition process,” Akanat Promphan, Thailand’s minister of energy, [told Bloomberg](https://gasoutlook.com/analysis/demand-scenarios-diverge-at-gastech/?ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWe%20have%20to,also%20energy%20security.%E2%80%9D). “The answer to that is more electrification basically, not only to solve the problems of climate change, but also energy security.” Meanwhile, as the financial advisory firm Lazard recently reconfirmed, renewables [remain the cheapest way to add new power to the grid](https://www.lazard.com/news-announcements/lazard-releases-2026-levelized-cost-of-energyplus-report-pr/?ref=quittingcarbonmedia.com). Homegrown renewables are less exposed to global price shocks, too. All of which means we’ve reached a confluence of two misbegotten Trump pursuits. The administration is pitching LNG to countries whose leaders increasingly see renewables as the future because Donald Trump’s war of choice in Iran crystallized the dangers of relying on imported fossil fuels.