“A VALUABLE CONTRIBUTION TO THE NATION’S MANUFACTURING AND TRADE POLICYMAKING”
Washington, DC – Today, the American Council for Capital Formation praised President Trump for his Executive Order (EO) that promotes energy infrastructure and economic growth. The new EO aims to promote private investment in the nation’s energy infrastructure primarily by making permitting processes and procedures more efficient and timelier, increasing regulatory certainty, and promoting regulations that reflect best practices and best-available technologies. Specifically, the EO seeks to reform the water quality certification process (Section 401, Clean Water Act), which has obstructed energy infrastructure development; opens up LNG transport to rail; considers of corporate governance reforms related to proxy voting; creates a master agreement for energy infrastructure rights-of-way renewals or reauthorizations; and promotes development of the Appalachian region.
ACCF Executive Vice President George David Banks, former Special Assistant to the President on international energy and environment at the National Economic and Security Councils, stated:
“Today, the President took an important step to strengthen the energy security of the United States and its allies and further economic prosperity. For years, state and local government opposition has hindered the development of much-needed infrastructure that would allow all Americans to benefit from affordable, abundant, and reliable energy. U.S. allies have also suffered, being forced to rely more on countries that often seek to use energy as a political weapon.”
“The President also sent a strong commitment to support economic development in the Appalachian Region, one of the poorest parts of America that has often been overlooked in the nation’s debate on income inequality. By identifying federal obstacles to investments in manufacturing, especially the petrochemical industry, this EO will be a valuable contribution to the nation’s manufacturing and trade policymaking, including discussions related to ethane exports.”
The ACCF also applauded the Trump administration’s continued effort to protect investors from the political agendas of activist fund managers. See ACCF op-ed DOL Guidance on ESG Investment.
ACCF Vice President of Policy and General Counsel Tim Doyle stated:
“The executive order reiterates the Department of Labor’s April 2018 guidance on ESG investments and makes clear that the administration intends to reverse a growing investment trend focused on non-economic factors, at the risk of diminished returns, to satisfy a political or social agenda. The president is clearly telling the investment community that their fiduciary duty is to focus on maximizing returns for all investors and to keep politics and social causes out of their investment decisions. As investors become more interested in an ever-growing list of ESG issues, the president’s policy will advance a standard of ‘objective materiality’ in the type of information that should be disclosed to investors.”
The American Council for Capital Formation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan economic policy organization dedicated to the advocacy of an improved regulatory process, innovation in energy policy, dynamic free trade, an efficient infrastructure policy, a modern corporate governance process, pro-growth tax policy and a robust retirement system.
