First on FOX: Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgham are traveling Thursday to a Louisiana-based liquefied natural gas exporter.
Wright and Bulgham announced their investment in expanding the Prak Mines Parish export facility and will tour Venture Global on Thursday. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry will join the Cabinet Secretary.
Trump promises to increase energy production.
The facility was approved by President Donald Trump in 2019 during its first term, along with the company’s first facility, Calcasieu Pass. Both facilities began producing liquefied natural gas in just five years.
President Donald Trump speaks at the Cameron LNG export terminal in Huckbury, Louisiana in 2019. (Scott Fall/USA TODAY)
US exports of liquefied natural gas were able to replace a significant amount of gas supply with Europe after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Trump has suspended former President Joe Biden’s new liquefied natural gas export license. The National Manufacturers Association conducted a study on the Biden ban. This found that if restrictions remain, a liquefied natural gas suspension would threaten nearly 1 million jobs over the next 20 years.
The liquefied natural gas facility in Plaquemins, Louisiana is expected to produce approximately 27 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year, but additional investments are expected to provide Plaquemines with a total production capacity of over 45 MTPA.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgham during a confirmation hearing of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held in Washington, D.C. on January 16, 2025. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
“President Trump’s vision to unlock our energy potential, reduce inflation and sell energy to allies inform the world that America is back,” Burgham told Fox News Digital. “By investing in America’s energy control, the administration is empowering companies such as venture global and its hardworking employees to make America great again.”
Burgum told Fox News Digital that the success of facilities, such as the Plaquemines Parish’s liquefied natural gas export operation, is “proof that America’s next ‘golden age’ is ongoing.”
Wright also told Fox News Digital on the first day of Trump’s second term that he and the Energy Department “were ending the failed ban of the Biden-Harris administration.”
Energy Secretary Chris Wright, depicted here, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgham are travelling to Louisiana-based liquefied natural gas exporter on March 6, 2025. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, businesses are investing in America again,” Wright said. “Just 50 days later, Americans are already seeing the impact of the energy domination agenda. This is just the beginning.”
Trump lifts Biden’s LNG suspension and increases oil drilling in one day of office
The planned Plaquemins expansion consists of 24 trains, representing an additional investment of approximately $18 billion in Louisiana, bringing the total venture global investment in US projects to more than $75 billion.
Venture Global CEO Mike Sabel told Fox News Digital that the expansion will “construct the largest ‘liquefied natural gas’ export facility in North America,” and that supplying liquefied natural gas to US allies “has a major impact on the US trade balance.”
“We believe this flexible incremental capacity will position us to respond quickly to market growth signals,” says Sabel. “In the capital-intensive commodity industry, capital always flows into the most competitive projects. We consider the expansion of Plakemin to be one of the most economically efficient opportunities available to grow.
President Donald Trump, Center, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin, Secretary Energy Chris Wright, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Interior Doug Burgham and Secretary of Transport Sean Duffy. (Washington Post via Demetrius Freeman/Getty Images)
Sabel also touted the Trump administration by creating “the best regulatory environment of decades.”
The expansion is also expected to support hundreds of new permanent Louisiana jobs and tens of thousands of indirect subcontractors, part-time and full-time jobs across the state, and more than 30 states nationwide.
“Today’s announcement comes as President Trump’s commitment to strengthening energy infrastructure,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry told Fox News Digital. “Under President Trump, Louisiana is currently at the forefront of supplying LNG to its allies and reintroducing America to energy independence.”
Liquefied natural gas tankers can be seen in Port Canaveral, Florida. (Today’s Malcolm Denemark/Florida)
The visit and massive investments come days after Trump’s first speech of his second term in a joint session of Congress. The president has vowed to “make America affordable again” by reducing energy costs.
“The main focus of our fight to beat inflation is to rapidly cut the costs of energy,” the president said in his speech. “We have more liquid gold than any country on Earth, and now I fully allow the most talented team ever gathered to go and get it.”
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He added, “We’re called drills, babies, drills.”
The cut in energy prices was one of the promises of many Trump campaigns before he was elected in November 2024. At a rally at Pennsylvania State University, Trump vowed to lift the suspension of natural gas export terminals that liquefied the United States.
