The US was able to reduce emissions 2005-2015 due to switching to gas fired generation away from coal. That gave Obama more credibility at climate conferences compared to say Germany or Australia. The combination of cheap natgas and mandated renewables only works as long as gas is cheap. If nuclear is unacceptable it's back to coal.

If US natgas reverts to the prices of a decade ago then Trump could face headwinds. It's becoming clear that 'drill baby drill' won't be effective. In Australia that applies more to coal seam gas rather than tight shale gas. Maybe the fracking miracle has only another year or two to run.

I believe you're barking up the wrong tree here James, energy independance just doesn't have to be oil!

If the incoming administration is serious about energy independence, then it needs to lift any and all restrictions off thorium!

Thorium is three times more abundant than uranium! In fact, we have enough in our topsoils to power the world for a thousand years, and thousands more when and if we start to mine igneous rock!

But the good news doesn't end there, technology allows us to convert currently flared methane to methanol. And turning seawater into catalytically created cost effective jet fuel or diesel alternatives, is not difficult, if you have cheap clean safe nuclear energy.

And in molten salt thorium reactors that's exactly what you have, 300 MW, enough to independently supply the US navy indefinitely and while at sea and on station.

The sooner Trump gets behind that, to make it happen, the closer the US gets to energy independence, not controlled by either foreign interest or national brokerage!

When that day dawns, we can wave a fond farewell to the energy futures market and all the parasites who suck income from it James!

I shouldn't worry about oil or shale, when the new world will be powered by thorium.

Moreover, abundant enough to harvest enough from my a cubic meter of my own topsoil, to take care of all my energy needs, for the next 100 years.

Given recovery costs would be around $100.00, for just a buck a year!?

And the worst nightmare for both the four trillion dollar a year fossil fuel industry; and, current nuclear energy alike! Both of which, could very easily be, absolutely annihilated!?

And indeed, the very reason anybody with any power or influence inside the current energy industry, is trying to focus attention on anything else, everywhere else! Ere they become the ones doing the horizontal? 6x6x4!
Alan B.

Peak oil (whatever) again? Worse than listening to a disco,super extended version of the 12 days of Xmas.