Energy does make it to the Convention Floor of the GOP

CLEVELAND— Harold Hamm, CEO of Oklahoma City-based Continental Resources, told GOP convention delegates Donald Trump would ground the high-flying U.S. Energy Department if he is elected president, freeing the energy industry from burdensome regulations.

Hamm, an Enid High School graduate and Trump’s informal adviser on energy policy, pioneered the shale boom in the Bakken region of Montana and North Dakota using horizontal drilled wells and hydraulic fracturing. In an exclusive Wednesday, Reuters reported Trump is considering nominating Hamm to be energy secretary if he becomes president.

During a speech Wednesday at the Republican convention, Hamm said the Obama administration has imposed limits on the continued economic growth of the nation’s oil and gas industry that has doubled production in the past eight years.

“We do not need to be funding the nations that are funding terrorism. And that is what we are doing unless we produce more here, and certainly that is what we need to be doing,” Hamm said.

The Oklahoma delegation spoke highly of Hamm’s address, seeing the importance of the energy sector to the economy of the Sooner state, as well as the nation.

Michael Stopp, a delegate from Tahlequah and campaign chairman for U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin, said in a text message: “Energy is a large part of Oklahoma’s economy. Reviving Oklahoma’s and America’s energy sector is vital to our economic growth and life,” Stopp said.

Pam Pollard, Oklahoma Republican Party chairwoman, echoed those sentiments. (by Gloria Noble and Nick Conte, ENID News)