As President Trump's populist appointees continue to deregulate the mineral-rich lands of the American West, approve pipelines and diminish oversight of fracking, the region's independent oil and gas producers are riding high. Reliant both on their capacity to set down discovery wells on untapped land — a practice in oil known as "wildcatting" — and on a federal government that prioritizes domestic exploration over foreign resources, these risk-taking impresarios see Trump's "America First" energy agenda as a godsend. Self-made entrepreneurs and organizations such as the Independent Petroleum Association of America are quite literally laughing at their good fortune.
The White House has eagerly courted this constituency. "We're putting American energy first," Vice President Pence beamed in mid-April while touring an independent energy company's new rig in Texas. There, he heralded the "three pillars of American greatness": faith, freedom and "vast natural resources." Pence promised that "developing the vast, natural, God-given resources that we have" will make America great again.
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