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Donald Trump showed up at an energy industry conference in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Sept. 22 to give a speech but remarkably left the venue without winning the award for making the most bizarre statement of the day.

That prize went to Bill Cole, president of the West Virginia Senate and Republican candidate for governor of the state, who stated that businesses in the state “need to be in control of the government, not the other way around.”

Let that sink in for a moment. A major party candidate for the top political job in West Virginia, a government official himself, believes business owners should control the matters of the state and government policies should fall in line with their dictates. Cole and his supporters appear to believe democracy is government by the corporations, for the corporations, not by and for the people. “We often talk about the speed of government versus the speed of business,” Cole said, adding that government needs to begin operating at the speed of business.

Politicians routinely fail to pass the hypocrisy test. Cole, who claims to champion less regulation, is no exception. The Republican lawmaker owns several auto dealerships in West Virginia and Kentucky. In 2015, Cole pushed for the passage of S.B. 453, which restricts (i.e., heavily regulates) car manufacturers from selling vehicles directly to consumers, instead requiring they sell vehicles through franchisees. West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed the bill into law in 2015, which essentially prevented Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors from selling its cars in the state.

Cole, who hails from a state whose economy has long depended on the coal industry, also appears confused about how natural gas markets will fare under certain regulatory regimes. Even though the natural gas industry is positioned to see tremendous growth under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, proposed under a Democratic president, Cole contends “natural gas will be the next one in the gun sights” of a Hillary Clinton administration. This statement ignores the fact that Clinton has been a strong supporter of the shale gas revolution and exporting natural gas from liquefied natural gas export terminals along the nation’s coasts.

‘Hijacking the Discussion’

Trump, surprisingly, wasn’t the winner of the runner-up prize for most bizarre statement on the final day of the Shale Insight conference either. At the conference, sponsored by the Marcellus Shale Coalition, that featured what many would consider extremist anti-regulatory statements, Pennsylvania House Speaker Mike Turzai called on industry officials “not to allow the extremists, particularly on the Left, to hijack the discussion” on shale gas drilling and infrastructure construction in the state. Turzai ignored how the shale gas industry has dominated the energy debates among policymakers in Pennsylvania and how state lawmakers have strongly supported the shale gas industry from its very beginning in the mid-2000s.

To his credit, the Republican lawmaker partly redeemed himself by posing the idea of building new pipelines in existing rights of way to avoid conflict with local communities. “To the extent that we can make use of putting pipelines near rail lines or locations that already have industrial or transportation purposes, the less you can put yourself in a position where you’re dealing with communities,” Turzai said. “The better off we are if we can find those locations on a map as starting points, that’s always very helpful.”

Trump in Third Place

Following the panel of state lawmakers, Trump took the stage. Attendees were expecting fireworks from the Republican presidential candidate but instead heard a relatively subdued speech. Because throngs of national news reporters were covering the event, Trump did not solely address energy issues. He spoke about how he would fight crime in big cities and how any wrongdoing by the police would be “vigorously addressed” under a Trump administration.

The Republican presidential candidate made an eyebrow-raising comment about the influx of drugs into the United States and suggested that cities adopt Rudy Giuliani’s stop-and-frisk style of fighting crime in cities.

Trump condemned the protests in Charlotte, N.C., to the industry conference crowd composed almost exclusively of white men. He also failed to acknowledge the pattern of violence against African Americans at the hands of police, the reason why so many protesters have taken to the streets.

Once he turned to energy issues, the Pittsburgh crowd livened up. But his statements weren’t fully in line with the messaging of other conference speakers. “Our energy policy will make full use of our domestic energy sources, including traditional and renewable sources. We want everything,” Trump insisted. A day earlier at the conference, Marathon Petroleum CEO Gary Heminger blasted the nation’s growing focus on renewable energy. “What activists often call green energy is inconsistent, unreliable and very expensive,” Heminger said.

Earlier in his campaign, Trump advocated for abolishing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As with many other policy matters, Trump has flip-flopped on this issue and no longer supports eliminating the EPA. In his Pittsburgh speech, he emphasized the importance of protecting the environment. “I will refocus the EPA on its core mission of ensuring clean air and clean safe drinking water for all Americans,” he said. “I believe firmly in conserving our wonderful natural resources and beautiful natural habitats.”

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