The US has decided that conserving oil is 'no longer an economic imperative' – a statement that's worrying a lot of people.
What it means: A lot of work has gone into setting rules and regulations which prevent us from using too much oil – one, to make sure we don't run out, and two, to protect the planet.
The Trump administration has decided that the US has now found so much natural gas, sees so much potential in fracking, and is so confident in the potential for oil alternatives to fill the gaps in the energy market, that conserving oil is actually no longer a priority.
They're basically saying they've solved the 'energy scarcity' issue by finding enough alternatives to mean we don't need to worry about using the oil too fast.
Which is fine in terms of tackling the first reason we mentioned about why we shouldn't use too much oil, but not the second: i.e., saving the planet. The government memo makes no mention of climate change, despite the fact that vehicles are the greatest cause of carbon emissions in the US. So this new relaxed attitude to using oil has got people a bit concerned.
