Trump shrugs at oil donor as methane rules fall

Trump told – A reporter trying to understand President Donald Trump’s ties to major oil donor Jeff Hildebrand reached him on his personal cellphone and found a president who admitted he “don’t know him very well” — yet reacted fast when the conversation turned to “Biden me

It was one Wednesday morning, early enough that the routine still felt solid—coffee in hand, a 1-year-old heading for daycare, the usual hush before the day gets loud.

Then a sentence arrived in my head that didn’t belong to my life: “Just to let you know, I’m about to call Trump.”

I’d been trying for days to reach President Donald Trump. Each attempt had set my heart pounding in a way I associate with younger reporters and colder calls. Nearly two decades in journalism had trained me for power and proximity. It hadn’t trained me for dialing the president’s personal cellphone.

The moment the line connected, the voice on the other end said, “Hello?”

This time, Trump had picked up.

I introduced myself and told him I’m a reporter with ProPublica. I said I was writing a story about a big supporter of his in the oil industry, Jeff Hildebrand, and asked what he thought about Hildebrand.

By then. I’d spent months reporting on Hildebrand—a little-known billionaire and major Trump donor—who owns an empire of low-producing oil and gas wells across the country. The wells are often described as “stripper wells”: they contribute relatively little to the U.S. energy supply, but emit vast amounts of methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas.

When I called, I wasn’t calling for small talk. Trump had named Hildebrand’s wife ambassador to Costa Rica. My reporting also showed the administration was gathering advice from oil industry groups backed by Hildebrand. and that it planned to weaken environmental regulations on stripper wells—an approach that could make Hildebrand even richer.

“I hear he does a good job,” Trump replied. “Don’t know him very well. OK?”

The answer landed like a problem for the story I thought I was telling. At first, it felt as if the exchange would undercut Hildebrand’s role in the administration’s energy decisions. But then the conversation shifted, and with it, the real shape of what mattered.

When I brought up that Hildebrand’s interests were threatened by the “Biden methane rules,” Trump responded quickly: “Certainly we do the opposite of what Biden did.”

In that moment, the technical details mattered less than the political reflex—an instinct toward reversing course, toward deregulation, toward backing the people and projects aligned with the administration’s broader ideological push.

That doesn’t make Hildebrand less important. It makes the relationship harder to read, and it makes the stakes sharper. Stripper wells collectively contribute just 6% of the nation’s oil and gas. yet scientists have found they’re responsible for roughly half the sector’s methane pollution. In climate terms. that’s an outsized impact—methane that helps drive global warming. which is amplifying heat waves. droughts. and wildfires.

My earlier reporting also pointed to a direct pipeline between industry influence and regulatory change. A former lobbyist for Hildebrand’s company—now holding a top post at the Environmental Protection Agency—has been rewriting methane regulations with advice from the oil industry. An EPA spokesperson said the official “fulfilled all his ethical obligations to the letter.”.

The EPA itself declined to comment on the details of its plans. but confirmed it is working on a proposal to “provide relief” to the oil industry. In a statement. the agency said it had “heard consistently from American oil and natural gas producers (shocker that we meet with stakeholders) that the Biden-Harris Administration’s oil and gas methane regulations were unworkable and unnecessarily restricted American energy dominance.”.

The story I ultimately published went deeper into how Hildebrand made his fortune—showing him racking up dozens of environmental violations across the country—and how he now stands to benefit from a rollback carried out by his former lobbyist.

I asked Hildebrand multiple times for an interview, including sending a letter to his home, but he did not respond. A spokesperson for his company, Hilcorp, said its operations comply with state and federal rules and added that Hilcorp was “proud” of recent efforts to reduce its methane emissions.

In a world where climate solutions can feel impossibly distant. methane limits on stripper wells are described by advocates as some of the rare near-term wins. Andrew Logan of Ceres. a climate advocacy group. told me. “If you could lose 6% of production and cut emissions in half. who wouldn’t make that trade?”.

But while that trade is clear in scientific and emissions terms, the administration’s direction has looked different—one that leans into energy sources that contribute most to global warming.

In January. Trump invited Hildebrand and two dozen other energy executives to the White House to discuss investing in Venezuela’s oil industry. Venezuela’s energy sector. according to the International Energy Agency. emits more methane relative to production than almost any other major oil producing country.

The executives came with their own guardrails. ExxonMobil’s CEO called Venezuela “uninvestable” without changes to its legal system. The head of ConocoPhillips said he wanted U.S. government financing.

Hildebrand’s pitch, however, fit the moment. Even though he had no notable operations outside the U.S., he leaned toward a microphone and said in a halting voice, “Hilcorp is fully committed and ready to go to rebuilding the infrastructure in Venezuela.”

“That’s good,” Trump replied. “You’ll be very happy.”

Taken together. the call and the White House meeting leave a particular impression: the president may be only loosely familiar with the people underwriting his energy agenda. but he moves quickly once the conversation hits the center of the argument—Biden-era methane rules. deregulation. and the promise of reward for loyalty.

For the companies and communities tied to stripper wells, that isn’t an abstract policy dispute. It’s methane in the atmosphere, with consequences that don’t wait for anyone to get the details right.

Donald Trump Jeff Hildebrand Hilcorp methane stripper wells Environmental Protection Agency ProPublica Venezuela investment International Energy Agency Costa Rica ambassador