Trump’s cold call turned Hildebrand energy into focus

Trump’s opposition – A reporter who tried for days to reach Donald Trump on his personal cellphone connected the president to the oilman at the center of methane rule rollbacks—only to find that Trump’s responses hinged less on technical details than on a simple promise: deregulat

One Wednesday morning last month, the routine in my house—coffee, a 1-year-old headed for daycare, a day that felt like it would behave—fell apart in a single sentence.

“Just to let you know, I’m about to call Trump,” I told my wife, and for a moment even I couldn’t believe what I’d said.

I ducked into the next room and dialed the president of the United States on his personal cellphone. I’d spent nearly two decades as a journalist calling powerful people, but trying to reach Donald Trump like a kid trying to get the right number still made my heart pound.

“Hello?” a voice answered.

This time, Trump picked up.

I introduced myself and told him I was 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 the man.

At that point. 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. These are the kinds of sites often called “stripper wells”—wells that contribute relatively little to U.S. energy supply, but that emit vast amounts of methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas.

I wasn’t calling to score a sound bite for its own sake. I wanted to understand how Hildebrand fit into the administration’s energy agenda. Trump, after all, named Hildebrand’s wife ambassador to Costa Rica. And my reporting had already turned up another thread: the administration was gathering advice from oil industry groups backed by Hildebrand. and it planned to weaken environmental regulations on stripper wells—an outcome that could make Hildebrand even richer.

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

For a flash, I thought the call had undercut the story I’d been building. If the president didn’t seem to know Hildebrand, maybe Hildebrand wasn’t as central as I feared.

Then Trump changed the direction of the conversation.

When I brought up what I’d been reporting as a threat to Hildebrand—what I called the “Biden methane rules”—Trump responded quickly: “Certainly we do the opposite of what Biden did.”

That answer landed with a particular kind of clarity. It wasn’t that Trump had memorized the mechanics of Hildebrand’s business, or that he could explain the details of methane enforcement. But what he understood—what mattered in Washington at that moment—was not the technical policy furniture.

What mattered, in that exchange, was support for the president and alignment with a broader ideological project: deregulate everything.

Even if Trump was only loosely familiar with Hildebrand, the oil tycoon is the kind of figure climate reporters learn to track closely, because he turns a global warming problem into something you can point at.

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. Those emissions amplify heat waves, droughts, and wildfires.

My previous reporting had also shown how that policy fight moved through government. A former lobbyist for Hildebrand’s company—who now holds 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.”.

When I asked about the administration’s plans in more detail, the EPA’s press office didn’t offer specifics. It did confirm that the agency is working on a proposal designed to “provide relief” to the oil industry. In a statement. the agency said: “We 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.”.

Hildebrand’s name sat at the center of that story. My reporting delved into how he made his fortune. and it described him as having racked up dozens of environmental violations across the country. The rollback could benefit him directly now. because he has the kind of portfolio that stands to profit when methane rules are loosened.

I asked Hildebrand multiple times for an interview, including sending a letter to his home. He didn’t respond.

A spokesperson for his company, Hilcorp, said its operations complied with state and federal rules. The spokesperson also said Hilcorp was “proud” of recent efforts to reduce its methane emissions.

The policy stakes can be hard to feel when they’re framed as regulation and rollback. But there are moments in climate coverage when the math offers a rare opening. Andrew Logan of Ceres. a climate advocacy group. told me limiting methane pollution from stripper wells is one of those “low-hanging fruit” moves.

“If you could lose 6% of production and cut emissions in half, who wouldn’t make that trade?” Logan said.

Instead of taking that trade, the Trump administration has been leaning toward the energy types that contribute most to global warming.

In January, Trump invited Hildebrand and two dozen other energy executives to the White House. The purpose was to discuss investing in Venezuela’s oil industry—described as decrepit—and the methane picture there is stark: Venezuela’s oil industry emits more methane. relative to production. than almost any other major oil producing country. according to the International Energy Agency.

Even among executives who sounded enthusiastic, the enthusiasm came with caveats. ExxonMobil’s CEO said Venezuela was “uninvestable” without changes to its legal system. The head of ConocoPhillips said the company wanted U.S. government financing.

Hildebrand, as he watched the room, had already seen how loyalty could be rewarded.

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.”

The human feeling I walked away with from the cold call was complicated. It wasn’t just the surreal moment of reaching a president on a personal cellphone. It was the sense that the center of gravity in Washington can sit less in technical expertise than in who signals support. who fits the broader deregulatory project. and who makes the right promises in the right room.

Donald Trump Jeff Hildebrand Hilcorp methane regulations stripper wells EPA ProPublica Venezuela oil investment Costa Rica ambassador Ceres deregulation