Trump adviser Peter Thiel questions restricting carbon emissions

In this July 21, 2016, file photo, entrepreneur Peter Thiel speaks during the final day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Thiel questioned the global push toward restricting carbon emissions as "group think" while speaking Tuesday at an international energy conference in Houston. less In this July 21, 2016, file photo, entrepreneur Peter Thiel speaks during the final day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Thiel questioned the global push toward restricting carbon emissions ... more Photo: J. Scott Applewhite, Associated Press Photo: J. Scott Applewhite, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Trump adviser Peter Thiel questions restricting carbon emissions 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

HOUSTON -- Peter Thiel, the technology investor and advisor to President Donald Trump, questioned the global push toward restricting carbon emissions as "group think" while speaking Tuesday at an international energy conference here.

"I'm not sure I'm an extreme skeptic of climate change, but I have my doubts about the extreme ways that people try to push it through," he said. "Even if climate change is quite as bad as people think it is, if we group think we're more likely to misdiagnose the problem. Maybe it's methane emissions, and the real problem is eating steak."

The question of how the Trump administration will handle climate change is a central issue for energy companies, as they face the prospect of a shift to a lower carbon economy.

Trump has promised to roll back policies of former President Barack Obama, including his Clean Power Plan, and is considering whether to pull the United States from the Paris climate accord.

Thiel offered little insight on where Trump might ultimately end up on that decision. But as a close associate of the president, who worked on his transition team, he is believed to have his ear on a wide range of issues.

A co-founder of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook, Thiel is known for his contrarian points of view and seeking investments missed by mainstream investors. He commented during his talk with Dan Yergin, who leads the annual conference called CERAWeek by IHS Markit, that he was surprised hydraulic fracturing had generated the profits it had considering the degree of competition within the energy space.

"There is not necessarily a link between great innovation and great economic reward," Thiel said.

Like most industries nowadays, energy companies have been nervously trying to figure out what President Donald Trump will mean. Yergin said it was among the first questions he got when talking with attendees in the lead up to this year's event.

The common thinking is Trump's pledge to grow American jobs and reduce regulation should be good news for an oil and gas industry that was hit with climate change regulations during the Obama administration.

Already, Trump has OKd the long delayed Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines and signed executive orders expected to aid fossil fuel production.

"Congress and the White House are going in the right direction, and it's a different direction from what we've seen the last eight years," said Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Association. "Keystone and [Dakota Access] were early signs he's serious about this."

Thiel has become a controversial figure in liberal Silicon Valley for his support of Trump, including a $1.25 million donation to Trump's campaign in October. Critics called on Facebook to remove Thiel from its board of directors, prompting a response from CEO Mark Zuckerberg defending Thiel.

"We care deeply about diversity," Zuckerberg wrote. "That's easy to say when it means standing up for ideas you agree with. It's a lot harder when it means standing up for the rights of people with different viewpoints to say what they care about."

But among the oil and gas executives who dominate CERAWeek, Thiel faced a more politically conservative audience.

Asked about what the Trump administration would mean for the oil and gas industry at the conference Tuesday, Pioneer Natural Resources executive chairman Scott Sheffield said, "Hopefully better than the last eight years."