WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump appointed Jeff Hildebrand's wife to serve as ambassador to Costa Rica. The Trump administration also worked to weaken environmental regulations affecting low-producing oil and gas wells.

Jeff Hildebrand is a billionaire oil industry executive and a major donor to the president. He owns oil and gas wells across the United States. These low-producing wells, known as "stripper wells," contribute 6% of the nation's oil and gas production and emit large amounts of methane.

Trump invited Hildebrand and two dozen other energy executives to the White House to discuss investing in Venezuela's oil industry. Venezuela's oil industry emits more methane, relative to its production, than almost all other major oil-producing countries, according to the International Energy Agency. Hildebrand has no significant operations outside the U.S. "Hilcorp is fully committed and ready to go to rebuilding the infrastructure in Venezuela," Hildebrand said. Trump responded, "That's good." He then told Hildebrand, "You'll be very happy."

When questioned about Hildebrand, Trump said, "I hear he does a good job." He also stated, "Don't know him very well." Regarding methane regulations, Trump said, "Certainly we do the opposite of what Biden did." The Environmental Protection Agency confirmed it is developing a proposal to provide relief to the oil industry. The EPA stated it heard from American oil and natural gas producers that the Biden-Harris Administration's oil and gas methane regulations were unworkable and unnecessarily restricted American energy dominance.

The Trump administration obtained advice from oil industry groups that Hildebrand supports. A former lobbyist for Hildebrand's company holds a top position at the Environmental Protection Agency and has been rewriting methane regulations with input from the oil industry. An EPA spokesperson said the official "fulfilled all his ethical obligations to the letter." Hildebrand has accumulated numerous environmental violations across the country. A spokesperson for Hilcorp said its operations complied with state and federal rules, and the company was "proud" of recent efforts to reduce its methane emissions. Scientists have estimated that stripper wells are responsible for approximately half of the oil and gas sector's methane pollution. Andrew Logan, a representative of Ceres, asked, "If you could lose 6% of production and cut emissions in half, who wouldn't make that trade?" Hildebrand did not respond to multiple interview requests.