The U.S. oil and gas industry on Wednesday welcomed President-elect Donald Trump‘s choice of former Texas Governor Rick Perry to head the U.S. Department of Energy, and wasted no time making its first specific request of him: to support increased exports of America’s natural gas overseas.

Trump named Perry as his pick for the top U.S. energy job on Wednesday morning, handing the portfolio to a climate change skeptic with close ties to the oil and gas industry, and who previously proposed abolishing the department, according to Reuters.

The choice adds to a list of drilling proponents who have been tapped for top jobs in Trump’s administration, worrying environmental groups but fitting neatly with Trump’s promise to revive oil and gas drilling and coal mining as president by cutting back on federal regulation.

Jack Gerard, president of the Washington-based American Petroleum Institute representing oil and natural gas companies, said he welcomed Perry’s nomination, and called on him to make increasing exports of U.S. natural gas a “top priority.”

“As the former governor of Texas, Rick Perry knows the important impact that energy production has on our nation’s economy. In his new role at the Energy Department, he has the opportunity to encourage increased exports of domestically produced natural gas,” he said in a statement.