Trump Vows EPA Rollbacks as Climate Becomes Hot Campaign Issue
Shift back to fossil fuels and coal is promised if former president wins in NovemberBy David Jordan
The Trump campaign is promising to rescind Biden administration energy-sector regulations intended to curtail greenhouse gas emissions to help the nation reach international climate targets.
The move, if former President Donald Trump is reelected, would set a future Trump administration for a repeat of its first-term policies, in which a number of previous regulations related to energy and climate were either scrapped or weakened.
On a call with reporters ahead of Trump’s campaign speech Thursday in Potterville, Mich., former Trump administration Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said current EPA regulations would force the retirement of power plants, ultimately requiring utilities to shift to an inadequate supply of “unreliable” wind, solar and battery storage.
“A tsunami of new demand is headed for the grid, from the AI revolution, residential electrification and electric vehicle mandates,” Bernhardt said. “And at the exact same time of these new demands, the Biden-Harris administration has put severe constraints on the ability of the grid to grow.”
He said Trump would “rescind every one of Joe Biden’s industry-killing, job-killing, pro-China and anti-American electricity regulations.”
In April, the EPA finalized rules for existing coal-fired and new natural gas-fired power plants that would eventually require them to capture 90 percent of their carbon emissions. These rules were criticized by Republicans in Congress, who accused the agency of setting unrealistic targets that would require coal plants in particular to shut down years ahead of schedule.
Trump, who has previously questioned the scientific consensus on climate change, promised when he accepted the nomination at the Republican National Convention that in a second term he would “lower the cost of energy.” Bernhardt said that Trump will increase oil and natural gas drilling while also putting “coal country back to work.”
However, U.S. coal output has seen over a decade of decline since peaking in 2008, attributed in part to the natural gas boom, the declining price of renewable energy and environmental regulations.
And while Trump has promised more drilling, the U.S. has continued to produce and export record amounts of oil under Biden, producing more crude oil than any nation in recorded history. Bernhardt said production could have been even higher had Trump been in office.
Both campaigns have argued that their energy policies would be better for American workers. While Trump argues that more lax regulations would preserve jobs in the fossil fuel sector, supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris have highlighted the number of clean energy jobs created in recent years, particularly in the manufacturing sector.
On Wednesday the Energy Department released data that found that more than half of the jobs added to the energy sector last year were clean energy jobs, with a higher-than-average unionization rate than other positions in the industry. These clean energy positions also grew at double the rate of the nation’s overall jobs.
A number of these positions have been created through investments spurred by tax credits and other incentives included in the 2022 climate reconciliation law.
While Republicans previously called for a host of the law’s tax credits and programs to be rescinded, many of them have proven popular with businesses that are looking to enter or expand their footprint in the clean energy sector.
This month, a group of 18 Republicans urged Speaker Mike Johnson to “prioritize business and market certainty” as leadership considers any repeal or overhaul of the climate law, signaling that a full repeal may struggle to pass the House even if Trump wins in November.
“Energy tax credits have spurred innovation, incentivized investment, and created good jobs in many parts of the country — including many districts represented by members of our conference,” lawmakers led by New York Republican Rep. Andrew Garbarino said in the letter. “We must reverse the policies which harm American families while protecting and refining those that are making our country more energy independent and Americans more energy secure.”
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