Donald Trump said today he’ll declare a “national energy emergency,” a move meant to speed the development of fossil fuel infrastructure.
The actions taken on his first day in office mark the start of President Trump’s attempts to boost oil and gas and retreat from global climate goals. He campaigned on promises to “drill, baby, drill,” and undo Biden-era policies to reduce pollution and stop climate change.
The US will “fill our strategic reserves up again, right to the top, and export American energy, all over the world,” Trump said in his inauguration speech.
Trump also repeated vague pledges he’s made to throw out environmental policies that haven’t actually been put in place. He said his administration would “end the green New Deal, and we will reverse the electric vehicle mandate, saving our oil industry.” It’s unclear what policies he’s referring to with that statement.
Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law, the most significant piece of climate legislation to date that opened up $369 billion for climate action and clean energy. Trump has previously said that he’d rescind any unspent IRA funds.
“I’m not that worried about having an EV mandate since there isn’t one, but I am concerned that he might take steps to make EVs more expensive for American consumers,” Pete Buttigieg, Biden’s Secretary of Transportation, recently told The Verge. But Trump has said that he’ll eliminate subsidies and tax credits Biden introduced to make electric vehicles more affordable.
Biden-era tailpipe emissions standards are likely also on the chopping block. The Biden administration tightened pollution standards aimed at slashing greenhouse gas emissions and encouraging more EV sales.
A new White House webpage says a priorities for the Trump administration include “streamlining permitting, and reviewing for rescission all regulations that impose undue burdens on energy production and use, including mining and processing of non-fuel minerals.”
There’s little detail on the page about what declaring a national energy emergency will entail outside of using “all necessary resources to build critical infrastructure.” It does say Trump wants to end federal leasing of areas for wind farms and take the US out of the Paris climate agreement, echoing promises he’s made in the past
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