Donald Trump

Donald Trump has long had a weird obsession with opposing clean energy, especially wind turbines. Despite the clear evidence of economic benefits from developing clean energy, Trump continues to spout ridiculous disinformation about clean energy. He vowed that if elected to a second term, he would put an end to his archnemesis offshore wind development on “day one.” Likewise, Trump has pledged to rescind all unspent funds under the Inflation Reduction Act, putting the brakes on our clean energy transition. Even though economists say that clean energy tax credits will create jobs and grow our economy, Trump calls clean energy a “scam” and wants to unravel the enormous progress being made to grow our clean energy economy. 

Who stands to benefit from Trump’s war on clean energy? The answer is clear. At a fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump asked oil executives to give $1 billion to his campaign, claiming that it would be a “deal” for them because of how much they would save in tax cuts and dismantled environmental safeguards. One estimate put the value of just two Trump tax breaks on offer for oil companies at $110 billion, but Trump won’t just stop at tax breaks for oil companies, or trying to wipe out the clean energy competition.

Trump made it clear that he would once again be willing to abuse power on behalf of the oil industry. Trump’s plan to be a dictator for his first day in office included two priorities: “I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill.” Trump vowed “we will blast through every bureaucratic hurdle to issue rapid approvals for new drilling, new pipelines, new refineries, and new power plants and reactors.”

As President, Donald Trump stuffed the EPA with chemical industry insiders who pumped the brakes on any serious action to address threats to our drinking water from dangerous chemicals from corporate polluters – chemicals like pesticides, lead, and other carcinogens that can cause health risks like cancer and brain damage in children. 

Trump failed to take action on one of the most pressing threats to our drinking water: PFAS chemicals. Researchers have found PFAS chemicals in virtually every major U.S. drinking water source, putting families at risk of health problems such as thyroid issues, birth defects, and cancer. But unbelievably the Trump administration opposed federal action to stop these chemicals from entering our homes, even saying that Trump would veto a PFAS protection bill were it to come to his desk.

In another attack on our families’ drinking water, the Trump administration also tried to gut vital Clean Water Act protections, putting the drinking water for tens of millions at risk. Even some of Trump’s own appointees disagreed with this decision, which ignored science and tried to turn our streams into dumping grounds for big polluters and could destroy millions of acres of wetlands.

Fortunately much of Trump’s first term anti-clean water agenda were either blocked or corrected by President Biden, but Trump’s allies are already gearing up to make even bolder attacks on clean water safeguards in a second Trump term. Project 2025 would effectively neuter the EPA’s ability to protect clean drinking water and reverse hard-won progress on tackling PFAS and lead pollution.

In his first term in office, nearly half of Trump’s appointees for the EPA had ties to polluting industries, and almost one-third worked as registered lobbyists or lawyers. Now, his allies are already gearing up with plans to once-again stuff the EPA with industry-friendly political appointees and dismantle science advisory boards.

A second Trump term would undo recent progress on protecting clean air and lead to a repeat of the same pro-polluter policies of his first term.

While in office, Donald Trump rolled back more than 125 environmental safeguards, including the Clean Power Plan, which would have cut SO2 pollution from power plants by 90%, cut NOx pollution by 72%, prevented 4,500 premature deaths, and delivered over $50 billion in health savings per year in 2030.

The Biden Harris Administration corrected course with new power plant rules expected to prevent 1,000 premature deaths by 2025. Trump has already vowed to roll back these pollution limits if elected to a second term.

In 2018, Trump sided with oil company lobbyists by rolling back fuel efficiency standards for cars against the advice of career scientists. Once again, President Biden was able to revive common-sense clean cars standards which are projected to prevent up to 2,500 premature deaths in 2055. Once again,Trump has vowed to end these protections if re-elected.

Even at the height of the coronavirus pandemic as scientists began to link soot air pollution to higher coronavirus death rates, Donald Trump’s EPA rebuffed scientific advice to tackle soot pollution. Eventually, President Biden set limits on soot pollution that are estimated to prevent 4,500 premature deaths and yield $46 billion in health savings. This is just another one of many life-saving policies that could fall victim to Donald Trump’s pledge to rescind every one of President Biden’s environmental safeguards on day one if elected.