If he lives up to his campaign rhetoric, a President Donald Trump would be a nightmare for the Environmental Protection Agency, radical environmentalism and the mandate- and subsidy-dependent “green” energy racket.
I have paid close attention this campaign season to what every candidate has said about environmental issues. Almost all 17 of the Republican candidates strongly opposed Obama’s war on coal, the job-killing EPA, and global warming hysteria. But Trump has exhibited something else — unusually keen insight into and visceral dislike for green extremism, especially as inflicted upon us by the Obama administration.
On global warming, Trump has repeatedly stated or tweeted as follows:
- Global warming is a “hoax,” echoing the words of leading Senate climate skeptic Sen. Jim Inhofe.
- Trump has mocked Obama for saying that climate change is the top global priority, especially as compared to Islamic terrorism and rogue nuclear states like Iran and North Korea.
- Other countries, especially China, push global warming hysteria to cripple the U.S. economy and gain competitive advantage.
- Trump has ridiculed Obama’s climate “deal” with China in which the U.S. cuts its CO2 emissions now while China gets away with a commitment to only possibly peak its emissions by 2030.
- When global temperatures failed to rise as predicted by climate models, “global warming” became “climate change.”
- Global warming hysteria is being pushed by “Jonathan Gruber-types,” the infamous architect of Obamacare who called Americans “stupid.”
- Trump has observed that the polar ice caps are not melting as predicted by global warming hysterics.
These are all key points made by climate skeptics. Trump has made them consistently without any waffling.
Trump is also a long-time supporter of the U.S. coal industry:
- “The US is stupidly closing all of its coal fired plants. And then we wonder why our energy costs are going up.”
- “Obama’s coal regulations will destroy the coal industry, put Americans out of work, raise electricity prices and lead to blackouts.”
- “Obama’s war on coal is killing American jobs, making us more energy dependent on our enemies & creating a great business disadvantage.”
Most recently, Trumped jumped on Hillary Clinton’s gaffe about putting coal miners and their industry out of business. “I want clean coal. We’ll have clean coal and plenty of it. The coal industry is being decimated and many great people are out of work and they can’t get back into work. Hillary Clinton as you know, she says she wants to put the coal miners out of business never to work again. I don’t know how she can go to West Virginia.”
Trump bears no love for wind and solar energy. He has personally battled wind turbines being built near one of his golf courses in Scotland as “obsolete, ugly and expensive.” Trump has railed against the corruption and inefficiency of solar power.
- “The $9 billion that Barack Obama spent in ‘stimulus’ for solar, wind projects created 910 total jobs, costing $9.8 million each.”
- “Obama loves wasting our money. He just made another guarantee of $197 million to a solar company. Cronyism!”
- “Shock even more Barack Obama solar corruption. Vice President Biden‘s chief of staff’s firm got biggest Department of Energy loan.”
- “After Solyndra, Barack Obama is still intent on wasting our tax dollars on unproven technologies and risky companies. He must be accountable.”
- “Right now, green energy is way behind the times. You look at the windmills that are destroying shorelines all over the world. Economically, they’re not good. It’s a very, very poor form of energy. Solar, as you know, hasn’t caught on because, I mean, a solar panel takes 32 years — it’s a 32-year payback. Who wants a 32-year payback? The fact is the technology is not there yet. Wind farms are hurting the country.”
Trump is a long-time critic of the EPA, which he has called the “Employment Prevention Agency”:
- Wow, just in-John Beale, the top person in government on climate change (EPA), is a total fraud, and just admitted it! What can they say now ?
- “New business start-ups at the lowest level in 30 years and the EPA is now the Employment Prevention Agency.”
- “The EPA official who wants to crucify gas companies resigned. Good. But his attitude is endemic in the EPA.”
- “Barack Obama has increased the EPA budget by over 150%. The EPA is an impediment to both growth and jobs. It sends jobs overseas. ”
- “With gas prices rising and the economy failing, Barack Obama seeks to have his EPA raise energy prices by $109 billion.”
Lest you doubt Trump’s dislike of the EPA, Trump has several times commented that he would dismantle the EPA and send its functions back to the states. “Environmental protection, we waste all of this money. We’re going to bring that back to the states. We are going to cut many of the agencies, we will balance our budget and we will be dynamic again.” As EPA administrator Gina McCarthy has admitted that the vast majority of environmental protection is now done in the states, Trump’s vow to cut EPA is well within the bounds of reality.
I have worked on EPA, energy and environment issues for 25 years. No GOP presidential nominee has ever so consistently and vocally maintained such hard-core views against EPA and the green scam machine. Most impressively, Trump seems to have has figured out all this on his own as a detached observer. This underscores his sincerity.
EPA, especially under Obama, and the rest of radical environmentalism have had devastating impacts on our economy and society. Hillary has promised more of the same. That must stop. A President Trump may be our last, best chance to do that.
Steve Milloy publishes JunkScience.com and is a former coal industry executive.