“The world is now seeing Trump’s America for exactly what it is becoming: a rogue state led by an impulsive strongman disconnected from the rule of law and other constitutional American principles and values.” So writes columnist Thomas Friedman in his New York Times article “I Have Never Been More Afraid for My Country’s Future.”
The “impulsive strongman” is much on our minds these days as a result of the policies emanating from his alarming ignorance of economics. As destructive as these policies are, his equally alarming ignorance of the environment is producing policies even more threatening. Of most immediate concern are those involving climate change which he has termed a Chinese hoax.
Trump has directed agencies to repeal all federal regulations aimed at curbing emissions and complemented that with measures encouraging more production and burning of fossil fuels. It’s all “drill, baby drill.”
He has issued orders to open up more American land and waters for fossil fuel extraction and is pulling the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement. His Department of Interior is suspending all clean energy development, but not oil and gas, on federal land. Trump recently issued an executive order to bolster coal mining.
He has halted all federal approvals of onshore and offshore wind, calling it “disgusting” and saying “We don’t want windmills in this country.” As in many other places, the fastest-growing energy source in the US. is solar. To the president, solar farms “are ridiculous.” Seven billion dollars in funding already awarded for community and rooftop solar in low-income communities has now been frozen.
He is reversing pollution standards for cars that encouraged the transition to electric vehicles, providing a big favour to the oil industry, heavy funders of his election campaign.
Whether Trump’s policies are driven by his environmental ignorance or by his culture war politics against those he perceives as environment elites, climate action is being destroyed at the federal level. Hope for an American contribution to the fight for a sustainable future now lies with the lower levels of government.
Not that the president has forgotten them. Building on its work to dismantle federal climate regulations, his administration has now launched an assault on efforts at the state and local levels.
He recently signed an expansive executive order directing the Justice Department to block all “burdensome and ideologically motivated ‘climate change’ or energy policies that threaten American energy dominance and our economic and national security.”
How much power this order has is in question. Some legal experts has said it’s little more than a press release. According to Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, “Presidents do not have the power to unilaterally annul state laws.” Nonetheless, Gerrard admits it sends a strong message, adding that this is “an all-out assault on climate action at all levels of government.”
Furthermore, the administration could, as it has done with recalcitrant universities, threaten to withhold federal funds from states that pursue policies it objects to. And his Justice Department will likely support industries and other groups that are challenging state climate laws.
The states are not taking all this quietly. Calling Trump’s order “lawless,” a number of state attorneys are preparing to fight federal efforts to intrude on state laws. Climate change is addressed by hundreds of state and local laws.
Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, leaders of the U.S. Climate Alliance, have issued a statement saying, “The federal government cannot unilaterally strip states’ independent constitutional authority. We are a nation of states—and laws—and we will not be deterred.”
Let us hope they are not deterred, and let us hope they win. It is vital to all of us. Trump’s economic chaos will hurt a lot of people, but we will recover. We may not recover from the damage his ignorance and vindictiveness inflict on the environment.