By Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Donald Trump would rescind many of President Joe Biden’s clean energy rules while also speeding approvals of power plants to meet the nation’s rising electricity demands, the Republican’s presidential campaign said on Thursday.
Should he win the Nov. 5 election, Trump would axe clean energy regulations of Biden and his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, on both power plants and on emissions from vehicles. Those rules are aimed at slashing carbon emissions from the power industry while also pushing the auto industry to transition to electric cars to cut tailpipe pollution.
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The former president “will immediately stop all Biden-Harris policies that distort energy markets, limit consumer choice and drive up the costs on consumers on day one,” David Bernhardt, Trump’s former Interior Department secretary, told reporters in a call organized by the campaign.
Bernhardt said Trump would also implement rapid approvals for energy projects and “greenlight the construction of hundreds of new power plants,” without detailing how those plants would be fueled.
He added that Trump would remove the United States from the Paris agreement on fighting climate change as he did during his 2017-2021 term in the White House.
The policy proposals were in line with past statements, and hewed closely to Trump’s efforts during his presidency to encourage industrial and fossil fuel projects and cut regulations.
In response, James Singer, a Harris campaign spokesperson, said Trump wants to sell out America’s energy future to Big Oil executives and that under Biden and Harris, “American energy of all kinds has hit record production levels, resulting in hundreds of thousands of new jobs for American workers because of her leadership.”
“Trump’s proposals would raise prices on consumers, pollute our air and water, and take us backwards,” Singer said.
During Biden’s presidency, U.S. oil and gas production hit the highest levels of any country ever, despite his administration’s broader efforts to transition to cleaner energy. Congress passed in 2022 Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which contains hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies for clean energy such as wind, solar, hydrogen, geothermal projects.
No Republicans voted for the IRA, and some in the party have introduced legislation to repeal parts of the bill.
When asked whether Trump would support the repeal of parts of the IRA, Corey Lewandowski, a Trump campaign adviser, avoided the question.
Bernhardt also said that Trump “will put coal country back to work so that all Americans have access to affordable energy,” without elaborating on how those workers would be put to work.
Despite Trump’s promises to revive the coal industry during his administration, employment in the industry fell as power generators turned to plentiful natural gas and renewable energy.
In April, Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency finalized rules targeting carbon, air and water pollution from power plants, an industry responsible for nearly 25% of U.S. carbon emissions. The rules will effectively require coal-fired power plants and new natural gas-fired generators in the coming decade to capture emissions before they reach the atmosphere.
Bernhardt said Trump would “modernize” the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to speed approvals for new nuclear plants and for existing ones to have their lives extended.
“There’s been legislation to address some of these issues, but there’s a long way to go,” Bernhardt said.
Biden signed legislation in July to reform the agency to help speed approvals, and his administration has sought to encourage new projects, restart shuttered plants, and delay scheduled nuclear reactor retirements.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
