What does Trump's win mean for the environment?

Energy & Environment

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What does Trump's win mean for the environment?

President-elect Trump’s electoral victory will likely mean a significant shift in U.S. energy and environmental policy.

Trump defeated Vice President Harris, securing at least 301 electoral votes as of Wednesday afternoon.

His return to the White House next year is expected to lead to a rollback of a number of federal environmental protections and an increase in U.S fossil fuel production and use in the long term.

Trump has frequently denied or downplayed the issue of climate change, and in his first term oversaw the rollback of more than 100 environmental rules and the U.S.’s withdrawal from the global Paris climate agreement.

Stan Meiburg, who served as both a career official at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a political official under the Obama administration, said he fears that Trump’s victory will result in more pollution and worse climate outcomes.

“I’m very worried that you will end up with an EPA that is far less capable of doing basic things, getting Superfund sites cleaned up, responding to emergencies, whether they’re hurricanes like Helene or explosions like the one in Texas which spewed out a big pile of flame out of a ruptured gas pipeline,” said Meiburg, who is now the executive director of the Sabin Family Center for Environment and Sustainability at Wake Forest University.

On the campaign trail, Trump has said he would once again pull the country out of the accord — which President Biden rejoined in 2021 — and rescind Biden administration regulations on cars, power plants and household appliances, as well as unspent money from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Biden’s signature climate law.

He has also pledged to boost domestic oil and gas production, which has reached historic highs under the Biden administration. During his first term, Trump sought to open up more opportunities for new drilling on federally owned lands, as well as offshore drilling.

Whether he’ll be able to dismantle the IRA remains unclear, as it has not yet been projected which party will capture the House.

Read more at TheHill.com.

Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, I'm Rachel Frazin — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.

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Essential Reads

How policy will affect the energy and environment sectors now and in the future:

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Voters uphold groundbreaking Washington state climate law

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Winds shift toward GOP in fight for House

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In Other News

Branch out with a different read from The Hill:

RFK Jr. says ‘entire departments’ at FDA ‘have to go’

Former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is slated to hold a potentially big role in a new Trump administration, said Wednesday there are “entire departments” within the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that “have to go.”

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What We're Reading

News we've flagged from other outlets touching on energy issues, the environment and other topics:

South Dakota voters reject law allowing pipeline companies to override local restrictions (Sioux Falls Argus Leader)
Solar stocks tank on fears Trump will hamper clean energy progress, repeal IRA (CNBC)

What Others are Reading

Two key stories on The Hill right now:

5 takeaways as Trump wins White House for a second time

Former President Trump completed an extraordinary comeback early Wednesday morning, becoming the first president to win nonconsecutive terms in more than a century by defeating Vice President Harris in an unprecedented battle for the White House. Read more

RFK Jr. says ‘entire departments’ at FDA ‘have to go’

Opinions in The Hill

Op-ed related to energy & environment submitted to The Hill:

The window of opportunity to address our climate crisis is closing — and faster than ever

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