Trump Issues An Assault on the Environment; How Advocates Push Back

Last week Donald Trump released a noxious cloud of executive orders designed to accelerate climate catastrophe, undermine clean energy, and despoil public lands, waters, air, and health across America. 

Immediately, advocates for clean energy, climate action, and environmental justice in North Carolina and nationwide announced plans and determination to fight back. 

“We need to be the leaders on clean energy. We need to be the leaders facing climate change. Scientists have warned and warned and warned us that we need to do something,” said Dan Crawford, the Director of Governmental Affairs for the NC League of Conservation Voters (NCLCV). 

Instead, Crawford noted, Trump’s order pulling the United States out of the Paris Climate Accords (again) puts us on a short list of nations that are refusing to take part in global efforts to fight climate change. “That puts us up there with countries like Libya and Iran, that have not joined the Paris Accords, and that’s usually a list that we don’t want to be part of.”

National leaders like Tiernan Sittenfeld, Senior Vice President of the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) had similar thoughts: “When it comes to the environment, the only things Trump believes in recycling are his own dirty and dangerous ideas. And it is crystal clear that his administration is all in to pad Big Oil Billionaire profits at the expense of our air, water, lands, climate, health, pocketbooks, and jobs. But the clean energy economy is here to stay, and we are more determined than ever to defend recent climate progress and bedrock environmental laws and to continue to make progress at the state and local levels.” 

Let’s take a closer look at some of the most notable of these environment-related executive orders.

A Fake “Energy Emergency” to Pad the Profits of Big Oil Billionaires 

Trump led his main pitch for relying more heavily on oil, gas, and the required drilling, pipelines, and other costly infrastructure by declaring a fake “energy emergency.” This order “requires agencies to identify and exercise any lawful emergency authorities available to them to facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, and generation of domestic energy resources, including, but not limited to, on Federal lands. Orders the Administrator of the EPA and Secretary of Energy to consider issuing emergency fuel waivers to allow the year-round sale of E15 gasoline to meet any projected temporary shortfalls in the supply of gasoline.” Analysts believe that the “emergency” declaration may be in part an attempt to strengthen the legal argument for suspending various environmental protection laws and rules. 

It rolls together attempts to undo President Biden’s protection of offshore waters and public lands as parts of a big package of gifts to Trump’s buddies and financial backers in the Big Oil billionaire class. The so-called “Unleashing American Energy” order “establishes a policy to encourage fossil-fuel energy production and exploration on Federal lands and waters and to eliminate the electric vehicle (“EV”) “mandate”. It requires the heads of departments to review all regulations that “burden” domestic energy production and use, and to implement action plans to rescind or revise such regulations. The order rescinds a number of Biden’s Executive Orders on energy and the environment and implements actions to terminate the “Green New Deal”. It directs agency heads to eliminate permitting delays and to expedite projects deemed “essential” to the Nation’s economy or security. It also directs DOE to restart review of LNG export applications and to identify all agency actions that impose “undue burdens” on domestic mining.” 

These actions are the ones that add the greatest risk to currently unspoiled national lands and waters, such as the Alaskan wilderness and wildlife refuges. Speeding up and increasing production of oil, methane, and coal are also among the steps most certain to increase direct water and air pollution harming the health of states and communities. 

Hiking Demand by Eliminating EVs and Efficiency Standards

Trump attempts to revoke auto efficiency standards including the clean car and truck rules, in an effort to increase demand for oil and reduce the availability of cleaner alternatives. Clean energy and climate action advocates emphasize that most of these actions will require the Trump Administration to go through the rule change process itself, delaying the effect and providing avenues to fight back. They also note that the broad investments nationwide in new plants for electric vehicle and battery production provide state and local leaders and business interests (including in Republican-leaning areas) powerful incentives to fight against the Trump reversals. 

Directly Attacking Clean, Renewable Energy Development, Especially Wind Power

The Trump Administration will be actively looking for opportunities to delay or claw back investments in renewable energy development across the board. Trump’s irrational animosity toward wind energy puts that development at special risk, especially projects at the stage of needing new federal permits to proceed now. His order asserts the power to “temporarily” withdraw all parts of the federal offshore waters from leasing for wind projects, and to suspend the federal permitting process for wind projects. 

Projects already permitted and under construction seem least at risk, and having the strongest legal case to fight any attempts to block their completion. However, newly leased areas which have not yet received essential federal permits are at risk of delay until the Trump administration is out of office or is overruled by Congress or the courts. 

Revoking Environmental Justice Rules and Programs

Also among Trump’s most outrageous actions are his sweeping repeals of Biden Administration executive orders and agency initiatives aimed at cleaning up disproportionate damage to the health of disadvantaged communities. 

LCV and other environmental and climate justice advocates particularly decried Trump’s barrage of executive orders aimed at immigrants and the communities in which many immigrants live. 

“Trump’s inhumane executive orders targeting immigrants for political gain will harm the privacy and fundamental civil liberties of communities across the country, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status,” said LCV Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld. “These abhorrent executive orders — going as far as the unconstitutional revocation of birthright citizenship – are not about national security or protecting communities; they demonstrate the disturbing cruelty Trump and his allies have promised to enact against immigrant communities and communities of color — which will have far-reaching and unintended consequences for all citizens and their civil rights. Immigrants have been vital to the economy of this country since its inception, and globally they are too often disproportionately on the frontlines of the fossil-fueled climate crisis and pollution that have made their communities unlivable.

“LCV will continue to work with our partners at the state, local, and federal levels to help protect communities, no matter their immigration status, from these chaotic and inhumane policies intended to dismantle families and communities.” 

What Can You Do?

Broad and determined public resistance to these destructive policies is already underway in North Carolina and around America. NCLCV will continue to follow the details of the Trump anti-environmental initiatives, and report on the most effective strategies being employed to resist these harms and fight back for continued progress. Here are a few ways you can get involved:

• Help us push back on this anti-environmental by donating today.
• Help us bolster our environmental leaders and showing them we have their backs by joining us for our Annual Green Tie Awards on May 21st.
• Join the social dialogue and share our social media with your friends and family. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
• Keep a look out for emails from us on how and when to contact national and state legislators to influence environmental bills and policies.

There is a long fight ahead of us, and we are so grateful for all you do to advocate for the environment. Together, we will push back against this anti-environmental agenda and protect the air, water, and future for our families, communities, and our country.