The leftover celebratory champagne hasn't yet gone flat in the last few, neglected glasses at Trump HQ, and already the opposition to the incoming Trump agenda is coming out of the woodwork. Yes, the hand-wringing and pearl-clutching will be epic in scale and scope, and many leftists will have fainting couches installed in every room, so as never to be caught away from one.
And when it comes to hand-wringing, pearl-clutching, and couch-fainting, nobody does it better than climate scolds. The next few weeks will bear witness to some epic whining, and, as should come as no surprise, they aren't wasting any time.
The election of Donald Trump as president for a second time and the Republican takeback of the U.S. Senate could undo many of the national climate policies that are most reducing planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, according to climate solutions experts.
When they list measures that are making the most difference, it lines up with policies Trump has said he’ll target.
Some of those policies are straight out of AOC's Green New Deal, and we should hope that President-Elect Trump will stomp the brakes on some of the Harris/Biden era plans. For example:
The Inflation Reduction Act, the nation’s landmark climate law
This law is significant because it is expected to reduce U.S. emissions by about 40% by 2030, if it unfolds as planned in the coming years.
It funnels money to measures that substitute clean energy for dirty. One major way it does so is by giving credits to businessespeople who build new solar and wind farms.
Could someone, anyone try explaining how something called "The Inflation Reduction Act" is a "landmark climate law"? But that last sentence is key; let me translate that into English:
"It funnels money to boondoggles that try to force winners and losers in the energy marketplace by pouring taxpayer money down low-energy-density ratholes that are unreliable and intermittent, at the cost of methods like natural gas and nuclear power that are already in existence and are clean, reliable and high-energy dense."
Pollution from electric power plants
The main U.S. rule aimed at reducing the climate change that comes from making electricity at power plants that burn coal is also considered vulnerable. This rule from the Environmental Protection Agency, announced in April, would force many coal-fired plants to capture 90% of their carbon emissions or shut down within eight years, Shepheard said.
Eight years? There are 204 coal-fired electrical generation plants in the United States in 2024. (China has 1,161; India, 285.) In 2022 those plants generated 832 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. How are we to replace that in eight years? Without, I remind you, building nuclear power plants, the only alternative that stands any chance of replacing that capacity?
But wait! There's more!
Fuel-efficient vehicles
The Environmental Protection Agency has issued its strongest rules on tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks under the Biden administration.
While it is unclear who will head the EPA under Trump, the agency is considered likely to begin a lengthy process to repeal and replace a host of standards including the one on tailpipe emissions, which Trump falsely calls an electric vehicle “mandate.″ Trump rolled back more than 100 environmental laws as president and that number is likely to grow in a second term.
I won't hazard any guess as to who might head up the EPA under Trump - or whether Trump will just shutter the EPA altogether, as there is no provision in the Constitution for it to even exist. Shut down Commerce, Education, Energy, HUD, Labor, and a bunch of others, while we're at it. Put Elon Musk on the case - he seems to be pretty good at identifying and getting rid of dead weight. Meanwhile, once again, the federal government will be removed from the role of addling the economy by trying to coerce people to choices they would not otherwise make.
Finally, here in the Great Land:
Drilling in Alaska refuge
Trump is almost certain to reinstate drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, continuing a partisan battle that has persisted for decades. Biden and other Democratic presidents have blocked drilling in the sprawling refuge, which is home to polar bears, caribou and other wildlife. Trump reinstated the drilling program in a 2017 tax cut law enacted by congressional Republicans. Even so, no drilling has occurred in the refuge.
Do these people now know that it takes years, even decades, to set up to even start drilling? Not to mention the reams of permits, evaluations, assessments, and inspections that have to be dealt with first. If President-Elect Trump is serious about this, and he seems to be, the first thing he needs to do is to streamline this process. Alaska has a lot of gas and oil - and other mineral resources - and they aren't doing anyone any good sitting there in the ground.
See Related: WARNING: A Harris Victory Would Usher in Economy-Crushing Green New Deal Lawfare
Need Another Reason to Vote? Harris/Biden 'Inflation Reduction' Money Spent on Green Energy Boondoggles
Yes, we are in for four years of epic whining and hand-wringing from climate scolds. The Doom Pixie will no doubt wag her finger and screech "HOW DARE YOU" at us, and more nuts will probably try blocking roads and throwing canned soup on famous historic works of art.
But we've been dealing with that all along. We may as well have abundant, cheap energy and the prosperity that goes along with it.
