Thanks to a barrage of executive orders during the first week of his second term, President Donald Trump aims to make good on his campaign promise to “drill, baby, drill” and reinstate some of his first-term climate policies.
Per the White House, Trump ushered through “hundreds” of policy actions via executive orders in the first 100 hours of his presidency. Some of his initial actions concern climate policy and how climate tech is deployed—and cancel many fossil fuel limits the Biden administration set forth.
Ixnay on the offshore ind-way: In one executive order, Trump put seven offshore wind leases on ice. The leases, involving projects off the East Coast, are currently considered withdrawn until further notice from the administration.
Trump also stalled any future leases that would place offshore wind farms on the outer continental shelf of the US—including areas in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, and on the coasts of American states or territories.
“This withdrawal temporarily prevents consideration of any area in the OCS for any new or renewed wind energy leasing for the purposes of generation of electricity or any other such use derived from the use of wind,” the order stated.
Though the order made headlines, some wind power advocates told Canary Media that Trump’s actions were nothing more than a “scare tactic” and questioned whether they would even hold up, noting the “low success rate” of previous Trump executive orders.
Further withdrawals: And as he did in his first term, Trump withdrew from the United Nations-backed Paris Climate Accord, the international treaty that almost 200 countries signed in 2015 to keep the global temperature from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Through the treaty, “developed” countries, like the US, promised to send financial support to smaller countries that are more vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis.
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In his executive order titled “Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements,” Trump stated that he intends to do just that.
“These agreements steer American taxpayer dollars to countries that do not require, or merit, financial assistance in the interests of the American people,” the executive order said. “It is the policy of my administration to put the interests of the United States and the American people first in the development and negotiation of any international agreements with the potential to damage or stifle the American economy.”
After Trump withdrew from the accord the first time, climate-focused governors from New York, California, and Washington created the US Climate Alliance. Now, the group, which has grown to include governors from 24 states, says it will “continue America’s work to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.”
“We will not turn our back on America’s commitments,” Governor Kathy Hochul of New York and Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico wrote in a letter to the UN. “For our health and our future, we will press forward.”
Energy emergency: Trump also declared via executive order that the US is in a “national energy emergency,” stating that there isn’t enough energy in the country to “meet our nation’s needs.” However, the Trump administration defined energy resources as “crude oil, natural gas, lease condensates, natural gas liquids, refined petroleum products, uranium, coal, biofuels, geothermal heat, the kinetic movement of flowing water, and critical minerals”—notably excluding wind, solar, and other types of renewable energy.