By Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Donald Trump would repeal many of President Joe Biden’s clean energy rules while accelerating the approval of power plants to meet the nation’s rising electricity needs, the Republican’s presidential campaign said on Thursday.
Should he win the Nov. 5 election, Trump would eliminate clean energy rules imposed by Biden and his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, on both power plants and vehicle emissions. These rules are intended to reduce CO2 emissions from the energy sector while encouraging the auto industry to switch to electric cars to reduce tailpipe pollution.
The former president “will immediately stop on day one all Biden-Harris policies that distort energy markets, limit consumer choice, and drive up costs for consumers,” former U.S. Secretary David Bernhardt told reporters. Trump’s Interior Department, to reporters in a call organized by the campaign. .
Bernhardt said Trump would also implement fast-track 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 withdraw the United States from the Paris accord on combating climate change, as he did during his 2017-2021 term in the White House.
The policy proposals were in line with previous statements and closely aligned with Trump’s efforts during his presidency to encourage industrial and fossil fuel projects and reduce regulations.
In response, James Singer, a Harris campaign spokesman, said Trump wants to sell out America’s energy future to Big Oil executives and that under Biden and Harris, “American energy of all types has reached record production levels, resulting in hundreds of thousands of new energy sources.” jobs for American workers because of her leadership.”
“Trump’s proposals would raise prices for consumers, pollute our air and water and set us back,” Singer said.
During Biden’s presidency, U.S. oil and gas production reached the highest levels of any country on record, despite his administration’s broader efforts to transition to cleaner energy. Congress passed Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which includes hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies for clean energy such as wind, solar, hydrogen and 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 withdrawing parts of the IRA, Corey Lewandowski, a Trump campaign adviser, avoided the question.
Bernhardt also said Trump will “put coal country back to work so 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 energy producers turned to abundant 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. Over the next decade, the rules will effectively require coal-fired power plants and new natural gas-fired generators to capture emissions before they reach the atmosphere.
Bernhardt said Trump would “modernize” the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to speed up the approval of new nuclear power plants and extend the life of existing ones.
“There is legislation to address some of these issues, but there is still a long way to go,” Bernhardt said.
Biden signed legislation in July to reform the agency to speed approvals, and his administration has sought to encourage new projects, restart shuttered plants and delay planned retirements of nuclear reactors.
