Tuesday’s presidential election drastically changed how the federal government will or won’t deal with climate change and other environmental issues. President-elect Donald Trump has called climate change a hoax in the past and has downplayed the serious nature of global warming. Now he replaces President Joe Biden, who spent much of the past four years dealing with the problem.
Kara Holsopple talked with The Allegheny Front’s Julie Grant and Reid Frazier for their insights.
If you’d like to learn more about the environmental rollbacks in the first Trump administration and how agencies were staffed with industry insiders. We did a four-year, 100-episode podcast Trump on Earth.
LISTEN to the interview
Kara Holsopple: So, how did climate change and the environment play into this race from your perspective?
Reid Frazier: Well, from my vantage point, it didn’t. Democrats avoided talking about it. The big problem facing Vice President Harris in this election, one of them at least, was inflation and the high costs of things for Americans.
And though Americans, by a wide margin are worried about climate change and want the government to do more to counteract it, voters clearly thought the price of everyday things was the most important issue in this election and not dealing with climate change — that just didn’t come up.
Julie Grant: Harris had a good story to tell about climate change and the actions of the current administration, but it seemed like her campaign didn’t think it was a smart story to tell. It seemed like they were really just trying to position themselves more in the middle so that people didn’t see her as a radical left, green candidate.
And as we just heard from some of the voters we spoke with on Tuesday, they had no idea about her position on climate change and the environment.
Kara Holsopple: Biden has started the work of transitioning to a clean energy economy in lots of ways. What’s he done?
Reid Frazier: He’s done a lot.
Julie Grant: This administration passed landmark climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act. They also got the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed. And these have brought in something like $5.6 billion into Pennsylvania for hundreds of projects, things like tree planting, stormwater improvements, flood mitigation, cleaning up abandoned mine lands, capping oil and gas wells, all kinds of things.
Reid Frazier: So the initial tab for all these climate investments in the Inflation Reduction Act was $390 billion over ten years. But since some of these funds are basically unlimited tax credits, the recent estimates have put that number at closer to $790 billion. And we should say that more than half, something like 60% of all, IRA, that’s the Inflation Reduction Act, clean energy projects have gone into Republican congressional districts.
So, in addition to all these IRA funds and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law projects, the Biden administration has gone back to the work of regulating greenhouse gas emissions and emissions of other pollutants through the regulatory process.
Julie Grant: They finalized new tailpipe emissions for vehicles and also power plant standards for carbon dioxide pollution.
Kara Holsopple: So we’re looking at a second Trump administration now. Can he just undo all of this?
Reid Frazier: Well, not all of it, at least not right away. A lot of the money that’s gone for things like renewable energy, electric vehicles and other projects has gone out the door.
But there almost certainly will be a swerve back into the fossil fuel world. And I listened in on a call with Scott Segal [this week]. He’s with Bracewell, which is a Washington, D.C., energy lobbying firm. And he predicts an aggressive push by Trump to go back to fossil fuels. And here’s Scott Segal.
Scott Segal: And what that really means is probably in anticipation of an immediate spate of executive orders to expedite drilling permits on federal lands, an attempt to fast track pipeline approvals, including previously rejected projects, perhaps expanding offshore [oil] drilling programs.
Reid Frazier: And we could see another withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement and return of fossil fuel industry lobbyists and others close to the industry into the administration. For instance, one leading name to head the Department of Energy is former Governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota. That’s obviously a huge oil and gas state, and Burgum would be expected to promote that industry within the Department of Energy.
On the subject of renewable energy. We will see what Trump does. It’s hard to speculate what will happen, but almost certainly, there will be less emphasis on renewables and clean energy and probably almost no discussion of what to do about climate change, even as the world lags far behind what scientists say we need to do to meet the promise of the Paris climate agreement.
Julie Grant: And remember, during the campaign, all the talk about Project 2025, that controversial plan developed by the Heritage Foundation? Well, the nonprofit group FracTracker Alliance took a look at that plan through an environmental lens.
What they’re expecting is an administration that is looking to promote fossil fuel interests and push out career agency experts. They’re expecting political appointees in those positions, those who are going to push the administration’s political agenda and the fossil fuel agenda.
In his first administration, Trump rolled back more than 125 environmental rules, including those for air pollution that impact us here in Pittsburgh and water quality.
The Biden administration unwound many of those or pushed those back, but we can expect even more deregulation for environment and public health rules that impact people’s everyday lives.
Kara Holsopple: Julie, you sat in on a call among environmental groups about what’s next for the environmental movement. What did you hear?
Julie Grant: Well, of course, they all expressed disappointment. There were folks from the Environmental Defense Fund and the group Climate Power.
Ben Jealous, who is executive director of the Sierra Club, said they’re gearing up as environmental watchdogs to fight the Trump administration in court, as they did the first time. He said they’ve seen this movie before.
Ben Jealous: We found a way last time to keep making progress during the first Trump administration, and we will find ways to make progress with him in office now.
Julie Grant: So what Jealous said is Sierra Club is really gearing up its legal team. They’re gearing up their Freedom of Information Act requests and their team that takes care of that to make sure that they know what’s going on and that the environmental community can keep track and fight where needed to protect the environment and public health.
Kara Holsopple: Okay, so get out your crystal balls. What do you think we’ll be reporting on for the next four years?
Reid Frazier: Well, Kara, it’s going to be a wild ride. We know that as we saw last time around. I’m interested to see what will happen with renewable energy. You know, should Trump and the Republicans kind of go after some of these subsidies that renewables have enjoyed in the last few years?
Also, the hydrogen industry. It’s going to be pretty fascinating because you have buy-in there from the oil and gas industry, which could potentially reap a lot of rewards from Inflation Reduction Act credits and things like that.
And also, what is going to happen with air pollution regulations like PM 2.5? That’s tiny fine particles. That is a very important regulation for public health, especially in places like Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is, that have generally poorer than average air quality.
Julie Grant: One thing I’m really going to be looking at is the auto industry. The Biden administration, as we mentioned earlier, created tailpipe emission rules and, along with subsidies for the American manufacturing industry, started moving American carmakers into more electric vehicles.
There are also billions of dollars coming into Pennsylvania alone to build infrastructure charging stations — $19 billion, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, to build more charging stations. Only three so far have been built, but 90 more are on the way by spring this coming year.
So, is [electric vehicles] far enough along that what the government does doesn’t matter anymore? Or is the political climate where people think that buying an electric vehicle is tied to their political position going to be stronger, and the auto industry is going to respond to that and kind of really pull back on electric vehicles? So I think that’ll be interesting to watch.
Kara Holsopple: And I’m going to be looking at protections for endangered species and all kinds of other issues. Sounds like we’re ready. Thank you both for talking with me about this.
Julie Grant: Well, it’s good to check in with you both. Thanks.
Reid Frazier: Thanks, Kara.
