Trump Is Going After Climate Regulations

Amid reports President-elect Trump plans to appoint an “energy czar” to roll back his predecessor’s environmental regulations, we look at some of the reasons behind why the system might need reform. (City Journal)

The status quo: The Biden administration’s sweeping climate action platform achieved some wins — including an increase in EV sales — but it’s not clear how much of an impact his policies ultimately had.

• CO2 emissions from fossil fuels have been modestly but steadily declining for decades and declined 3% annually under Trump, according to Energy Information Administration data from April.

• Emissions have increased 1.8% per year during Biden’s tenure.

• According to EIA projections, Biden will close out his term with an overall increase in emissions of 1.0% annually.

The downsides: On the flip side, the regulatory approach favored by climate activists has imposed steep financial costs and administrative burdens.

• Politico reported this year that the $1.1 trillion allocated for climate and infrastructure projects was such a daunting figure, the Biden administration was having trouble spending it all (just 17% spent as of May).

• Critics have also raised concerns that unrelated partisan concerns are being snuck in via the climate agenda.

• For instance, Biden’s environmental justice policy requires 40% of benefits from environmental programs to flow to “marginalized” communities.

Case in point: In a prime example of how the environmental bureaucracy could get in the way of its own climate goals, last week Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed his company’s plans to build a nuclear-powered AI data center were scuttled after regulators discovered endangered bees at the building site.

Bubba’s Two Cents

I’m not against environmental laws in principle. Quite the opposite, in fact. The government should have a role in protecting the environment. But I don’t think it’s too much to ask for laws and regulations to be efficient and contend with tradeoffs, like the need to build affordable housing.

Another approach, as Pirate Wires executive editor Brandon Gorell has argued, is to let the market do some of this work. Tech giants are increasingly investing in nuclear power (one of the cleanest and safest forms of energy) to meet the rising energy demands of AI.

Gorell: “We’re in the middle of an AI revolution, and the technology industry needs as much clean energy as possible, prompting musical artist Grimes to note ‘would be cool if nature ends up being saved by the promise of the machine god.’”