March Virtual Press Briefing: Energy and Environment: The Trump Challenge

Lee Zeldin, new Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has said, “It’s important for us urgently to do everything in our power to make sure Americans have the cleanest air, land, and water. That’s something that keeps me up at night."

Environmentalists and many in the energy sector believe the Trump administration is doing just the opposite. It has taken aim at a raft of laws and regulations which protect the environment, including the National Environmental Policy Act, bulwark of a vast structure of environmental laws and protections since it was signed into law by President Nixon in 1970.

There is alarm in the utility industry about the administration’s antipathy to wind generation. Its enthusiasm for coal alarms clean air advocates who see it as a step backward.

There also is alarm about the future of transitional funding guaranteed during the Biden administration, under the Inflation Reduction Act, to enhance clean energy and finance transition from polluting fuels to green ones. That funding is frozen and the Department of Government Efficiency operatives have slashed employment in the Department of Energy’s loan office. What now?

The rural electric cooperatives are worried about $9 billion in financing they were to get from the Department of Agriculture for rural electrification projects.

Lesser laws like the Endangered Species Act, it is feared by their defenders, may be repealed or circumvented.

The United States Energy Association at its next virtual press briefing, set for March 5, at 11 a.m. EST, will examine what to expect from the Trump administration in its reshaping of environmental policy, and the nature and scope of the legal opposition. Court challenges have already been filed and many more are expected.

As usual, a panel of experts will be questioned by a panel of senior journalists who cover energy and the environment.

Journalist Llewellyn King organizes and moderates the press briefings, which are broadcast live on Zoom and last an hour. Mark Menezes gives welcoming remarks and is on hand to share his deep knowledge as president and CEO of USEA and as a former deputy secretary of energy.

The Experts:

Andrew Wheeler, former Administrator, EPA
Tom Falcone, President & CEO, Large Public Power Council
Emily Fisher, Chief Strategy Officer, SEPA Power
Karl Moor, Chief Executive Officer, Powerscape Global
Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Director, Center for Energy, Climate and Environment, The Heritage Foundation
Derek Murrow, Senior Director, Federal Power, Climate and Energy, NRDC
Brad Molotsky, Partner, Duane Morris

The Reporters: