When discussing their perspectives and policies on the topic of climate change, President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama have distinctly different stands.
Trump acknowledges the importance of traditional energy sources such as coal and natural gas, recognizing their crucial role in ensuring the stability of America’s energy grid. He believes they are essential to future technological advancements, such as the upcoming AI arms race.
Obama, on the other hand, is a staunch climate alarmist who derides conventional power sources and favors “green” energy.
Throughout his presidency, Obama initiated several policies that supported green energy projects, which were often considered unnecessary and not cost-effective, while imposing strict regulations on fossil fuels. In his first term, Trump sought to undo many of the actions taken by the Obama administration against the fossil fuel industry.
However, there was only so much that could be done given the constant distractions Trump faced throughout his first term.
One of the most consequential environmental regulations that Trump was unable to eliminate was Obama’s “Endangerment Finding.”
Many Americans might not be familiar with the Endangerment Finding, yet this obscure regulation has empowered the federal government to classify carbon dioxide as a “pollutant” subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act.
Unfortunately, a U.S. Supreme Court decision allowed the Obama administration to enact the rule in the first place.
In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a decision in Massachusetts v. EPA affirming that “greenhouse gases qualify as air pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act. The EPA is required to determine if emissions from new motor vehicles contribute to air pollution that may pose a risk to public health or welfare.”
Despite this interpretation being the common understanding of the ruling, it isn’t entirely precise. According to the majority opinion by former Justice John Paul Stevens, “We do not need to and will not address the question of whether on remand the EPA must make an endangerment finding, or whether policy concerns should influence the EPA’s actions if such a finding is made. We only assert that the EPA must base its actions or inactions on the statute.”
So, the 2007 decision did not determine that carbon dioxide is a harmful air pollutant. Rather, it granted that the EPA has the authority to determine if carbon dioxide is a harmful greenhouse gas based solely upon unequivocal data.
Trump’s EPA Administrator, Lee Zeldin, has made rescinding the Endangerment Finding a priority.
“A lot of people are out there listening, they might not know what the endangerment finding is. If you ask congressional Democrats to describe what it is, the left would say that it means that carbon dioxide is a pollutant, carbon dioxide is an endangerment to human health. They might say methane is a pollutant, methane is an endangerment to human health,” Zeldin said on the Ruthless podcast.
“That’s an oversimplified, I would say inaccurate way to describe it,” Zeldin added. “The Obama administration said that carbon dioxide, when mixed with a bunch of other well-mixed gases, greenhouse gases, that it contributes to climate change. How much? They don’t say… they say that climate change engenders human health, so because of these different mental leaps… then there were all sorts of vehicle regulations that followed.”
Zeldin said repealing the Endangerment Finding is like “basically driving a dagger into the heart of the climate change religion.” That is music to my ears.
It is also great news for Americans.
Climate alarmists and environmental zealots claim that carbon dioxide emissions must be eliminated no matter the cost.
They are wrong. By denigrating CO2 and attempting to regulate it to death, they have harmed tens of millions of Americans with higher energy bills. Moreover, their silly belief that carbon dioxide is a harmful air pollutant has put the entire U.S. energy grid at risk.
As we enter the AI era, the demand for dependable and affordable energy is going to rise rapidly.
As of now, natural gas and coal are the best sources to power America into the AI age.
In “Affordable, Reliable, and Clean: An Objective Scorecard to Assess Competing Energy Sources,” Heartland Institute President James Taylor notes, “Affordable, reliable, and clean are the foundational elements of sound energy policy. An in-depth analysis of seven common electrical power sources reveals that natural gas makes the most sense according to the affordable, reliable, and clean standard, with nuclear, hydro, and coal not far behind. Biomass trails by a moderate margin while wind and solar stand apart as the least desirable power sources.”
Fortunately, the Trump administration knows that natural gas and coal are vital to America’s future. With the Endangerment Finding on the chopping block, the United States is even better position to achieve energy dominance, which will pave the way to American AI supremacy.
