The Trump administration is a champion of fossil fuels. They have killed 40 regulations and expanded extraction including offshore drilling in the Arctic. They have begun drilling on public lands putting 42 national monuments at risk. To add insult to injury this is an administration that opposes efficiency.
With support from fossil fuel lobby organizations like, API, Count on Coal, the National Mining Association, the Western Energy Alliance, and the National Petroleum Council in the Department of Energy, the administration has dismantled progress made on energy during the Obama administration.
The fossil fuel industry wields tremendous power in the US and under Trump their hold has only increased. The US is already the world’s largest producer of fossil fuels and now they are on the cusp of eclipsing Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest net exporter. They use their wealth to buy politicians and political outcomes.
The pro-fossil fuel agenda of the US was made clear during the COP24 proceedings in Katowice Poland. American President Donald Trump and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin made it clear that they are working together to promote fossil fuels. At COP24 the two nations joined forces with Saudi Arabia to resist the
conclusions of the latest IPCC research.
Putin and Trump are conspiring to protect the fossil fuel industry and resist climate science. Meteorologist Eric Holthaus explains it this way: “There’s no way to understand Trump’s relationship with Russia without putting oil and climate politics at its center. If you’re upset at Trump and Putin for undermining our democracy, just wait until you find out that they are likely colluding to destroy our planet’s climate system, too.”
