Trump Tries to Demolish Biden’s “Green New Deal” on Day 1 — EV, Solar, & Wind Policies & Funding Attacked

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Even a con man tells the truth once in a while. Donald Trump, for whatever idiotic reason, hates cleantech. He has long hated wind turbines, thinks solar power is stupid and hates it, and trashes electric cars with misinformation on a regular basis. He also hates his political opponents having success of any kind. So, on his first day in office (again), he just signed an executive order trying to throw Biden’s “Green New Deal” in the trash.

Funny enough, Biden doesn’t refer to his tremendous clean energy and electric vehicle policies as the Green New Deal, but I did so the other day when writing about them and I’ve said before that Biden did effectively get that key progressive priority passed through a couple of big pieces of legislation — the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. What Biden’s Department of Energy pointed out, and I was covering, is that the majority of funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for clean energy and electric vehicles has been committed by now — billions of dollars of it. Nonetheless, Trump is now trying to claw some of that back and is also halting any further funding or progress. Why one would want to halt clear economic progress in critical industries of the present and the future, don’t ask me — there’s no point getting into that nonsense today. But let’s get into the key lines from his 1st day executive orders and see where things stand.

Following a bunch of lies — or just stupid misinformation to give Trump’s team the benefit of the doubt — here are some key lines from his “Unleashing American Energy” executive order:

• “to eliminate the ‘electric vehicle (EV) mandate’ and promote true consumer choice, which is essential for economic growth and innovation, by removing regulatory barriers to motor vehicle access; by ensuring a level regulatory playing field for consumer choice in vehicles; by terminating, where appropriate, state emissions waivers that function to limit sales of gasoline-powered automobiles; and by considering the elimination of unfair subsidies and other ill-conceived government-imposed market distortions that favor EVs over other technologies and effectively mandate their purchase by individuals, private businesses, and government entities alike by rendering other types of vehicles unaffordable” …
• “to safeguard the American people’s freedom to choose from a variety of goods and appliances, including but not limited to lightbulbs, dishwashers, washing machines, gas stoves, water heaters, toilets, and shower heads, and to promote market competition and innovation within the manufacturing and appliance industries” …
• “(a)  The following are revoked and any offices established therein are abolished:(i)     Executive Order 13990 of January 20, 2021 (Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis);

  (ii)    Executive Order 13992 of January 20, 2021 (Revocation of Certain Executive Orders Concerning Federal Regulation);

  (iii)   Executive Order 14008 of January 27, 2021 (Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad);

  (iv)    Executive Order 14007 of January 27, 2021 (President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology);

  (v)     Executive Order 14013 of February 4, 2021 (Rebuilding and Enhancing Programs to Resettle Refugees and Planning for the Impact of Climate Change on Migration);

  (vi)    Executive Order 14027 of May 7, 2021 (Establishment of the Climate Change Support Office);

  (vii)   Executive Order 14030 of May 20, 2021 (Climate-Related Financial Risk);

  (viii)  Executive Order 14037 of August 5, 2021 (Strengthening American Leadership in Clean Cars and Trucks);

  (ix)    Executive Order 14057 of December 8, 2021 (Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability);

  (x)     Executive Order 14072 of April 22, 2022 (Strengthening the Nation’s Forests, Communities, and Local Economies);

  (xi)    Executive Order 14082 of September 12, 2022 (Implementation of the Energy and Infrastructure Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022); and

  (xii)   Executive Order 14096 of April 21, 2023 (Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All).

  (b)  All activities, programs, and operations associated with the American Climate Corps, including actions taken by any agency shall be terminated immediately.  Within one day of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Interior shall submit a letter to all parties to the ‘American Climate Corps Memorandum of Understanding’ dated December 2023 to terminate the memorandum, and the head of each party to the memorandum shall agree to the termination in writing.”

• “Sec. 7.  Terminating the Green New Deal.  (a)  All agencies shall immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-169) or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58), including but not limited to funds for electric vehicle charging stations made available through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program, and shall review their processes, policies, and programs for issuing grants, loans, contracts, or any other financial disbursements of such appropriated funds for consistency with the law and the policy outlined in section 2 of this order.  Within 90 days of the date of this order, all agency heads shall submit a report to the Director of the NEC and Director of OMB that details the findings of this review, including recommendations to enhance their alignment with the policy set forth in section 2.  No funds identified in this subsection (a) shall be disbursed by a given agency until the Director of OMB and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy have determined that such disbursements are consistent with any review recommendations they have chosen to adopt.”

There’s much more in there that I guarantee you don’t want to read.

As you can see there, Trump says that agencies must “pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-169) or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58).” This part is a little complicated. Once funds have been allocated and committed, it doesn’t seem like they can halt or rescind payments. But we’ll have to see where this goes.

Without a doubt, though, it wasn’t all bluster and bluffing. Anyone who thought, “oh, Trump’s just saying these things, he won’t kill all of these policies or programs with Musk by his side,” well, now you can see that was a foolish assumption. Plus, Musk has his eyes on bigger matters — like being one of the best video game players in the world and hanging out with extreme right-wing politicians around the world. Tesla was an exciting project of another era. Musk largely got bored with Tesla and is getting his thrills elsewhere now. In my humble opinion, the Trump administration will not be helpful for Tesla and will be no friend of its mission: to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. Then again, for some reason, that mission has been deleted from the company’s website, along with various old blog posts from Elon Musk. I wonder why.

Related story from November 5: “What Happens to All of Those “Investing in America” Projects if Trump is Elected?“