Biden and Trump push diverging US energy policy messages
Outgoing President Joe Biden and incoming President-elect Donald Trump are pushing conflicting visions for America's energy future.
Outgoing President Joe Biden and incoming President-elect Donald Trump are pushing conflicting visions for America's energy future.
Outgoing President Joe Biden and incoming President-elect Donald Trump are pushing conflicting visions for America's energy future.
President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump are proposing starkly different visions for America's energy future. Biden is emphasizing a need for more clean energy production while Trump prioritizes fossil fuels.
Speaking from the Amazon rainforest following an aerial tour of the world's largest tropical rainforest Sunday, Biden highlighted his administration's clean energy achievements, pushing global partners and the U.S. to continue the fight against climate change.
"We don't have to choose between the environment and the economy. We can do both," Biden said. "Some may seek to wane or delay the clean energy revolution that's underway in America, but nobody—nobody—can reverse it."
President-elect Trump has vowed a different approach.
"We will drill baby, drill, drill baby drill," Trump said in remarks during his election eve rally in Grand Rapids earlier this month.
Trump has long campaigned on the climate change issue, painting it as a hoax while arguing that oil production has fallen under Democrats despite hitting record highs under the Biden administration. The president-elect has also promised to slash energy costs in half by his first year in office.
Doubling down on his vow to drill more, Trump announced his nomination of fossil fuel executive Chris Wright for U.S. Energy Secretary on Saturday.
However, skeptics have raised concerns about reaching Trump's far-reaching goals of helping the environment and economy.
In an interview, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky expressed worry over the impact Trump's policies could have on thousands of green energy jobs already in the U.S.
"EV-related jobs on the line. And those are only growing," Beshear said. "They are game-changing investments that have created a bright future here. And I'm certainly going to do everything I can as governor of Kentucky to protect them."