Trump’s Failing War on Green Power

Politico discusses the Trump administrations recent energy policies with Myron Ebell.

President Donald Trump and Republicans have tried again and again during the past year to turn back the clock on energy — pushing policies that would help fossil fuels stave off advances by solar and wind.

But they have repeatedly come up short.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s proposal to force electricity customers to subsidize ailing coal plants ran aground early this year. The Senate rebuffed efforts to water down tax credits for solar and wind power. And Trump’s move this week to impose a tariff on imported solar panels should put only a crimp in the growth of sun-powered energy, analysts have said, despite the outcry it’s generated from most of the U.S. solar industry.

…

While oil and natural gas companies have applauded Trump’s policies to open new areas for them to explore, conservative groups that typically support those industries have been loath to support administration plans to prop up coal or impose trade barriers they say violate free-market principles. But they have backed Trump’s plans to dismantle Obama’s climate and pollution regulations for power plants.

“We don’t like picking winners and losers,” said Myron Ebell, director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute. “I am concerned that at least on the margins, the administration seems interested in picking winners and losers. I’m not worried overall. It seems to me the main thrust of policy is getting government out of decision-making.”

Read the full article at Politico.