1 00:00:01,500 --> 00:00:03,400 GEOFF BENNETT: Among the many other big moves taken by the 2 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:06,266 Trump administration, boosting fossil fuel development has been a priority. 3 00:00:06,266 --> 00:00:11,033 In a series of actions, President Trump is following through on his promise not just to 4 00:00:11,033 --> 00:00:16,033 ramp up oil and gas production, but to sharply curtail any effort to deal with climate change. 5 00:00:17,466 --> 00:00:19,466 William Brangham has been tracking this and joins us now. 6 00:00:19,466 --> 00:00:23,300 So, William, we have already seen major action these first two weeks on the Trump 7 00:00:23,300 --> 00:00:27,566 administration's energy policy. What are the biggest moves so far? 8 00:00:27,566 --> 00:00:30,900 WILLIAM BRANGHAM: He has been going gangbusters, as my mom used to put it, 9 00:00:30,900 --> 00:00:33,766 on many fronts, myriad ways he's been doing this. He's been doing 10 00:00:33,766 --> 00:00:38,066 this through federal government agencies like the EPA, through his appointments, 11 00:00:38,066 --> 00:00:43,066 his Cabinet secretaries at Energy and Interior, and through executive orders. 12 00:00:43,066 --> 00:00:48,033 A couple of examples. On day one, he declared an energy emergency, which basically tells 13 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,833 every federal agency to do everything they can to ramp up oil and gas production on federal lands. 14 00:00:55,933 --> 00:00:59,733 Trump has also pulled out of the Paris climate accord, the global treaty to bring down emissions. 15 00:01:01,733 --> 00:01:04,500 He's backed out of that again. He's targeted Biden's push for electric vehicles. 16 00:01:04,500 --> 00:01:09,200 I mean, the list goes on and on. There's just been a lot of efforts to go on this front. 17 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:11,533 GEOFF BENNETT: And we know that, with President Trump, personnel 18 00:01:11,533 --> 00:01:16,433 is so often policy. Who are the people in his administration who are backing him up on this? 19 00:01:16,433 --> 00:01:18,600 WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That's right. 20 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:22,033 The argument that his Cabinet secretaries and that he has been making all along is that the 21 00:01:23,966 --> 00:01:28,100 Biden administration held back domestic energy production. And we should say, 22 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:32,866 oil and gas production in America is at record highs right now. And 23 00:01:32,866 --> 00:01:35,466 it became so under the Biden administration. 24 00:01:35,466 --> 00:01:39,833 But all of Trump's Cabinet picks argue that Biden didn't do enough on that front, 25 00:01:39,833 --> 00:01:44,266 and they promised to do differently. So that's Lee Zeldin at the EPA. That is Chris 26 00:01:44,266 --> 00:01:49,233 Wright at Energy. And that includes Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who described during 27 00:01:51,300 --> 00:01:53,866 his confirmation hearings how the Trump administration will do things differently. 28 00:01:53,866 --> 00:01:57,066 DOUG BURGUM, U.S. Interior Secretary: When energy production is restricted in America, 29 00:01:57,066 --> 00:02:01,633 it doesn't reduce demand. It just shifts productions to countries like Russia and 30 00:02:01,633 --> 00:02:06,633 Iran, whose autocratic leaders not only don't care at all about the environment, 31 00:02:08,700 --> 00:02:11,666 but they use their revenues from energy sales to fund wars against us and our allies. 32 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,066 President Trump's energy-dominance vision will end those wars abroad, will make life 33 00:02:17,066 --> 00:02:22,066 more affordable for every family in America by driving down inflation. And President Trump will 34 00:02:24,466 --> 00:02:27,100 achieve those goals while championing clean air, clean water, and protecting our beautiful lands. 35 00:02:29,166 --> 00:02:31,166 GEOFF BENNETT: So this raises the question, then, William, of what does this mean for 36 00:02:31,166 --> 00:02:35,533 President Biden's signature achievement on climate, the Inflation Reduction Act? 37 00:02:35,533 --> 00:02:37,933 WILLIAM BRANGHAM: President Trump, well, one of his first actions was 38 00:02:37,933 --> 00:02:42,200 to issue an executive order that dealt specifically with terminating the Green 39 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:45,300 New Deal. That's how he refers to all of these kinds of efforts. 40 00:02:45,300 --> 00:02:50,300 And that ordered all federal agencies to pause any of the money that was appropriated under the 41 00:02:52,466 --> 00:02:56,300 Inflation Reduction Act or the Infrastructure Act. They had to clarify later to say it was 42 00:02:58,333 --> 00:03:01,033 really only climate-related things, but that is still a large part of that bill. 43 00:03:01,033 --> 00:03:05,800 So this order now means that a lot of those projects that were under way all over the 44 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:10,800 country and the jobs connected to them are on hold. That could be things like big battery 45 00:03:12,900 --> 00:03:16,300 manufacturing plants to a $5 billion loan to clean up school buses and make them electric. 46 00:03:17,633 --> 00:03:19,733 We talked to Julie McNamara. She's an analyst at 47 00:03:19,733 --> 00:03:23,933 the Union of Concerned Scientists. Here's what she said this means. 48 00:03:23,933 --> 00:03:26,466 JULIE MCNAMARA, Union of Concerned Scientists: We have seen projects have to be stopped. We 49 00:03:26,466 --> 00:03:31,066 have seen companies starting to reconsider whether or not they will move forward here. 50 00:03:31,066 --> 00:03:36,066 That is a terrible outcome for our country and it has these long-lasting ramifications. 51 00:03:38,033 --> 00:03:42,400 And so by having this coordinated effort to really -- to send this chill that this 52 00:03:44,300 --> 00:03:47,433 is not a place that will be welcoming new investment. It's a deep concern. 53 00:03:47,433 --> 00:03:50,133 WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So there is some uncertainty as to how effective Trump 54 00:03:50,133 --> 00:03:55,133 will be at gutting that act, but this historic effort to ramp up batteries, 55 00:03:57,100 --> 00:04:01,300 wind, solar, nuclear to address climate change all of those things are in doubt. 56 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:04,366 GEOFF BENNETT: And this is all unfolding as we're getting more 57 00:04:04,366 --> 00:04:06,866 warnings about the climate. Last month was the world's hottest 58 00:04:06,866 --> 00:04:11,533 January on record. Last year was the hottest year on record. Tell us more. 59 00:04:11,533 --> 00:04:16,533 WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That's right. There's a new study out from climate scientist Jim Hansen. He was one of the first scientists 60 00:04:18,466 --> 00:04:21,700 to ring this alarm bell about climate back in the 1980s. He has a new paper out, 61 00:04:23,633 --> 00:04:26,666 which is a bit of an outlier, but he has been vindicated very often in the past. 62 00:04:26,666 --> 00:04:30,700 His paper says that warming is accelerating faster than we anticipated, 63 00:04:30,700 --> 00:04:35,700 that the goal of the Paris accords to hold warming below two degrees Celsius 64 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:41,233 compared to industrial times, that that is virtually out of reach, 65 00:04:43,166 --> 00:04:47,266 and that some of these more serious climate tipping points might be unavoidable. 66 00:04:49,333 --> 00:04:53,233 Whether you dismiss his paper or not, his concern is affirmed by the vast majority of scientists, 67 00:04:55,533 --> 00:04:58,933 that our use of coal and oil and gas is changing this climate to a dangerous and unpredictable way. 68 00:05:01,166 --> 00:05:06,133 We talked earlier with Chris Field at Stanford Woods Institute. Here's how he describes it. 69 00:05:08,333 --> 00:05:10,500 CHRIS FIELD, Director, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment: The evidence is -- for 70 00:05:10,500 --> 00:05:12,800 climate change and the human role in causing the warming that we have seen in recent decades 71 00:05:14,766 --> 00:05:18,733 is really overwhelmingly clear. There are no Democratic or Republican thermometers. 72 00:05:20,633 --> 00:05:24,233 Ignoring the problem doesn't make it go away. It just means we have a more 73 00:05:24,233 --> 00:05:29,133 serious problem to deal with by the time we finally get serious about addressing it. 74 00:05:29,133 --> 00:05:32,133 WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Of course, President Trump doesn't think we need to do this. He thinks 75 00:05:32,133 --> 00:05:36,633 all of these concerns about climate change are exaggerated and overblown. 76 00:05:36,633 --> 00:05:41,633 And he is directing his administration and now the federal government to act accordingly. 77 00:05:43,133 --> 00:05:44,066 GEOFF BENNETT: William Brangham, our thanks to you, as always. 78 00:05:44,066 --> 00:05:44,633 WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Thanks, Geoff.