WEBVTT 00:01.500 --> 00:03.400 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% GEOFF BENNETT: Among the many other big moves taken by the 00:03.400 --> 00:06.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Trump administration, boosting fossil fuel development has been a priority. 00:06.266 --> 00:11.033 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% In a series of actions, President Trump is following through on his promise not just to 00:11.033 --> 00:16.033 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% ramp up oil and gas production, but to sharply curtail any effort to deal with climate change. 00:17.466 --> 00:19.466 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% William Brangham has been tracking this and joins us now. 00:19.466 --> 00:23.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% So, William, we have already seen major action these first two weeks on the Trump 00:23.300 --> 00:27.566 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% administration's energy policy. What are the biggest moves so far? 00:27.566 --> 00:30.900 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: He has been going gangbusters, as my mom used to put it, 00:30.900 --> 00:33.766 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% on many fronts, myriad ways he's been doing this. He's been doing 00:33.766 --> 00:38.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% this through federal government agencies like the EPA, through his appointments, 00:38.066 --> 00:43.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% his Cabinet secretaries at Energy and Interior, and through executive orders. 00:43.066 --> 00:48.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% A couple of examples. On day one, he declared an energy emergency, which basically tells 00:50.400 --> 00:53.833 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% every federal agency to do everything they can to ramp up oil and gas production on federal lands. 00:55.933 --> 00:59.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Trump has also pulled out of the Paris climate accord, the global treaty to bring down emissions. 01:01.733 --> 01:04.500 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% He's backed out of that again. He's targeted Biden's push for electric vehicles. 01:04.500 --> 01:09.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% I mean, the list goes on and on. There's just been a lot of efforts to go on this front. 01:09.200 --> 01:11.533 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% GEOFF BENNETT: And we know that, with President Trump, personnel 01:11.533 --> 01:16.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% is so often policy. Who are the people in his administration who are backing him up on this? 01:16.433 --> 01:18.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That's right. 01:18.600 --> 01:22.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% The argument that his Cabinet secretaries and that he has been making all along is that the 01:23.966 --> 01:28.100 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% Biden administration held back domestic energy production. And we should say, 01:29.800 --> 01:32.866 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% oil and gas production in America is at record highs right now. And 01:32.866 --> 01:35.466 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% it became so under the Biden administration. 01:35.466 --> 01:39.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% But all of Trump's Cabinet picks argue that Biden didn't do enough on that front, 01:39.833 --> 01:44.266 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% and they promised to do differently. So that's Lee Zeldin at the EPA. That is Chris 01:44.266 --> 01:49.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Wright at Energy. And that includes Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who described during 01:51.300 --> 01:53.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% his confirmation hearings how the Trump administration will do things differently. 01:53.866 --> 01:57.066 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% DOUG BURGUM, U.S. Interior Secretary: When energy production is restricted in America, 01:57.066 --> 02:01.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% it doesn't reduce demand. It just shifts productions to countries like Russia and 02:01.633 --> 02:06.633 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% Iran, whose autocratic leaders not only don't care at all about the environment, 02:08.700 --> 02:11.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% but they use their revenues from energy sales to fund wars against us and our allies. 02:13.800 --> 02:17.066 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% President Trump's energy-dominance vision will end those wars abroad, will make life 02:17.066 --> 02:22.066 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% more affordable for every family in America by driving down inflation. And President Trump will 02:24.466 --> 02:27.100 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% achieve those goals while championing clean air, clean water, and protecting our beautiful lands. 02:29.166 --> 02:31.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% GEOFF BENNETT: So this raises the question, then, William, of what does this mean for 02:31.166 --> 02:35.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% President Biden's signature achievement on climate, the Inflation Reduction Act? 02:35.533 --> 02:37.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: President Trump, well, one of his first actions was 02:37.933 --> 02:42.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% to issue an executive order that dealt specifically with terminating the Green 02:42.200 --> 02:45.300 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% New Deal. That's how he refers to all of these kinds of efforts. 02:45.300 --> 02:50.300 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% And that ordered all federal agencies to pause any of the money that was appropriated under the 02:52.466 --> 02:56.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Inflation Reduction Act or the Infrastructure Act. They had to clarify later to say it was 02:58.333 --> 03:01.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% really only climate-related things, but that is still a large part of that bill. 03:01.033 --> 03:05.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% So this order now means that a lot of those projects that were under way all over the 03:05.800 --> 03:10.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% country and the jobs connected to them are on hold. That could be things like big battery 03:12.900 --> 03:16.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% manufacturing plants to a $5 billion loan to clean up school buses and make them electric. 03:17.633 --> 03:19.733 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% We talked to Julie McNamara. She's an analyst at 03:19.733 --> 03:23.933 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% the Union of Concerned Scientists. Here's what she said this means. 03:23.933 --> 03:26.466 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% JULIE MCNAMARA, Union of Concerned Scientists: We have seen projects have to be stopped. We 03:26.466 --> 03:31.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% have seen companies starting to reconsider whether or not they will move forward here. 03:31.066 --> 03:36.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% That is a terrible outcome for our country and it has these long-lasting ramifications. 03:38.033 --> 03:42.400 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% And so by having this coordinated effort to really -- to send this chill that this 03:44.300 --> 03:47.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% is not a place that will be welcoming new investment. It's a deep concern. 03:47.433 --> 03:50.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So there is some uncertainty as to how effective Trump 03:50.133 --> 03:55.133 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% will be at gutting that act, but this historic effort to ramp up batteries, 03:57.100 --> 04:01.300 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% wind, solar, nuclear to address climate change all of those things are in doubt. 04:02.800 --> 04:04.366 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% GEOFF BENNETT: And this is all unfolding as we're getting more 04:04.366 --> 04:06.866 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% warnings about the climate. Last month was the world's hottest 04:06.866 --> 04:11.533 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% January on record. Last year was the hottest year on record. Tell us more. 04:11.533 --> 04:16.533 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That's right. There's a new study out from climate scientist Jim Hansen. He was one of the first scientists 04:18.466 --> 04:21.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% to ring this alarm bell about climate back in the 1980s. He has a new paper out, 04:23.633 --> 04:26.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% which is a bit of an outlier, but he has been vindicated very often in the past. 04:26.666 --> 04:30.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% His paper says that warming is accelerating faster than we anticipated, 04:30.700 --> 04:35.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% that the goal of the Paris accords to hold warming below two degrees Celsius 04:37.400 --> 04:41.233 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% compared to industrial times, that that is virtually out of reach, 04:43.166 --> 04:47.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% and that some of these more serious climate tipping points might be unavoidable. 04:49.333 --> 04:53.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Whether you dismiss his paper or not, his concern is affirmed by the vast majority of scientists, 04:55.533 --> 04:58.933 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% that our use of coal and oil and gas is changing this climate to a dangerous and unpredictable way. 05:01.166 --> 05:06.133 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% We talked earlier with Chris Field at Stanford Woods Institute. Here's how he describes it. 05:08.333 --> 05:10.500 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% CHRIS FIELD, Director, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment: The evidence is -- for 05:10.500 --> 05:12.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% climate change and the human role in causing the warming that we have seen in recent decades 05:14.766 --> 05:18.733 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% is really overwhelmingly clear. There are no Democratic or Republican thermometers. 05:20.633 --> 05:24.233 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% Ignoring the problem doesn't make it go away. It just means we have a more 05:24.233 --> 05:29.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% serious problem to deal with by the time we finally get serious about addressing it. 05:29.133 --> 05:32.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Of course, President Trump doesn't think we need to do this. He thinks 05:32.133 --> 05:36.633 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% all of these concerns about climate change are exaggerated and overblown. 05:36.633 --> 05:41.633 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% And he is directing his administration and now the federal government to act accordingly. 05:43.133 --> 05:44.066 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% GEOFF BENNETT: William Brangham, our thanks to you, as always. 05:44.066 --> 05:44.633 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Thanks, Geoff.