POWER STATION
ENERGY and the next PRESIDENT Nicholas Kamm/Getty Images
Trump’s actions and words give insight into his administration’s likely energy policies BY S P E N C E R WAU G H
Donald J. Trump was elected as the next president of the United States last month, capturing victories in 30 states and a commanding 306 Electoral College votes (a candidate needs 270 to win). He carried Ohio by a margin of 8.5 percentage points, winning 81 of the state’s 88 counties. His surprising victory will have major implications for public policy in Washington, D.C. — especially in the areas of energy and the environment — as well as in the Buckeye State. 4
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C O U N T RY L IV I NG D ECEMBER 2016
While energy and the environment were never headlinegrabbing issues for either candidate during the election, President-elect Trump did shed insight into his plans during the campaign, both through his advisors and surrogates and in his own speeches. The president-elect’s “100-day plan” calls for ending restrictions on “job-producing American energy reserves” and to “cancel billions in payments to United Nations climate change programs and use the money to fix America’s water
and environmental infrastructure.” President-elect Trump’s campaign laid out a vision for an “America First” energy plan that would focus on removing regulations and barriers to responsible energy production and moving the country toward greater energy independence. While the bulk of his plan has focused on the development of oil and natural gas, particularly from shale and offshore drilling, he has also repeatedly promised to end the “war on coal.”