US president-elect Donald Trump
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The campaign statements of US president-elect Donald Trump indicate the likelihood of his adopting policies that are fossil fuel friendly, S&P Global Platts said on Wednesday.
The energy information provider said Trump’s standpoint is to allow the market to decide which forms of energy succeed.
He has also promised to open all federal lands and waters to fossil fuel production.
Any environmentalist attempt to curb domestic fossil fuel production is likely to be rebuffed and US producers granted more access to both on and offshore resources.
The organisation records Trump as saying he will pursue a policy path to open up more US lands and waters to drilling and, in turn, boost consumption of even cheaper domestic oil, gas and coal.
Trump will likely quash efforts to institute new greenhouse gas performance standards for petroleum refineries and may push to weaken future fuel economy standards for light-duty vehicles.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to be dismantled or overhauled and the Obama administration’s regulations to curb coal industry pollution rolled back.
North Dakota Representative and Trump energy adviser Kevin Cramer is quoted as saying that Trump believes the EPA should return to its core mission of protecting clean water and clean air, and that the US Congress has granted it too much leeway in interpreting legislation.
Trump is said to question the widely held scientific consensus that human activity is causing climate change and to favour the EPA and the Department of the Interior abandoning efforts to regulate methane emissions from oil and gas operations.
He may also weaken future car and truck fuel-economy standards, S&P Global Platts added in its release to Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly Online, which stated that Trump is committed to spending "at least double" what rival presidential contender Hillary Clinton planned to spend on infrastructure, and funding it with new debt to take advantage of still-low interest rates.
Trump will be required to fill key positions at the EPA, Department of Energy and other agencies that make decisions on energy and appointments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.