President Donald Trump’s attempts to raze his predecessor’s energy legacy is threatening at least two groups he’s pledged to help: the oil industry and rural communities that voted him into office. Let’s start with the former. Exxon Mobil, Shell and other oil companies have poured considerable time, resources and money into technologies and projects that suck carbon dioxide from the sky, writes Corbin Hiar. The fossil fuel industry saw carbon removal as a way to prolong the life of its business in a world concerned about climate change. Former President Joe Biden’s generous subsidies for such projects further encouraged it to invest in the nascent technology. While leaders of the developed world may be losing interest in enacting policies to preserve a livable planet, oil companies already have a lot of money on the line, giving pause to at least some Republican lawmakers. “Anytime an entity has made a significant investment, you don’t pull the rug out from underneath their feet,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told Corbin. “We’re the pro-business party.” Cassidy serves on the Finance Committee, which is looking to reduce or eliminate Biden’s climate-related boons to help pay for an extension of tax cuts enacted in Trump’s first term (which will largely benefit the wealthy). That effort comes as the Trump administration tries to bypass Congress by freezing funding from Democrats’ 2022 climate law and the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law. While federal judges have ordered a stop to that freeze, the administration has been slow to comply. Vice President JD Vance advocated for ignoring court orders. A $3.5 billion program to suck carbon pollution from the sky is among those in limbo as Trump and billionaire Elon Musk bulldoze the federal government. “The technology being invested in has the ability to bring a lot of jobs to my state, a good Republican state,” Cassidy said. Rural power: The administration’s strategy of moving fast and breaking things is also subverting rural electricity providers’ attempts to shore up reliability while lowering their customers’ utility bills, writes Adam Aton. Trump’s potentially illegal spending freeze has halted a $9.7 billion grant and loan program created by the climate law for rural energy projects. Rural co-ops had planned to use the funding to purchase, generate or transmit new sources of clean power. Nixing the funding, they say, will lead to higher energy costs and lower reliability. Work on new projects has come to a standstill. Even if the Trump administration complies with federal court orders and lifts the funding freeze, this year’s construction season could be lost if delays persist too long. “These are not Trump enemies by any stretch of the imagination,” one union official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, told Adam. “They might even be friends — arguably they’re the [Trump] base. But will anyone [in the administration] actually figure that out?”
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