The White House may recommend cutting the Department of Energy’s (DOE) office that promotes renewables and energy efficiency nearly 70 percent — from more than $2 billion to $636 million.
Trump administration officials may also recommend cutting 54 percent from the DOE’s fossil energy, which funds clean coal technology, and 36 percent from the nuclear energy office, according to a draft memo reviewed Wednesday by Axios.
The administration released a “skinny” budget in March, which called for a $1.7 billion, or 5.6 percent, cut to the DOE’s budget. The White House suggested a $28 billion budget for the department, cutting programs that subsidize energy development and increasing funding to the National Nuclear Security Administration.
President Donald Trump is set to send his full 2018 budget proposal to Congress next week, but it’s unclear if lawmakers would support deep cuts to green energy and energy efficiency programs.
Environmentalists and green energy activists opposed deep cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) budget, in part, on grounds programs to fight global warming would be eliminated. Activists could make the same argument about cuts to DOE programs.
“The clean energy and climate communities need to defend energy innovation with the same vigor they’re defending environmental protections,” Josh Freed, vice president for clean energy at the left-leaning Third Way, told Axios.
Right-leaning environmental activists made similar arguments about cuts to DOE’s fossil energy and nuclear energy offices. Some argue the cuts will break Trump’s promise to help the coal industry.
“It would be very difficult, especially on the carbon capture front, to keep some of the promises that the administration made to the coal community if it’s not going very deep on innovation in this space,” Rich Powell, executive director of ClearPath Foundation, told Axios.
But Trump’s already begun the process of repealing rules that hamper coal production put in place by the Obama administration.
Providing for the fact that many of these eco-wackos are big time gaia worshipers
EPA Secratary Pruitt was on Varney & Co. this morning, explaining how under Obama, the EPA was totally derelict of their duty. He outline how provable sources of pollution and other problems were simply swept under the rug to focus on the political goals of climate change.
Carbon Capture should not receive a penny of gov’t funding. Plants do it for free. Greens say it doesn’t count, but if biomass is increasing, I say it counts. If the oil industry wants to use CO2 to revive mature oil fields, it pays for itself.
People are free to practice what ever religion they want but it doesn’t mean tax payers
need to underwrite it . Eco -Church is no different . If you want to get donations have a cup cake sale but don’t expect tax payers who don’t go to your church to buck up for your chosen fantasy .
The challenge Mr. Trump has is their are lots of swamps to drain and the whining has just begun .
The $ Trillion that would have gone into the Paris Pledge Agreement is the easiest
money ever saved . If there is so much cash kicking around then take half that would have gone to the Al Gore hot air industry to build the wall, the rest on schools and
other meaningful science / environmental priorities .
Amber, you are right on. Tax payers shouldn’t be forced to support what amounts to a religion. I would like to add that the free enterprise system is a wonderful thing. If green energy can’t survive in free enterprise on its own merit, then it doesn’t deserve to exist.
Quit wasting our tax money of such frivolous sthings like Bird and Bat chopping Windfarms anc solar pannels lets use Hot Air from Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio to produce power