An economic adviser to Donald Trump said he wants the Republican nominee to “stress the energy stuff” and said the Sierra Club would be “a big loser” if the real estate mogul is elected.
In an interview with Environment and Energy Daily, Stephen Moore, a former Wall Street Journal columnist who is advising Trump, said he is trying to push Trump to talk more about energy. Moore wants Trump to criticize Democratic plans to increase solar and wind energy, according to the report.
“Democrats have bet on the wrong horse,” Moore said.
“Every time we shut down a coal plant in the U.S., China builds 10. So how does that reduce global warming?”
Moore is a proponent of opening up all federally controlled lands to energy production. He said the economy could grow with a more pro-fossil fuel energy policy.
And, if Trump’s in office, environmental groups would see their influence in the executive branch stifled, he said.
“The Sierra Club is the big loser if Trump wins,” Moore told E&E Daily.
That incensed the environmental group’s executive director, Michael Brune.
Brune, in a series of tweets Wednesday afternoon, said it wouldn’t be the Sierra Club who would lose if Trump were elected but the American people.
“Thanks for the shout out but 2016 is about what Sierra Club, our allies & people nationwide want to protect: our planet & our communities,” Brune tweeted.
Brune added that there is public support for more clean energy and voters want their leaders to take action on climate change. He said he wished Trump “good luck” with pushing a message that many voters deem undesirable.
“If Stephen Moore were a good adviser, he’d know that’s bc HUGE majorities of the public want climate action — including nearly 1/2 of GOP,” Brune said.
“The choice in 2016 is clear: Hillary Clinton backs climate action and has a plan to move us further away from dirty fossil fuels.”
