Donald Trump Sunday night spelled out his plans to roll back President Obama’s environmental regulations in favor of “unleashing” the domestic energy industry, while Hillary Clinton said she wants to move away from oil and coal to instead use more renewable energy and natural gas.
Trump said the Environmental Protection Agency is “killing” the energy industry in the United States and promoted the industry as a cure-all for America’s economic problems.
“I will bring our energy companies back, they’ll be able to compete, they’ll be able to make money and they’ll pay off our national debt and our budget deficits,” Trump said.
He laid the blame for the depressed industry at the feet of the EPA and curiously claimed that it is causing foreign oil companies to buy U.S. plants to refine their crude oil.
“Foreign companies are now coming in and buying so many of our different plants and then rejiggering the plants so that they can take care of their oil,” he said.
He may have been referring to Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company planning to take full control of the sprawling Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, the largest in the U.S. But the facility refines U.S. oil, not Saudi oil.
Clinton responded to Trump’s comments by promoting the country’s energy independence and said she wants to keep that situation because dealing with Middle Eastern countries is fraught with complications.
She added that her energy policy would require a focus on climate change.
“I have a comprehensive energy policy but it really does include fighting climate change because I really do think that’s a serious problem,” she said.
Clinton added that she wants to provide a safety net for Appalachian coal miners who have fallen on hard economic times.
She promoted her plan to revitalize coal country communities, which stemmed from her infamous pledge to “put a lot of coal miners out of work” with environmental regulations, because she said she doesn’t want to leave anyone behind.
“They kept the lights on, they powered our factories,” Clinton said. “I don’t want to walk away from them, I want to do something for them.”
