The election of Donald Trump to the highest office in the country is a dire blow for environmentalists, but is not a kill shot, said the leader of the Sierra Club Wednesday.
Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, told the Washington Examiner he’s “deeply concerned” about what Trump plans to do about environmental policy while in office. Trump’s statements denying that climate change is being caused by human activity have caused rancor among greens, and his promises to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement, the world’s first climate change agreement, are cause for alarm, Brune said.
“There’s no denying this hurts,” Brune said. “The impact on our ability to respond to the demands of scientists, the requirements of climate scientists, is frightening. I do feel the need to communicate two things: One, this is not good. And the other is I do believe the programs we’ve made can be slowed, but not stopped.”
He added, “We are ready for that fight. We were born for that fight.”
With countries from around the world meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco, this week to talk about implementing the Paris Agreement, the eyes of the world were on the United States Tuesday to gauge the agreement’s future.
The Obama administration joined the agreement last month and the Paris Agreement went into effect last week, meaning it is now international law. While the Trump administration could try and pull out of the agreement, it won’t be a quick maneuver, Brune said.
“The Paris Agreement is international law and the next administration could try to pull out of that but it would take years to do so,” he said. “It could try to slow walk our country’s compliance with that agreement, but it would risk giving an opportunity to China, India and other countries to take advantage of clean energy as an economic stimulant.”
“Regardless of what the new administration and Congress does, we will continue to make progress on cutting climate pollution. They may slow the rate, but they can’t reverse the progress that’s already been made.”
Brune sounded bullish on the upcoming fight against a Trump administration plan to produce more fossil fuels on public lands and producing more coal.
He said the economy is already shifting toward renewable energy as prices for solar and wind power have dropped in recent years. Trump will not be able to fight market forces in an attempt to fulfill the campaign promises he’s made, Brune added.
“There’s no way he’ll be able to deliver on those promises,” Brune said. “You can’t find investors who want to put money into the coal industry right now, you can’t find regulator who support the continued operation of marginal plants … it won’t be through a return of the coal industry. That’s an industry our economy has moved past.”
