Senator Edward Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, said President-elect Donald Trump’s “anti-environmental” nominees would face a “rude awakening” during a press conference Saturday at the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP29). ).
Markey and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, led the Senate delegation to Baku, Azerbaijan, for the COP29 climate summit, which was joined by other heads of state, lawmakers and environmental leaders. Markey and Sheldon are members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
The senators both expressed fears of a second Trump administration that would roll back environmental protections during the news conference. As new candidates have been announced, Trump’s environmental agenda has been brought more to the forefront.
Speaking about the slew of recent Trump Cabinet picks, Markey said, “Trump’s anti-environment nominees are in for a rude awakening. »
He called Trump’s recent choices part of a plan not “to appoint a cabinet, but to appoint a cartel, which will control the U.S. environmental and energy agencies.”
The Massachusetts senator also said the various nominations “are going to create an uproar across our country,” suggesting that “America did not vote to dismantle environmental protections in our country,” at least not in the ” fundamental changes to environmental law that Donald Trump is proposing, and members of his cabinet are committed to implementing them.
It’s unclear exactly what environmental policies Trump might attempt to enact, but his choices appear to favor deregulation, roll back various Biden administration protections, lower emissions standards, and potentially eradicate the incentive for electric vehicles (EVs). . During his election campaign, Trump also sought to increase fossil fuel production.
News week contacted Trump’s team for comment via email Saturday afternoon.
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Trump nominated former Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Republican from New York, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In his announcement, the president-elect said the former congressman will “ensure fair and timely deregulatory decisions” in his role. The League of Conservation Voters, meanwhile, gave Zeldin a lifetime score of 14 percent when it comes to his support in Congress for various environmental bills.
Trump also named North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum as “energy czar” and head of the Interior Department, a role in which he will oversee nearly 70,000 federal employees responsible for managing the the nation’s public lands, natural resources, and federal responsibilities toward Indigenous peoples. tribes. The department is also responsible for endangered species conservation and other environmental efforts.
In 2021, Burgum set a goal for North Dakota to become carbon neutral by 2030. He also formed his state’s Department of Environmental Quality in 2017, shortly after being elected . However, Burgum also has ties to the oil industry, including serving as a liaison between Trump and the industry tycoons the president-elect was pushing to fund his campaign, according to a June report from The New York Times.
Meanwhile, Trump’s nominees still need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, although it is quite rare for a choice not to be approved, and less likely if there are several.
Markey said Saturday that climate policy under the Trump administration “is going to be one of the most turbulent political debates we’ve seen in a generation. It’s going to give birth to young people again.”
Markey believes that Americans will not immediately agree with potential policy changes, but will instead inspire young people to “push for the protection of all of these environmental protections, and in fact, at the end of this debate , people will wonder why.” we don’t make them [environmental protections] stronger.”
In a post Saturday on . We must continue to fight for bold climate action on a global scale. »
COP29 began on November 11 and will end on November 22.
