Donald
Trump would allow Keystone XL pipeline and end Paris climate deal
Republican
nominee took veiled shots at those who are concerned about global
warming and endorsed drilling off the Atlantic coast in a speech on
energy policy
Ben Jacobs in
Bismarck, North Dakota
@Bencjacobs
Thursday 26 May 2016
22.48 BST
Donald Trump pledged
to cancel the Paris climate agreement, endorsed drilling off the
Atlantic coast and said he would allow the Keystone XL pipeline to be
built in return for “a big piece of the profits” for the American
people.
At an oil and
natural gas conference in North Dakota on Thursday, just minutes
after he had celebrated hitting the 1,237 delegate mark needed to
formally clinch the party’s nomination, Trump gave a speech on
energy policy that was largely shaped by advice from Kevin Cramer, a
US representative from the state.
In a press
conference before the event, Trump praised the advice of oil tycoon
Harold Hamm. Hamm and Cramer then introduced him onstage.
Michael Brune,
executive director of the Sierra Club environmentalist group, was
taken aback by Trump’s address.
“I have never
heard more contradiction in one hour than I heard in the speech,”
he told the Guardian.
“There are pools
of oil industry waste water that are deeper than Trump’s grasp of
energy.”
Trump gave the
speech – which Brune also called “a jumbled collection of oil
industry talking points that are devoid from reality in the market
place” – in a packed arena that generated an atmosphere more like
that of a campaign rally than a staid industry conference.
As he hit a number
of familiar talking points, a crowd filled with his supporters raised
chants of “build the wall”.
He did not directly
address manmade climate change, which he has in the past called a
hoax invented by the Chinese, but he took veiled shots at those who
are concerned about global warming.
In addition to his
pledge to pull out of the Paris climate deal, Trump promised to only
work with “environmentalists whose only agenda is protecting
nature” and to “focus on real environmental challenges, not the
phony ones”.
He contrasted this
approach with that of Hillary Clinton, whose plan to combat climate
change he called “a poverty expansion agenda”. Trump also
attacked renewable energy sources, claiming that solar energy was too
expensive and attacking wind turbines for “killing eagles”.
Without outlining
any policy specifics, Trump argued for a focus on clean water and
clean air. In January, asked by the Guardian about the Flint water
contamination crisis, he said: “A thing like that shouldn’t
happen but, again, I don’t want to comment on that.”
On Thursday, Trump
also made a unique argument about the controversial Keystone XL
pipeline, which would pump shale oil from Canada into the US.
Donald Trump
celebrates delegate win, mocks Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren
Republicans have
long supported the pipeline, which was opposed by environmentalists
and cancelled by the Obama administration. In exchange for his
approval of the pipeline, Trump said, the US would need a
“significant piece” of its profits.
Shortly after that
statement, though, Trump said: “The government should not pick
winners and losers.”
Trump also seemed
unsure whether high oil prices were good or bad. Although at one
point in his speech he took credit for oil hitting $50 a barrel, he
later enthused about the need for cheap energy.
The crowd in
Bismarck did not seem confused, though. Cheering wildly, they gave
Trump a spontaneous standing ovation.
“I will give you
everything,” he promised them, adding: “I am the only one who
will deliver.”
They seemed to
believe it.
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