during his victory speech On Wednesday, he called oil and natural gas “liquid gold” and said he gave instructions to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., An environmental lawyer was expected to play a role in the Trump administration, “helping make America healthy again” but “staying away from liquid gold.”

Like Biden’s environmental policies, Trump’s expected rollbacks will have profound significance in Michigan, which has abundant fresh water and deep ties to automakers, chemical manufacturers and other industries that are both major employers and employers. major sources of pollution and carbon emissions.

He has promised to cut staff at environmental agencies, loosen emissions limits pushing automakers to electric vehicles, and “end” the climate spending program. billions of dollars Heading into Michigan, favor the oil and gas sector in ways that could impact the Line 5 pipeline fight and potentially roll back pollution rules, including those governing lead and PFAS.

Relating to:

“Trump is a pretty standard deregulation Republican,” said Charlotte Jameson, policy officer for the Michigan Environmental Council. “So I expect an effort to loosen many of the Biden-era rules to the extent that they have not yet been resolved by the Supreme Court.”

Many details remain unclear, including who Trump will appoint to lead key federal environmental agencies. But it will benefit from the Republican majority in the US The Senate and potentially the House and a conservative Supreme Court majority that has issued recent decisions limiting the government’s regulatory authority.

“I expect them to be pretty assertive in the early days of the administration to understand what regulations are challenges for business and how we can rethink that,” said Environmental and Energy Affairs Director Mike Alaimo. Michigan Chamber of Commerce.

Experts, environmentalists and industry officials told Bridge Michigan they expect Trump to be the polar opposite of his predecessor on most environmental issues.

But the two administrations may be aligned on one key point: Both Biden and Trump have embraced nuclear energy, leading experts to conclude that efforts toward nuclear energy are: Restart Michigan’s Palisades nuclear power plant will continue rapidly.

electric vehicles

Trump has long been critical of electric vehicles, describing them as job killers on the campaign trail. “passage to hell.”

But his rhetoric has softened somewhat since the EV company formed a political alliance with Tesla owner Elon Musk, the richest person in the world. heavily subsidized By US taxpayers.

“I’m for electric cars,” Trump said in August. “I have to because Elon supported me so strongly.”

Still, experts and interest groups told Bridge Michigan they expect Trump to follow through on his Biden-era promise to reverse vehicle emissions standards, which he often mischaracterized as an EV “mandate.”

These standards do not force automakers to produce electric vehicles. But they need automakers to cut light-duty vehicle emissions by nearly half by 2032; Automakers plan to achieve this goal with a mix of gasoline-powered, hybrid and electric vehicles.

Biden has also encouraged the shift to EVs by offering tax credits for EV purchases and financial incentives for automakers to produce them.

“It’s very likely that electric vehicle tax cuts will be in the crosshairs, especially with the changes in Congress,” said Barry Rabe, a political scientist at the University of Michigan who studies the politics behind environmental policy.

Groups representing automakers and the broader business community have distanced themselves from Trump’s past demonization of EVs, arguing that government support is vital for U.S. automakers to survive as the global market shifts away from gasoline-powered cars.

“It will be important for the federal government to continue supporting electrification investments,” said the Michigan Chamber’s Alaimo. “This is the future of the automotive industry. We need to be aware of this.”

However, Alaimo said government support could come in the form of “regulatory efficiency” efforts as opposed to emissions rules and monetary incentives.

climate change

Beyond electric vehicles, Trump is expected to deprioritize green energy in favor of policies that support the fossil fuel industry.

During his campaign, Trump falsely called climate change a “big hoax” while referring to the Inflation Reduction Act, a federal climate and healthcare spending bill passed along party lines in 2022, as a “new green hoax.”

He promised to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement (second time), cancel unspent climate funds It would be removed from the IRA and federal emissions standards for automobiles and power plants would be rescinded.

“I think there will be an all-out effort to restrict or even gut what is being proposed to the Biden administration,” Rabe said.

In a recent report published by the United Nations, within the scope of current world policies, “we have almost no chance” Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius; a goal aimed at avoiding dangerous climate tipping points.

Trump’s proposed policies will increase the odds even further and increase US emissions by February: billions of tons annually, according to an analysis from Carbon Brief.

Potential The effects in Michigan are longer summers and shorter (maybe unprofitable) winters, loss of natives fish, wildlife And forestsmore damaging storms and new diseases.

Share prices of wind and solar companies as an indicator of business expectations for the Trump administration drunk After Election Day, oil stocks began to rise.

It remains to be seen whether Trump is willing and able to deliver on the climate rollbacks he has promised. For example, given that many IRA investments flow to red states, any attempt to withdraw or cancel IRA funds would face bipartisan resistance.

But Rabe said he expects the law to be rolled back in a more appropriate way.

“I think you’re going to see something more like what we saw with the Affordable Care Act, where you’re going to take apart parts or parts of it and really focus on the provisions that the president or the Republican Congress doesn’t like,” he said.

Michigan businesses big buyers The bulk of IRA funds, from $500 million used to help General Motors retool its Lansing plant for electric vehicle production to a $134 million tax credit that helped 117,000 Michigan residents make energy improvements to their homes.

Alaimo said the Chamber will keep lawmakers informed that “we don’t want to upset the apple cart” regarding these investments.

If Trump rescinds federal power plant emissions rules, Michigan utilities’ decarbonization efforts will continue. That’s because a set of state laws passed last year require utilities to achieve 100% clean energy by 2040.

But any loss of federal dollars to support the energy transition could potentially slow the pace of that transition, Rabe said.

Great Lakes problems

Trump repeatedly during his first term in office proposed deep cuts The then-$300 million budget for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a program to clean up industrial pollution in lakes and rivers.

The effort failed to pass Congress over objections from bipartisan Great Lakes lawmakers. Viewers said they didn’t expect Trump to target the initiative this time.

But Trump is expected to roll back a number of federal water pollution limits. just like he did in his first term.

Items vulnerable to reversal include the recently passed PFAS and pioneering regulations and the “Waters of the United States” rule, which defines which waterways are subject to the Clean Water Act.

PFAS rules, in particular, are unpopular with the industry, which now faces the costs of installing pollution controls and cleaning up existing pollution.

The rules were adopted amid growing concerns about widespread contamination from cancer-causing “forever chemicals” limit allowed quantities PFAS in drinking water and classify It classifies many PFAS compounds as “hazardous substances” under the Federal Superfund Act.

Jason Hayes, director of energy and environmental policy at the conservative think tank Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said he doesn’t expect those rules to be reversed immediately.

“They’re going to go in and talk to the people who are actually dealing with (PFAS chemicals) before we see anything change,” Hayes said.

What happens if they end up being cancelled? Unless chemical giant 3M wins, Michigan’s less stringent limits on PFAS will still apply ongoing case To overthrow the rules. The Michigan Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case next Wednesday.

While the federal government allows states to set their own water quality standards if they think federal rules are too weak, Michigan lawmakers stripped state environmental regulators of that authority.

Michigan needs to be restored, says Michigan Environmental Council’s Jameson Ministry of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy‘s water quality rulemaking authority is “top of the agenda” for environmentalists in the lame duck session of the state Legislature.

line 5

The fate of Michigan’s aging Line 5 oil pipeline has been in question for years. subject of fierce debate.

While environmental groups are pushing for the pipeline to be shut down due to concerns that the pipeline could rupture in the open waters of the Strait of Mackinac, pipeline owner Enbridge is pursuing a plan to move Line 5 to a concrete tunnel under the lake bed.

It’s a fight marked by a protracted legal battle between Attorney General Dana Nessel and Enbridge, rising tensions with the Canadian government over an agreement governing cross-border pipelines, and a drawn-out permitting process to decide whether Enbridge can build the tunnel.

Amid the conflict, environmentalists have occasionally called on Biden to support the closure, but he has refused to do so.

Likewise, Trump has said nothing publicly about the pipeline. But he supported building new pipelines and promised to “drill, baby, drill” for oil and gas. This leads observers to conclude that his administration will support the pipeline’s continued existence.

There are several ways the Trump administration could influence the debate, including pushing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to step up. tunnel permit.

But both proponents and opponents of Line 5 said they expected the issue to remain low in future statements. administration’s immediate priority list.

“I think the path is still in the courts,” Jameson said.

Nuclear energy

Trump’s philosophy on nuclear energy may not differ much from Biden’s.

Trump’s campaign website advocates for “a clear and feasible path for advanced, micro, and modular reactors to achieve commercialization.”

Biden has similarly prioritized nuclear energy, using subsidies and other policies to keep existing plants running and build new ones.