2. and solar power and cheap natural gas may trigger continuing coal industry bankruptcies, despite
Trump’s promises to reopen shuttered coal mines and power plants.
There’s also a possible middle ground between dismantling the Obama legacy and shifting clean-
energy leadership to state governments and the private sector. Attorney Scott Segal, a partner at
Bracewell dealing with energy and environmental policy, tells Agri-Pulse that “looks can be de-
ceiving.” He explains that although Trump’s cabinet picks include four men with close ties to
fossil fuels – former Texas Gov. Rick Perry for Energy Secretary, Oklahoma Attorney General
Scott Pruitt for EPA, Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke for Interior, and Exxon CEO Rex
Tillerson for Secretary of State – “they also come from states with significant investments in re-
newable power.”
Segal points out that “Texas under the lengthy governorship of Rick Perry became the largest
wind energy producer in the United States” and that “Perry developed policy to encourage wind
expansion and energy efficiency as well.” He adds that Pruitt’s Oklahoma “is the home to a great
amount of the production chain for geothermal heat pumps, one of the most widely used
renewable technologies in the building envelope across the
country.”
Adding that the Trump Organization has invested in renewable en-
ergy and energy efficiency in its building projects, Segal says “the
President-elect himself acknowledged ‘some connectivity’ between
human causes and climate, and has said he would consider his op-
tions regarding international climate policy.”
“The market for renewables has continued to grow,” Segal says,
“based on improved efficiencies in renewable generation and in-
creased consumer interest in the source of generation.” He expects
that Congress, after recently extending tax credits for solar and
wind energy, is likely to do the same for geothermal heat pumps,
fuel cells, combined heat and power, and other alternative technolo-
gies “to keep the playing field level.”
Segal predicts that the regulatory reform promised by Trump will include removing “major ob-
stacles for energy production, pipelines, transmission” while supporting “common-sense changes
to the renewable fuel standard.” He says these promised changes will benefit not only fossil fuels
but renewable energy as well.
Segal concludes that despite environmentalists’ concerns, “The future of renewable power
should still be bright.”
National Biodiesel Board CEO Donnell Rehagen is equally upbeat about the prospects for re-
newables under Trump. “Like so many others we are eager to see what the coming months and
the Trump administration will mean for renewable energy, for tax reform and for the renewable
fuel standard,” he tells Agri-Pulse. Because biodiesel is “one of the few truly bipartisan issues,”
he says he’s confident the new Congress and new leadership “will continue to support a smart
solution that is working for America on so many levels.”
3. Rehagen expects strong renewables programs to continue at the state level regardless of federal
policy, noting that state policies guarantee at least 1 billion gallons in total annual biodiesel sales,
up four-fold over the past five years. With that state support to help offset “long-established tax
and other incentives for fossil fuels,” he says the biodiesel industry will continue its work to keep
prices down while delivering “improved performance, higher lubricity, energy security and envi-
ronmental benefits.”
Pointing out that Trump has supported biofuels and Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) blending re-
quirements, Rehagen is “hopeful his administration will further strengthen opportunities for
America’s advanced biofuel even if his Cabinet is not unanimous on the topic.” His reasoning is
that “biodiesel is a key driver of American jobs and energy security, two priorities we know the
administration values.”
American Wind Energy Association lobbyist Rob Gramlich tells Agri-Pulse that “we think Mr.
Trump will want to keep growing all sources of American-made energy, as promised on the cam-
paign trail, especially those that benefit rural America economically.” He points out that “Wind
energy in particular has become a drought-proof cash crop for farmers,” paying rural landowners
$222 million in annual lease payments for hosting wind turbines, helping them keep their farms
and ranches in the family. He says that along with taxes and other revenues to rural communities
from wind projects, “Overall, tens of billions of dollars in private investment are being made in
rural America, with more on the way, as 98 percent of wind farms are located in rural communi-
ties.”
“Wind power supports 88,000 jobs across all 50 states and polls show the vast majority of Amer-
icans, including 77 percent of Trump voters, support keeping it growing,” Gramlich says. “Low-
er costs and state policy are driving wind energy growth and we expect that to continue.” He
concludes that “Keeping the wind energy success story going is one of the best ways this new
administration can keep its promise of advancing all forms of energy and increasing U.S. energy
independence.”
AWEA CEO Tom Kiernan calls wind power “the biggest, fastest, cheapest way to keep the air
clean while keeping electric rates low” and “an economic powerhouse for rural America,” Kier-
nan said the Trump administration can be expected to support wind and other renewables since
they provide precisely what Trump calls for: new jobs and energy security from increasing do-
mestic energy supply.
Calling wind part of an “unstoppable shift to a cleaner energy economy,” Kiernan said “states,
where most energy policy is made, are likely to continue their clean energy policies.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a 2016 presidential contender, agrees that states will still be key. He
says that if the Trump administration favors fossil fuels, “The American people are going to have
to take matters into their own hands and demand, and in their own ways, state by state, transform
their energy system away from fossil fuels.”
Significantly, Perry said in a 2009 speech that “Texas is the very picture of a state aggressively
seeking its future in alternative energy, through incentives and innovation, not mandates and
overreaching regulation.” Now, as Trump’s choice to become the next Energy Secretary, Perry
4. will have a national opportunity to encourage states to play an active role in supporting renew-
able energy as he did in Texas when he supported wind power and new transmission lines to
bring wind from the Texas Panhandle to its major cities. As one result of Perry’s support, Texas
now leads the U.S. in total wind generation, meeting more than 12 percent of the state’s electrici-
ty demand.
A number of states are actively proving that if the Trump administration won’t take the lead on
renewables, state governments will. Last week, Ohio’s Republican Gov. John Kasich vetoed Re-
publican legislation that would have turned the state’s renewable energy standard into a volun-
tary program. Kasich’s veto message warned that limiting the growth of renewables would result
in “self-inflicted damage to both our state’s near- and long-term economic competitiveness.”
Ohio’s Republican House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger argued against re-activating Ohio’s renew-
able energy mandate, which had been frozen since 2014. He said that with the incoming Trump
administration likely to act quickly on rescinding federal renewable energy mandates, “We
shouldn’t be stuck in a mandate.” But unless Ohio’s House and Senate both vote to override Ka-
sich’s veto, the renewable energy standard restart as of Jan. 1 will require Ohio utilities to gener-
ate 25 percent of their electricity from advanced energy sources by 2025, with half from wind,
solar or other renewables.
Michigan’s Republican Gov. Rick Snyder took similar action in December, signing legislation
that increases Michigan’s renewable energy requirement by 5 percent to 15 percent by 2021, sets
the goal of meeting 35 percent of state energy needs from energy efficiency and renewables by
2025, and rejects proposed reduced payments to customers for their excess electricity sold to
utilities.
Here are other recent state measures that will maintain clean-energy momentum regardless of
Trump administration actions:
• California passed legislation to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below
1990 levels by 2030.
• Maryland passed legislation signed into law by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan requiring
a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2006 levels by 2030, as unani-
mously recommended by the state’s bipartisan Climate Change Commission in 2015.
• Massachusetts passed legislation that includes clean energy procurement and transmis-
sion requirements for hydro, wind, solar and other renewable sources, with the goal of
meeting up to 40 percent of the state’s electricity from clean energy sources by 2030.
• New York set a target to meet 50 percent of electricity demand from renewable sources
by 2030, with the goal of reducing emissions 40 percent by 2030 and 80 percent below
1990 levels by 2050.
• Oregon passed bipartisan legislation to double its renewable portfolio standard from 25
percent by 2025 to 50 percent by 2040 and requires the state’s two largest utilities to
phase out coal generation imports by 2035, creating demand for cleaner energy sources.
