U.S. Representative Kathy Castor, a Tampa Democrat, took issue with Republican President Donald Trump’s day-one executive actions on energy policy, including withdrawing from the international Paris Climate Accord, opening public lands to oil and gas drilling and declaring a “national energy emergency.”
Rep. Castor believes that America should be committed to renewable energy and energy conservation, and has fought to restore funding that has been slashed from these initiatives.
“President Trump and his oil and gas supporters appear determined to stick consumers with higher electric bills and the costs of the heating climate,” Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor said. “The United States has made incredible progress in producing cleaner, cheaper energy and in putting money into the pockets of consumers through energy efficiency over the past four years. Now, it appears that Trump intends to implement his Project 2025 Agenda, which will cost American families and communities billions of dollars every year. The rising costs of extreme events fueled by burning fossil fuels are exploding, whether it be insurance, electric bills due to hotter summers, or damage from hurricanes, fires and floods – costs are hitting Americans and small businesses where it hurts most: their pocketbooks.”
President Trump and Republicans describe the executive orders as “unleashing American energy” and say America is blessed with an abundance of energy and natural resources to power the nation’s economic prosperity. The Tampa Democrat disagreed.
“With the stroke of his pen, President Trump put the U.S. on the same footing as Iran, Libya and Yemen by formally beginning the process of withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord,” Rep. Castor continued. “President Trump’s shortsighted decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord—for a second time – will saddle hardworking Americans with rising costs while turning a blind eye to the immense economic opportunities we see all across the country with clean energy investments. By stepping away from this agreement, Trump has handed those opportunities to other nations while forcing American families to pay more for the consequences of unchecked climate change.
“After President Joe Biden acted to permanently ban oil drilling off the Florida coast, Trump is seeking to reverse this critical protection. Floridians understand the damage that oil drilling and extreme weather events can do to our pocketbooks and way of life. The BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 was a wake-up call to the dangers of dirty and dangerous oil drilling and the risks it poses.”
President Trump also declared a national energy emergency, saying: “The energy and critical minerals (“energy”) identification, leasing, development, production, transportation, refining, and generation capacity of the United States are all far too inadequate to meet our Nation’s needs.” Republicans argue the nation needs a reliable, diversified, and affordable supply of energy to drive manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, and defense industries, and to sustain the basics of modern life and military preparedness. Again, the Central Florida Democratic Congresswoman disagreed.
“Trump’s declaration of a ‘national energy emergency’ is an unserious attempt at policymaking that will do nothing to increase energy production, lower costs for families or support small businesses,” Rep. Kathy Castor said. “Under this declaration, Trump has even granted himself the power of eminent domain to kick people out of their homes if they might live on top of oil or gas. Meanwhile, the landmark and Democratic-led Infrastructure and Clean Energy laws have been broadly successful in creating jobs, boosting manufacturing and countering China.
“Despite these regrettable executive orders, I remain hopeful we can make meaningful progress in lowering costs for American families. However, we cannot turn a blind eye to the intentions of powerful special interests to elevate their profits over the best interests of everyday Americans.”
