Is the Environmental Movement in the U.S. Dead?

To say the first months of the Trump administration have been turbulent would be an understatement. Every facet of government and to some extent, personal life, has been impacted.

Lost in the overwhelming noise of budget and personnel cuts, inflation and war is the devastating effect the reimagined federal government is having on the environment. This directly impacts biofuels that are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and exist in part to reduce various pollutants. By extension, this also impacts agriculture, particularly anyone participating in smart farming programs or carbon reduction initiatives through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Unfortunately, this is not some unintended consequence or collateral damage resulting from other actions. The dismantling of EPA is part of the plan and the agency and environmental protections in general have been vilified along with federal employees, diversity programs and pretty much any regulation regulating anything!

In the first week alone, the Trump administration disbanded the EPA Scientific Advisory Committee which, as the name suggests, is comprised of experts in various fields and advises EPA on critical issues such as clean air. A first round of EPA staff cuts was announced while new hirings focused on fossil fuel experts. They filed opposition to the California waivers. They announced a re-consideration of small refinery waivers previously denied. They proposed the elimination of highway monitoring systems measuring ghg emissions. They proposed rollback of corporate average fuel economy standards. They directed USDA to remove references to climate change from agency websites. They froze funding for IRA smart farming programs. The Department of Energy froze $400 billion in clean energy funding. Again, this was the first week.

In the ensuing weeks, EPA announced a budget reduction target of 65 percent and thousands of staff cuts. And just in case there was any doubt as to where things are headed, the new EPA administrator is advising the White House to strike down the 2009 Supreme Court endangerment finding of CO2 emissions. This court ruling is the basis for a myriad of state and federal programs to reduce carbon and if repealed could turn back the clock on everything related to CO2 emissions. Ethanol’s painstaking effort to be recognized as a legitimate player in terms of CO2 emissions could be meaningless, both for motor fuels and as a potential feedstock for Sustainable Aviation Fuel. Not to be left out of the fun, the new DOE Secretary said the objective of “Net Zero” carbon emissions is “Sinister.”

By the time this goes to print, there may be dozens of additional examples but clearly there is a new world order in terms of environment. Unfortunately, many in Congress and throughout politics view green, renewable, environmentally-friendly initiatives as unfriendly, job-killing, constraining policies that must be stopped. The Trump administration has vowed to repeal the entire IRA. Trump railed against a Green New Deal which, just as a point of order, is not a thing – it does not exist and never has. It is a catch-all phrase for numerous left-wing concepts and ideas that included many off the wall, extremist approaches to reducing emissions. It opened the door to far right claims it would prohibit everything from airplanes to hamburgers. Neither side was right and both sides were wrong in how they approached the issue. As extreme as some of the new policies seem to be, the Biden administration invited this whiplash with an obvious overreach on EVs and a misread of the appetite for change.

So where are we now? Industries ranging from automakers to airlines are slamming on the brakes. Oil giant BP announced a “fundamental reset” in funding with massive cuts in renewables and a shift back to prioritizing oil and gas. Southwest Airlines is bailing on their clean fuel initiatives, including selling a renewable company they recently purchased. Automakers, perhaps in the toughest position since they had begun retooling their operations, are quickly backing off bold predictions of an electric future.

And who could blame them?  At least the U.S. if no one cares or will reward carbon and emission reductions, then survival dictates a pivot. For ethanol, which for years had boasted it was on the road to “net zero,” we have to get with the program. Thankfully, ethanol can play in the energy security and economic arena if emissions are devalued. This administration has established a White House Energy Dominance Council. The obvious head of the table will be oil and gas but the red state politics that come with ethanol will, or at least should, ensure a role in energy policy that wraps itself in the flag and is not constrained by environmental realities. Interior Secretary and former North Dakota Governor Doug Burghum chairs this new interagency council and unlike many politicians that view middle America as just “fly-over” states, he understands agriculture, ethanol and oil.  

Agriculture and the biofuels community need stake claim to the new value proposition of being domestic and low cost. The environment is not going anywhere, it’s just on hold for now.