Elon Musk: Trump’s rule crusher?

Presented by Chevron: Your guide to the political forces shaping the energy transformation

Sep 05, 2024 View in browser   By Robin Bravender Presented by Chevron Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event today at the Economic Club of New York. | Alex Brandon/AP Elon Musk can’t wait to take a hatchet to federal regulations. And Donald Trump today promised to give him a platform to do so if he wins the presidency in November. Trump announced that the conservative tech, automotive and space entrepreneur has agreed to lead a “government efficiency commission” to scour the entire federal government and suggest dramatic changes, my colleague Timothy Cama and I report in POLITICO's E&E News. It was part of a sweeping economic speech from the former president in New York, where he detailed plans to slash regulations, vowed to end Democrats’ “anti-energy crusade” and pledged to rescind unspent cash from President Joe Biden’s signature climate law. Trump promised to “blast through every bureaucratic hurdle” to quickly approve new oil drilling, pipelines, refineries and power plants in a bid to lower energy costs (a tactic unlikely to succeed). The former president’s promises also included a pledge to “terminate the green New Deal, which I call the Green New Scam.” At Musk’s suggestion, Trump said, “I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms.” Musk is thrilled about the idea. “I can’t wait. There is a lot of waste and needless regulation in government that needs to go,” Musk posted this week on his social media platform X, following reports that Trump was eyeing him for such a role. Trump also vowed to rescind all unspent funds under the climate law known as the Inflation Reduction Act, even as some Republican lawmakers want to save the energy tax credits that are benefiting their districts. Robert Lighthizer, who served as U.S. trade representative under Trump, called the massive climate and health care law an “absolute monstrosity” in a call with reporters ahead of Trump’s speech. There may be parts of the sweeping law that Republicans would want to consider keeping, Lighthizer told reporters, but the general position of the GOP “is going to be repeal,” he said. Congress has appropriated more than $1 trillion in energy, climate, technology and infrastructure investments during the Biden administration — but only 17 percent had been spent as of April, according to a POLITICO investigation. That leaves Trump multiple potential avenues to slow roll or rescind major aspects of Biden’s climate agenda.   It's Thursday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Robin Bravender. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@eenews.net. Listen to today’s POLITICO Energy podcast Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Ben Lefebvre breaks down how Trump’s promised tariffs could raise gasoline prices at home and complicate U.S. relations abroad.   A message from Chevron: Chevron’s latest offshore platform, Anchor, is forging new paths to the future. Its technological innovations help us to reach previously inaccessible oil and natural gas reserves in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.   Power Centers Illustration by Claudine Hellmuth/POLITICO (source images via iStock, Getty and Racsoagrafal/Wikipedia) Betting on Trump Kelcy Warren invests big in pipelines — and Trump. The billionaire pipeline mogul is behind the Dakota Access oil pipeline, which was built only after years of bitter tribal protests. Now, he is investing $5 million in the Trump campaign, tied with Midland, Texas, oilman Tim Dunn for first place among oil moguls, writes Mike Soraghan. Warren's company, Energy Transfer, stands to benefit from a Trump administration that could extend its permit for a natural gas project in Louisiana, put to rest continued threats to Dakota Access and dial back the Biden administration's heightened scrutiny of mergers and acquisitions. Carbon removal flop Plans to build a direct air capture megaproject in Wyoming have collapsed, raising questions about a fledgling industry that aims to remove climate pollution from the atmosphere, writes Corbin Hiar. Project Bison aimed to remove 5 million tons of carbon dioxide annually by 2030. But the developer was unable to secure enough clean energy to operate it. California-based startup CarbonCapture pointed to competition from other energy-hungry customers such as data center operators and cryptocurrency miners. CEO Adrian Corless said his company intends to build its first commercial-scale project outside Wyoming, which gets more than 70 percent of its electricity from coal-fired power plants. Cruising around ethics The European Parliament's conflict-of-interest rules don't apply to the institution's president, write Karl Mathiesen, Eddy Wax and Elisa Braun. Under the new ethics code, the Parliament’s senior members must declare conflicts of interest, including any “involving his or her family, emotional life or economic interest.” But they don't apply to Roberta Metsola, whose husband was the top EU lobbyist for the Miami-based Royal Caribbean Group, the world’s second-largest cruise ship company and a major corporate polluter. Ukko Metsola job has gone largely unnoticed, even as he worked to influence landmark green legislation that his wife would eventually sign into law.   A message from Chevron:   In Other News Booming doomerism: Climate change is making "last chance tourism" more popular and riskier, with people eager to visit vanishing glaciers and sea caves. 'Economic sinkhole': The United Nations climate chief said global warming is costing African nations up to 5 percent of their economic output.   A message from Chevron: Chevron’s latest offshore platform, Anchor, is setting a deepwater benchmark by helping to safely produce oil and natural gas at up to 20,000 psi. Anchor will play a leading role in Chevron’s goal to produce 300,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico by 2026. That’s energy in progress.   Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) and ranking member John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) confer during a hearing on Capitol Hill on March 21. | Francis Chung/POLITICO Bipartisan Senate legislation to speed permitting for both clean energy and fossil fuels projects would lead to a drop in global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new analysis. A political committee trying to kill Washington state's cap-and-trade market is paying to cut gasoline prices for some motorists. The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing first-of-a-kind carbon dioxide storage permits in Texas that would pave the way for Occidental Petroleum to inject CO2 into deep rock formations. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.   Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

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