WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� When President Donald Trump returned to office last year, he launched a crusade to shift the country away from renewable energy, drastically undoing the climate-friendly policies of his Democratic predecessor to focus instead on oil and other fossil fuels as the answer to his goal of .
But is underscoring the risks of that approach.
As crude oil prices and gasoline prices surge toward $4 a gallon, the Republican president’s strategy of such as wind and solar power has left Americans with fewer alternative energy sources and thus more vulnerable to supply shocks caused by the war, experts say. The Strait of Hormuz, a key access point for the global oil market, remains as Iran targets traffic through it.
鈥淭he biggest short-term losers of the war will be U.S. consumers of oil and gas, as energy prices rise,鈥� said Peter Gleick, a climate scientist and co-founder of the Pacific Institute, a nonprofit that focuses on global water sustainability.
鈥淚t turns out fossil fuels have their own supply risks, and the administration has no answers,鈥� added Tyson Slocum, energy director at Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group.
Trump promised during his campaign to cut energy bills in half but has presided over spikes in electric bills as , Slocum said. 鈥淣ow we are seeing higher gas prices, and nobody knows where it鈥檚 going,” he said.
‘Small price to pay’
Trump has called the conflict a 鈥渧ery small price to pay鈥� after years of terror from the Iranian leadership and predicted that oil prices 鈥渨ill drop like a rock鈥� once the war ends. He said Thursday he knew oil prices would go up and 鈥渢he economy will go down a little bit鈥� as a result of the war.
“I thought it would be worse 鈥� much worse, actually. It鈥檚 not bad. And it鈥檚 going to be over with pretty soon,” he said at .
Meanwhile, American consumers are already seeing the effects at the pump.
The national average price for gasoline has jumped to about $3.88 per gallon as of Thursday, according to AAA, after Trump boasted in last month that gas prices were below $3.
And in a pivotal midterm election year when , Trump鈥檚 energy policies could hurt Republicans as Americans feel the brunt of higher energy costs.
鈥淲e鈥檙e always concerned when gas prices go up,鈥� said Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota.
鈥淕as drives the affordability issue,鈥� added GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
Trump is all in on fossil fuels
Trump has long been , particularly offshore wind, and . Trump has said wind turbines are ugly and expensive and pose a threat to birds and other wildlife. While wind turbines pose a risk to birds, cats are by far the leading threat, followed by building collisions, government statistics show. by the National Audubon Society found that two-thirds of North American bird species could face extinction due to rising temperatures.
In his second term, Trump has gone all in on fossil fuels, providing and fast-tracked permits for oil and gas drilling. At the same time, he has and to promote clean energy, which he derides as the 鈥淕reen New Scam.” Climate change is “the on the world, in my opinion,鈥� Trump told the United Nations last year.
鈥淒ig we must. That鈥檚 the Trump policy of lots of oil,鈥� he said Monday at the White House.
Trump’s policies mark a complete reversal from those of President Joe Biden, who intended to slow planet-warming pollution from the power sector and other industries and .
A landmark regulation, since reversed, would have forced coal-fired power plants to or shut down. Biden and congressional Democrats also approved , the biggest spending to fight climate change by any nation ever.
Trump and congressional Republicans moved swiftly to overturn those polices. The president has gone so far as that climate change endangers public health and the environment.
鈥淵ou see an administration that has said, quite literally through reversal of the Endangerment Finding, we shouldn鈥檛 worry so much about climate change,鈥� said Jason Bordoff, founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.
Under Trump, U.S. policy essentially says, 鈥淲e鈥檙e the largest oil and gas producer in the world, so why buy all this clean energy stuff like EVs and solar panels from China?鈥� Bordoff said on Bloomberg Green鈥檚 鈥淶ero鈥� podcast.
鈥楲argest oil supply disruption in history鈥�
Seeking to ease pressure on prices, Trump has moved to release millions of barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve and temporarily lift sanctions on Russian oil shipments already at sea.
Officials also are considering use of the U.S. Navy to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. is negotiating with countries heavily reliant on Middle East crude to join a coalition to police the waterway, where about one-fifth of the world鈥檚 traded oil normally flows.
Despite those efforts, prices have remained high.
鈥淲e are currently experiencing what is the largest oil supply disruption in history,鈥� said Gregory Brew, a senior analyst at the Eurasia Group.
Energy prices will likely remain high for the foreseeable future, Brew said at an event sponsored by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. 鈥淭he Iranian strategy of applying pressure to the United States will continue to play out, and President Trump will continue to feel the pressure,鈥� he said.
鈥楴o guarantees in wars鈥�
Energy Secretary Chris Wright acknowledged that prices are likely to remain elevated for weeks but said the world will face 鈥渟hort-term pain to solve a long-term problem鈥� as the U.S. and Israel try to 鈥渄efang鈥� Iran.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no guarantees in wars at all,鈥� Wright told ABC News on Sunday. 鈥淭his is short-term pain to get through to a much better place.鈥�
U.N. Secretary-General Ant贸nio Guterres said the turmoil in the Middle East shows 鈥渢he fastest path to energy security鈥� is to speed up a just transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy.
鈥淭here are no price spikes for sunlight and no embargoes on the wind,鈥� he said.
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