TRUMP SAYS HE WILL CANCEL PARIS CLIMATE AGREEMENT, CUT POLLUTION REGULATIONS TO BOOST USE OF OIL AND COAL

By Miriam Raftery

May 26, 2016 (San Diego) – Today after clinching the number of delegates needed for the Republican nomination, billionaire Donald Trump gave a speech at a petroleum industry conference in North Dakota.  There he told oil executives he would eliminate regulations on the fossil fuel industry and also weaken clean water protections, the Bismark Tribune reports.

“We’re going to cancel the Paris Climate agreement,” he said of the United Nations Accord signed by over 195 nations.

Promising “complete American energy independence” he vowed to roll back Obama administration limits on coal power plant emissions, global climate accord reached in Paris, approve the Keystone XL pipeline and rescind protection of waterways from industrial pollution. He has also called for an increase in fracking and has said he believes climate change is a hoax, despite 97% of climate scientists worldwide agreeing that climate change is real and caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

Trump’s speech drew applause from the crowd of oil executives in North Dakota, an oil producing state, but later drew scathing criticisms from environmental interests.

Some view his stances as frightening. Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, stated, ““There are pools of oil industry waste water that are deeper than Trump’s grasp of energy.”

"Trump’s energy policies would accelerate climate change, protect corporate polluters who profit from poisoning our air and water, and block the transition to clean energy that is necessary to strengthen our economy and protect our climate and health," said Tom Steyer, a billionaire environmental activist.

His polices are in sharp contrast to both Democratic contenders, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, whose goals are generally to shift the U.S. to clean renewable energy sources such as solar and protect consumers from industrial pollution, though Clinton has been supportive of some fracking as a transitional phase.  Both  Democrats strongly support the Paris Climate accords, though Sanders has said he does not think it went far enough to stop potentially irreversible climate change.