As a nonprofit organization, we’re not here to tell you how to vote, but we can speak out on the president’s policies. We’ve already commented on his appointees. A truly comprehensive article covering the range of his energy policies would be quite long, so for this piece, I will cover just a few of the more recent announcements of particular relevance to consumers and the environment. 

On March 15, the president announced he would roll back automobile fuel efficiency standards put in place by the Obama administration. An analysis by the Consumers Union, a division of Consumer Reports, shows that fuel economy rules would save consumers $3,200 per car and $4,800 per truck over the life of a vehicle designed to meet the standard set for 2025. And that’s based upon low gas prices. If fuel prices shoot up, the savings would be substantially higher. 

And when the administration announced its first budget, we learned it would:

• Eliminate the Energy Star program, which sets standards and certifies the most efficient appliances. Since its inception, Energy Star has saved consumers $430 billion and has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 2.7 billion tons. We’ve been telling our members for years that whenever you need an appliance, you should look for the Energy Star label.  The program cost $57 million in 2014 and saved consumers $31 billion.  Benefits divided by costs = 550!

• Eliminate the Low Income Heating Assistance Program, also known as fuel assistance. We’ve pointed out that while energy is more affordable now than ever for the vast majority of consumers, heating bills cause the poor to choose between heating and eating, heating and health care, and heating and paying the rent.  In a one trillion dollar budget, we can afford a $3 billion LIHEAP.

• Eliminate the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), which makes the homes of low-income families more efficient. As with the fuel standards and Energy Star, energy savings far outweigh costs. Cutting WAP will save just $121 million, another drop in the federal budget bucket. 

These are just some of the proposals that the Trump administration is calling for. We see them as only in the narrow, short-sighted, self-interest of fossil fuel and carmakers. And they will come at the expense of consumers, workers, and the environment. According to many surveys, Trump voters are strongly in favor of wind, solar, energy efficiency, and regulations to reduce carbon emissions. So we feel compelled to point out how extreme the administration’s policies are. 

We have heard some our members express the view that they support renewable energy and energy efficiency while also being unconvinced that climate change is a problem or that humans cause climate change. Some say we need an “all of the above” energy policy that includes renewable energy and fossil fuels. And some have said they support clean energy and our organization’s agenda but wish that we were not so critical of Trump energy policies. But like a good umpire in a baseball game, we must call the balls and strikes as we see them. There are no alternative facts. We need to shift away from fossil fuels quickly and steadily for the sake of our planet and economy.

So when it comes to energy policy, the Trump administration is worse than we ever could have imagined. And while we do most of our work with consumers, municipal governments and the states of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, it is time for us to let Washington know how we feel. You may have heard that a major People’s Climate March is being planned for D.C. on April 29. We hope you’ll join hundreds of thousands of others.    

If you cannot get to the nation’s capitol, a Boston area march is also planned.

Reserve your seat on the bus to Washington by clicking below. If you’d like to find an alternative way to get to the march, we recommend that you check this page.