“I withdrew our country from the job killing and very expensive Paris Climate Accord. Last year coal exports were up 92% compared to 2016. 92%, do you believe that? You’re shipping it all over the world. To Vietnam. I was in Vietnam and they said, ‘We get coal from Ohio. We get coal from West Virginia. It’s the finest coal in the world.’”

MasterResource has documented the energy/climate views of President Donald Trump both before and after his election in 2016 (here). The historic nature of his views requires constant updates, particularly with the other side declaring war against oil, gas, and coal and waging lawsuits against fossil-fuel companies.

Here are his words from the Cincinnati, Ohio rally earlier this month:

• Our shared Republican agenda is pro worker, pro jobs, pro family, pro growth, and 100% pro American.

“I will not stand for [the Green New Deal].  We will defend the environment, but we will also defend American sovereignty, American prosperity, and we will defend American jobs.”

– President Donald Trump, The White House, July 8, 2019.

E&E News headlined its story, “Trump slams Paris deal in remarks about the environment.” Never mind that the major nations of the world are violating, if not decimating, the global climate agreement’s voluntary quotas. And never mind that the President talked about a raft of other environmental issues where the news is all good.

In fact, it was a speech of substance, the major theme of which is mineral energies are compatible with environmental progress. Some highlights from Trump’s speech in regard to energy and climate follow:

Remarks by President Trump on America’s Environmental Leadership

• For years, politicians told Americans that a strong economy and a vibrant energy sector were incompatible with a healthy environment. 

“I’m not looking to put our companies out of business [over CO2 regulation] …. We have the cleanest air we’ve ever had.”

“Wind doesn’t work for the most part without subsidy. The United States is paying tremendous amounts of subsidies for wind. I don’t like it, I don’t like it.”

– President Donald Trump, G-20 Summit, Osaka, Japan, June 28, 2019

Chalk up another small victory for the US effort to reset the global agenda on climate change. The anti-growth Malthusians have quite a foe in President Trump, and his forceful consistency just might put the global-government climate crusade out of its misery sooner than otherwise.

Trump refused to sign the G-20 declaration on climate change as written (see below), and he lobbied Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Australia, and Turkey to do likewise.…

“I believe there’s a change in weather, and I think it changes both ways. Don’t forget, it used to be called ‘global warming,’ that wasn’t working, then it was called ‘climate change.’ Now it’s actually called ‘extreme weather,’ because with extreme weather you can’t miss.”  (Donald Trump to Piers Morgan, “ITV Good Morning Britain Show,” June 5, 2019)

President Donald Trump deserves a prize from classical liberals for his position on climate change. In fact, I challenge any conservative, libertarian, or classical liberal to offer a better example of courage in the face of government activism and political correctness in recent times.

In terms of energy policy, despite negative international trade issues (see
(here, here, and here for my tariff misgivings), President Trump is arguably the most free-market energy President in U.S.…