Trump's Hate Of "Green New Deal" Will Especially Hurt Red States That Voted For Him

The "Big Beautiful Bill" is anything but for the clean
energy industry in the United States.

 Donald Trump hates so called "green energy," which is produced by sources other that fossil fuel, such as wind and solar. He calls that type of thing the "Green New Scam."

He is reversing, or plans to reverse, subsidies to states for that type of project. 

The green energy cutbacks are largely contained in the (ugh!) "One Big Beautiful Bill" that passed the House last past week. The bill has moved on  to the Senate, where it's their problem, at least for now. 

As it stands now, billions of dollars in tax incentives within former President Joe Biden's signature Inflation Reduction Act are on the chopping block. 

The bill would also end a tax credit for up to $7,500 for the purchase of an electric vehicle. That would of course slow the shift to EVs. \\slow the shift to EVs.

The "Big Beautiful Bill" would also end subsidies and tax breaks for the clean energy industry. 

Trouble is, most of green money is flowing to Red States that voted for Trump. 

Republican Congress creature who love Trump face a dilemma.  All this is going to hurt the very people they represent. 

Per Washington Post:

"Republican senators now must grapple with the reality behind the slogan: Cutting hundreds of billions of dollars of clean energy subsides that are flowing to their own states."

'The majority of the government spending is creating jobs and manufacturing capacity in red states,' said Jason Bordoff, the founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, 'So this puts Republicans, generally and now in the Senate, in the position of having to choose whether to support the party line or maintain support for government programs that are creating a lot of economic activity in the states."

Given the recent track record of Republic Congress Creatures, I'd bet on fealty to Trump instead of what their constituents want.  That's particularly true of House Republicans, whose districts are so gerrymandered that they'll get voted in no matter what. After all, some hard core MAGAs in these districts love Trump so much they'll vote against their own interests every time.

For Senators, it's more complicated.  They represent entire states. Even the hard core red states aren't exclusively Republican.  They can still lose if Democrats turn out in force and a percentage of Republicans get disillusioned by the Trump policies and by extension their senators. 

And there will be activism. Forces are gathering against legislation to kill green energy programs. As Washington Post reports in their article about this:

"Climate advocates are mobilizing against the legislation, warning the it threatens to cede the United States' leadership role in global efforts to combat climate change. They plan to pressure Republican senators by citing home-state economic damage."

Now that the "One Big Beautiful Bill" (I still have trouble writing that without getting the dry heaves) is now in the Senate, it's probably in for a rough ride. Partly for the green energy cutbacks and certainly for a myriad of other reasons.

As WaPo says, "To pass it, Trump will  need votes from Senate Republicans who have championed the green subsidies in their home states."

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) one of the most vulnerable senators up for re-election next year, suggested....that he would push for a slower phaseout of the clean energy subsidies. An immediate phaseout, he said, would 'have a chilling effect" on 'future investments in the domestic energy sector. 

In Tillis' home state of North Carolina, the law has helped attract $23 billion in investment, according to data compiled by Atlas Public Policy and Utah State University. Forty-seven new facilities in the state - including a massive Toyota battery plant - could create about 20,000 new jobs, the data shows."

Of course, I'm not sure how a "slower phase out" would help much since the subsidies would still disappear, making investors less likely to risk their money in United States green energy. 

Tillis is probably trying to have it both ways. Like virtually all Republicans he's afraid of Donald Trump's wrath, yet he knows Trump's policies hurt the economy. Just speculation here, but perhaps Tillis is trying to buy time until Trump is no longer a problem so that the money flowing into his state through green energy subsidies will continue. 

Trump's ideas on clean energy indeed might also be shooting himself in the economic foot. Washington Post again: 

"Factories that would manufacture solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and other crucial pieces of America's energy future as envisioned by former president Joe Biden and Democrats are on the chopping block."

So, other countries will take over, reaping the economic benefits instead of the United States.  Clean industries in other nations probably shouldn't worry too much about Trump's tariff spree.   These overseas clean energy companies will just find other places to sell their wares,  After all, there's plenty of markets for solar panels, turbines, batteries in Europe, Asia, Africa and a host of other places.

Fossil fuel companies, of course, love the "Big Beautiful Bill."  The American Petroleum Institute said in a statement it will "help restore American energy dominance."

The Institute shouldn't be too sure about that. 

Over the past few decades, old, dirty coal fired plants have been decommissioned. If we're so bent on returning to fossil fuel and getting rid of clean energy, it won't be so easy to develop that infrastructure.

It's hard and takes years to build new coal and gas plants. Local opposition is sure to slow down any proposals to build them. Plus, it takes forever to get the supplies, engineers and construction workers to actually construct these things. 

Meanwhile, more than 80 percent of the electricity added to the power grid in 2024 came from solar panels and industrial batteries that store the energy they capture says the U.S. Energy Information Administration. 

There appears to be public support for at least some clean energy initiatives that are under the chopping block under the "Big Beautiful Bill."

A clear majority of Americans support the tax credits for electric vehicles.  Republicans obviously are less enthusiastic about the idea. But still, a Yale Program on Climate Change Communication poll found 42 percent of liberal or moderate Republican and 28 percent of conservative Republicans support the tax rebates for EVs.

We haven't even talked about how the Big Beautiful Bill advances Trump's efforts thwart efforts to fight climate change.  Which is itself a danger both to lives and the economy of the United States and the world. The increasingly extreme weather climate change has wrought is a drag on the economy, one that will continue to get worse.

Think about the disruption to industry as factories, offices and such are destroyed by giant storms, or at least shut down temporarily due to evacuations, power cuts and transportation disruptions. 

In addition to battling climate change, clean energy provisions are at least causing some benefits to employment and the economy in general for the population at large. The Big Beautiful Bill funnels money from a variety of worthwhile programs in favor of giving more money to a cadre of billionaires and millionaires, who certainly don't need it. 

It's a shameless transfer of money and power from most of us to a few very rich people. Of course, the Republicans who support this will lie their way through this, trying to convince the public - some successfully - that up is down and down is up. 

Such is the world we apparently live in these days.  

Vermont Weather Week Ahead: A Big Winter Storm? In April?

 This should we an interesting weather week for the nation as a whole and here in Vermont. 

This is just one of many depictions of how a huge
storm would affect us in Vermont later this
week. This map shows an enormous
nor'easter centered just off Cape Cod. We
could get a lot of snow and/or rain out of this.

For the U.S., it's another everything but the kitchen sink deal. And maybe the kitchen sink, too.  

The storm has already set off heavy snow in some of the mountains of the West, and even a few severe thunderstorms for parts of California.

The developing storm is threatening to set off more wildfires in New Mexico, western Texas, parts of Colorado and western Oklahoma as the system sends dry, warm winds through the region.

A large severe weather outbreak will start today to an extent in Missouri and Illinois. Then the threat grows larger Monday and Tuesday through a much more expansive area in the Midwest and Southeast.

Flooding is also a threat in parts of the south and east. Some areas will get heavy snow out of this, which is where Vermont and other parts of the Northeast come in. 

VERMONT STORM

The storm in question looks like it will be pretty large, powerful and slow moving, so it'll have a chance to give quite a bit of weather to the Northeast. 

Some areas, especially the higher elevations could get a ton of new snow out of this, but the devil of course is always in the details. 

The easy part will be to go through the calm before the storm, so we'll do that first

Today

Not bad for an early Easter! Clouds from a weak overnight disturbance were clearing out this morning and we should have a largely sunny, seasonable day. Expect highs in the 40s, with a few warmer valleys touching 50 degrees

Monday

An initial disturbance, the opening salvo of this big storm, is the piece producing the potential severe weather in Missouri today. It'll pass by to our south tomorrow, sending some clouds our way. It'll be cloudiest south with even a chance of a light shower. There should be at least some sun north. Another seasonable day with 40s to around 50, warmest north.

Tuesday

Here it comes. Starting here, the forecast is subject to HUGE changes. A storm this big and complex is sure to provide quite a few surprises. 

It does seem as if this storm will be bigger and more powerful than your average early April system. We don't know yet who gets the most rain, the most snow, and precisely how long it will last.

We'll give the broad brush here, and I note future posts in this here blog thingy will highlight changes  to the forecast I lay out there. This initial crack at the forecast is just to give you a general idea of what will happen.  

My perennial gardens in St. Albans, Vermont showing
signs of springtime life this Easter Sunday morning,
but these plants could well be buried in 
snow by midweek. 

In the end, I think virtually everyone in Vermont will see some snow. Some of us will only get a little. Some of us could really get clobbered,

Anyway, clouds thicken and lower Tuesday and rain will break out. The storm will end up somewhere near Lake Erie overnight Tuesday. At that point, the early read on this is valleys in Vermont will be getting rain, while it will already be snowing in the mountains. 

Then it gets even more interesting.....

Wednesday

The main storm center near Lake Erie will begin to fade out as a new storm gets going on the Mid-Atlantic coast and moves northward, becoming a strong nor'easter centered near southeastern New England by Wednesday night. 

This arrangement feeds plenty of moisture inland through New England and also allows temperatures to cool well away from the coast. That's us.

This would allow at least a mix of rain and snow in the valleys and probably all snow up high.  Depending on the path of the storm, I already see a potential for over a foot in some high elevations of Vermont. If that happens, I don't know where yet. It depends on whether the storm is a little inland or a little off the coast. 

Inland would give most of Vermont a lot of snow. Offshore would favor mostly southern parts of the state. 

Thursday

The storm seems like it might want to pretty much stall somewhere near eastern New England or just offshore Thursday. If that happens, the storm for Vermont would turn into one of those wrap-around storms. 

That could bring a lot of snow to the western slopes and summits of the Greens, but not much additional snow to southeastern Vermont. We'll see how it plays out. 

Friday-Weekend

The storm as it stands now would slowly drift eastward and weaken somewhat, so snow and maybe valley rains would slowly diminish. Timing of this is a big question mark. Will the precipitation end fairly quickly, or linger through the weekend?

Eclipse Day Monday

The storm should be out of our hair by then, which is great news. But it's still way too soon if it will actually be clear out so we can actually see this once in a lifetime event. 

Long range forecasts - at least at the ,moment - do not have any large scale storms near Vermont at the time the eclipse rolls around. But it only takes a weak weather disturbance to make our skies overcast. It's way too soon as of this Easter morning to know if anything will cloud our skies on eclipse day. 

Keep praying to the weather gods for a clear April 8!