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The alliance between Continental Resources oil baron Harold Hamm and President Donald Trump is reconfiguring federal energy policies for the benefit of oil and gas companies while putting off the transition to clean energy development.
According to reporting by the New York Times, Mr. Hamm's more than $2 million dollars in campaign contributions has given him outsize influence within the Trump administration. Hamm has used his influence to install oil and gas industry loyalists for top administration jobs, including Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
Since the beginning of the year, the Trump administration and Congress have moved to undo or weaken policies related to oil and gas, including fuel-efficiency standards, methane emissions regulations, and tax credits for electric vehicles and renewable power. According to an analysis for the Times by the Princeton University-led REPEAT Project, these rollbacks will cause an estimated 7.6 billion tons of additional greenhouse gas emissions to be released in the coming decade. “We’ve just gotten started,” Hamm said at a recent energy conference hosted by a conservative think tank. “It’s a changed world.”
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In our part of Colorado, taking care of public lands and water; taking care of the people who work for the Forest Service, BLM and Park Service; and making sure public land uses are managed with a long-term perspective is imperative to support our local businesses and way of life.”
