Energy battles intensifying ahead of Trump swearing-in

BOSTON (SHNS) – There is a clean energy bill sitting on Gov. Maura Healey’s desk and Beacon Hill’s calendar for this week includes an array of energy-related events and reports. But there are also mounting indications that the federal government could change course on energy policy under the administration that President-elect Donald Trump is assembling.

“The most difficult thing is going to be continuing to try and meet emissions targets. We know this incoming administration is going to press heavily on oil and natural gas and the expansion of those, so that does obviously present a major challenge going forward as we try to curtail those,” Kyle Murray, senior advocate and Massachusetts program director at the Acadia Center, said. “Massachusetts is taking some fairly nascent first steps towards limiting the expansion of the gas system in the state, and there are fed efforts that could potentially undermine that work.”

Murray said the incoming Trump administration “could put up some major roadblocks and make life difficult” for renewable energy industries, including offshore wind. But he also noted that many of the large oil and gas companies have already begun to diversify and invest in renewables.

“There’s a world you could envision where those companies are pressing for investment in all of the above — oil, natural gas, offshore wind, solar, all of those things. There is a potential opportunity there,” Murray said. He added, “The energy transition is big business and there’s a lot of money involved in it. So there’s some hope that that train has left the station too much. That being said, there’s always the caveat that you never know.”

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