Most Americans would agree that the 2024 US Presidential
election was perhaps the most turbulent and polarising election in
recent history, the effects of which were felt globally. While the
election did conclude with a decisive victory for Donald J. Trump,
the former 45th President of US, soon to be 47th President of US,
the President-elect has already started laying the groundwork
before the transition to power on 20th January 2025. Admittedly,
Trump has been vocal that given his limited exposure to politics
and inexperience during his first term as president, he made some
pretty bad decisions when it came to picking his cabinet
members.
Having said that, it seems that Trump having gained invaluable
experience (or not) during his first term has vowed to not repeat
his mistake and is making very calculated and strategic decisions
(or not) when appointing members to be part of his second
administration. Over the last few weeks, Trump has been announcing
his cabinet picks; some choices being lauded while some choices
being greeted with confusion given that Trump is no stranger to
throwing an odd ball here or there, as was evident from his stances
and polices during the first term.
On November 12, 2024, the President-elect nominated former Rep.
Lee Zeldin (R-NY), to head the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA). Naturally, the response was not as positive as one may
expect, given that Zeldin is no stranger to squaring off with
environmental groups in his not so noticeable political career over
the years. In terms of ratings, the League of Conservative Voters
(LCV), which rates lawmakers basis their environmental track record
has given Zeldin a horrifying score of 14% lifetime score. To make
this worse, he is often cited as anti-science and pro polluter,
given that he has received funding from oil and gas industries for
his Congressional aspirations. Perhaps what might make this odd
curveball work in Trump’s favour is the fact that Zeldin seems
to be aligned with Trump’s long-term vision for an energy
dominant US. In an interview with Fox News following his
nomination, Zeldin has shown exuberance and confidence about going
straight to work to unleash US energy dominance and make America
the AI capital of the world. This is ironic considering he has been
nominated as the EPA head and his focus should be more oriented
towards the environment rather than AI.
It would be an understatement to state that the President-elect
has not been very fond of environmental policies and regulations in
the past, given that before venturing into politics, he was a
business tycoon in the real estate industry. In a recent interview
with Joe Rogan, Trump has been vocal critic of environmental impact
studies, which he claims to have become an expert on, given that he
has developed his own building projects globally including in the
state of New York which is notorious when it comes to regulations.
He further explained that his projects faced several backlashes due
to environmental concerns and that the environmental authorities
had the power to slow down a project by 10 (ten), fifteen (15) or
even indefinitely in some cases. This prompted Trump into rolling
back at least 98 (ninety-eight) environmental rules and regulations
during his first term, and some others which were still progress at
the time. Coming back to Zeldin and his aspiration of making US the
AI capital of the world, it seems that the apple does not fall far
from the tree and Zeldin is absolutely aligned with Trump’s
political philosophy when it comes to the environment.
One might ask how exactly the Trump-Zeldin environmental regime
hopes of achieving a balance between environment and AI, given that
AI is extremely data and energy hungry. In a study published by
Yale University, it has been summarised that electricity
consumption by data centres, cryptocurrency (also another sector
Trump heavily favours) and AI could potentially rise to 4% (four
percent) of the annual global energy usage which is equal to the
entire energy consumption by the state of Japan! It is going to be
unprecedentedly challenging for the Trump-Zeldin environmental
regime to follow through on trying to balance the environment/AI
dichotomy. One may speculate that the regime might completely
ignore the original purpose of the EPA and focus solely on driving
the American economy with the power of AI. There have also been
indications that Trump’s pro crypto and AI stances are a direct
consequence of China and Russia’s overwhelmingly
anti-environmental stances, as these countries continue to focus on
AI advancement in hopes of overtaking the US one day. Trump’s
general attitude of ‘if they are not following through on the
environmental concerns over their own political and geopolitical
aspirations, then why should the US’, may completely alter the
course of history as we head towards an age where power, especially
AI driven power is much more valuable than the impending doom of
climate change.
At this point, the Trump-Zeldin environmental regime seems to be
doubling down on AI, and it seems that Trump’s historical
attitude towards EPA has finally culminated into a crippled EPA. It
is a well-known fact that when US says something, the rest of the
world listens, and when US itself abandons the environmental
economics in the long haul, the rest of the world will follow suit.
This may have a domino effect on the world economy which will shift
towards complete energy domination at the expense of environmental
sustainability. What the future holds? Only time will tell.
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