Trump, on climate, says he won't jeopardize U.S. wealth on 'dreams'
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[August 27, 2019]
BIARRITZ, France (Reuters) - U.S.
President Donald Trump, responding to a question about climate change
after skipping a G7 session on the issue, said on Monday that American
wealth is based on energy and he will not jeopardize that for dreams and
windmills.
Trump, who in 2017 pulled the United States out of the landmark 2015
Paris climate accord involving nearly 200 countries and has described
global warming as a "hoax," also sought to portray himself as an
environmentalist at a news conference at the close of the Group of Seven
summit in France.
"I feel that the United States has tremendous wealth. The wealth is
under its feet. I've made that wealth come alive. ... We are now the No.
1 energy producer in the world, and soon it will be by far," Trump told
reporters when asked about his views on climate change.
"I'm not going to lose that wealth, I'm not going to lose it on dreams,
on windmills, which frankly aren't working too well," he added.
Trump's administration has reversed U.S. environmental protections put
in place by his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama and has weakened the
Endangered Species Act wildlife conservation law.
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The Republican president skipped a session on climate change and
biodiversity at the summit, instead holding bilateral meetings with
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The G7 leaders discussed the rainforest fires in Brazil and agreed to
draw up an initiative for the Amazon to be launched at the U.N. General
Assembly in New York next month.
French President Emmanuel Macron downplayed Trump's absence.
"He wasn't in the room, but his team was," Macron said. "You shouldn't
read anything into the American president's absence. ... The U.S. are
with us on biodiversity and on the Amazon initiative."
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The empty chair of U.S. President Donald Trump is seen as UN
Secretary General Antonio Guterres, South African President Cyril
Ramaphosa, Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, Rwanda
President Paul Kagame, French President Emmanuel Macron, Egyptian
President and Chairman of the African Union Abdel Fattah al-Sissi,
Chile President Sebastian Pinera and German Chancellor Angela Merkel
attend during a working session focused on climate change during the
G7 Summit in Biarritz, France, August 26, 2019. Ludovic Marin/Pool
via REUTERS
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Trump called himself an environmentalist, noting that he had filled
out so many environmental impact statements as part of his work as a
real estate developer.
"I want the cleanest water on Earth. I want the cleanest air on
Earth. And that's what we're doing. And I'm an environmentalist, a
lot of people don't understand that. I have done more environmental
impact statements probably than anybody that's ... ever been
president. And I think I know more about the environment than most
people," Trump told reporters.
Environmental activists heaped scorn on Trump's remarks.
"Trump's phony brand of 'environmentalism' means gutting the
Endangered Species Act, bowing down to polluting industries, and
denying climate change while the world burns," Travis Nichols, a
Greenpeace USA spokesman, said in a statement.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by David Alexander; Editing by
Will Dunham)
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