Trump’s vice-presidential pick changed his mind on global warming as he climbed the Republican Party’s political ladder. A prominent environmental organization scored zero points on the climate issue.

By Marcus Baram, Capital & Capital

On October 10, 2017, a fresh-faced JD Vance was direct and pragmatic about America’s energy future when asked whether the U.S. should “protect the coal and steel industries.”

The then 33-year-old author of “Hillbilly Elegy” spoke of his tough upbringing in southern Ohio and Kentucky, where coal mines were closing and poverty was endemic. “I think the story of American industry is one where some industries disappear and other industries rise to take their place. It’s this constant cycle of disruption/innovation,” he told an audience at New York’s 92nd Street Y, the city’s famed cultural and spiritual center.

And he stressed: “I don’t think we should just protect industries for the sake of protecting them.”

Six years later, as a US senator, he turned his mind on this idea and co-initiated it a resolution to protect coal-fired power plants. It’s just one of many examples of Vance’s shifting positions on climate change and energy that are being highlighted in the wake of his selection as Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate — a 180-degree turn that seems almost unprecedented, even in the chaotic world of politics, where opportunism is a natural instinct.

In 2020, Vance told an audience at Ohio State University that “we obviously have a climate problem in our society.” He added that using gas as an energy source “is not exactly the kind of thing that is going to get us to a clean energy future.”

As a venture capitalist, Vance walked the talk, investing in two microgrid developers and an electric vehicle charging technology startup, and leading a fund that invested $10 million in a renewable energy technology company. Heliogen, which says on its website that it “unlocks the power of sunlight to replace fossil fuels.” He also sat on the board of AppHarvest, a sustainable agricultural company committed to “accelerating a carbon-free energy future.”

During that time, climate change has accelerated: the last seven years have been the warmest on record due to heat-trapping fossil fuel emissions, and global average sea levels have risen. about four inches Since 1992, both droughts and heavy rainfall have become more frequent more often in Vance’s home state of Ohio.

His recent positions directly contradict his earlier claims. He once believed in climate change, but now claims there is no climate crisis. In 2022, he said: told the American Leadership Forum: “I’m skeptical of the idea that climate change is solely man-made.” He added: “It’s been changing for millennia, as others have pointed out.”

Vance, who was once fiercely opposed to protecting industries like coal and steel, has supported bills to protect coal-fired power plants. He once invested in electric vehicle charging companies and startups that adhere to ESG (environmental, social, and governance) principles, but now he is fiercely opposed to both, even introducing a bill last year to repeal the federal tax deduction for electric vehicles and instead offer tax breaks for gas-powered vehicles made in America.

He has also been fiercely critical of President Biden’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act, the largest climate initiative in U.S. history, despite the fact that it is expected to invest more than $100 million. 12 billion dollars in Ohio’s clean energy economy, creating thousands of jobs. And some companies in Vance’s portfolio have taken advantage of incentives in the law.

He said the Inflation Reduction Act is “stupid” and has “impoverished the economy.” our economy less energy independent.” And in a recent op-ed he called for expansion of production in the Utica Shale oil and gas basin that lies beneath Ohio. In the piece, he criticized the Biden administration for its “intimidation of fossil fuel companies” and its “war on traditional American energy.”

Neither Vance nor his staff responded to Capital & Main’s request for clarification on his position on climate change.

Vance’s pivot has raised eyebrows among investors, political observers and climate activists. One former clean energy investor who worked with Vance, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, said that while all politicians are “chameleons to a greater or lesser extent,” it’s an unusual shift when it comes to climate science.

“It’s one thing for an ignorant person to learn the facts, but the opposite is quite perverse,” the former investor said. “How do you unlearn something?”

Political calculation is a frequently cited reason for Vance’s transformation: “It’s pretty clear what’s going on,” said Nick Abraham of the League of Conservation Voters, who gave Vance a zero in his ratings of politicians for their environmental and climate policies. “Right now, at the top of the list for Republicans, there’s no other path than climate denial and gutting clean energy.”

Vance has also raised a lot of money from the oil and gas industry, which has more than $283,000 for his 2022 campaign — only 18 members of Congress raised more money from the sector, according to campaign finance data group Open Secrets.

The industry was certainly pleased with the choice of Vance – he is “someone who understands what we do and how we do it,” Ohio Oil and Gas Association spokesman Mike Chadsey told E&E News.

“He will continue to advocate for industry and energy investment, and make sure those issues remain high on the agenda; those concerns will be raised in the White House” if Trump wins, Chadsey said.

Climate activists, meanwhile, have expressed concern about Vance’s elevation.

“JD Vance will sell out to the highest bidder, whether that’s Trump or the fossil fuel industry,” Stevie O’Hanlon, communications director for the climate group Sunrise Movement, said in a statement. He added: “JD Vance will enable Donald Trump to wreak even greater havoc on our planet in a second Trump administration.”

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