Trump Sees "Beautiful Clean Coal" - Federal States Won't Have It

We are getting used to a lot of things when it comes to the current U.S. President Donald Trump. Nevertheless, he still manages to irritate people - like in his recent 'State of the Union' speech. There he once again made his support for fossil energy production clear and spoke of "beautiful clean coal", which "will last for at least another thousand years".

Accordingly, he apparently intends to introduce a budget cut for the development of renewable energies and energy efficiency into the congress - and that by a whopping 72 percent, as reported by the Washington Post, which obtaines the document.

Many of the very harsh cuts would probably be restored by Congress, but the Trump budget, due in February, will initially provide a basis for further negotiations.

Meanwhile, however, an increasing number of federal states won't take the official U.S. policy lead by Trump and are adopting their own laws for the expansion of renewable energies. New York presented the measures to the public a few weeks ago: Millions of dollars will be spend for the offshore expansion and training of appropriate workers. This was followed by an announcement to sue some of the major oil companies and to withdraw the pension fund's money from such investments (Windfair reported).

Now the small neighbour New Jersey follows along: After Republican senator Chris Christie had blocked such initiatives for years, the newly elected democratic senator Philip D. Murphy signed a law to promote the development of offshore wind in the state. The plan initially envisages installing at least 3,500 MW to supply 1.6 million people with clean offshore energy by 2030.

Murphy signed the executive order this week at a waste water treatment plant in Atlantic City, overshadowed by massive wind turbines. He was eloquently supported by Stephen Sweeney, the current Senate President of New Jersey. When asked how he reacts to critics who say they don't want to see the turbines off the coast, he responded according to local media that the turbines are far too far from the coast to see them. "If you can see 15 miles away, I've got to find out what you've been... smoking."