Trump is transforming the GOP’s energy policies — and not all conservatives are happy

Other Trump administration actions have overtly benefited fossil fuel sources. Energy Secretary Chris Wright used authorities under the century-old Federal Power Act to keep an aging coal power plant in Michigan running just eight days before it had been slated to go offline. Michigan ratepayers are now paying to keep it afloat — although Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a motion against DOE’s move, saying retiring the plant was part of a plan to save Michigan ratepayers $150 million in capital expenditures.

Wright later used that same authority to force an oil- and gas-fired power plant outside Philadelphia to continue operating.

“We’re expecting more than that. That’s the tip of the iceberg,” Devin Hartman, director of energy and environment policy with the conservative think tank R Street Institute. “The case to subsidize those power plants is really flimsy.”