Conservative Climate Groups Are Ready for Their Moment

The agenda: permitting reform, nuclear energy and shrinking the Inflation Reduction Act.

Lee Zeldin Trump

Donald Trump has nominated former congressman Lee Zeldin to run the Environmental Protection Agency. Bastiaan Slabbers/Sipa USA via AP

Conservative climate groups are plotting to prove that the climate movement isn’t completely dead under the incoming Congress and Trump administration. It will just look very different than it does now.

The groups represent a serious realignment from the climate-focused groups that currently have the Biden administration’s ear. Some of these conservative organizations oppose environmental regulations on the grounds that they slow green energy development. Others want to protect regulations for clean air, clean water and the rights of hunters and sportsmen.

For the most part, these groups are all in on nuclear energy, permitting reform and tax incentives for technologies like advanced geothermal and carbon capture. And though many of them are involved in advocating for emissions-free forms of energy, almost none use the phrase “climate change” with any regularity.