WASHINGTON, D.C. — A polar vortex swooped down from the Arctic on Monday, fueled by climate change-driven instability in the jet stream, forcing Donald Trump’s inauguration indoors. But nobody in Washington was talking about the jet stream – or climate change. The city was full of people bundled up in “Trump Won” and “Never Surrender” merch.
On Outer Cape Cod, where signs of Trump’s return are less obvious, his policies are sure to hit immigrants, LGBTQ people, and lower-earning workers hard. Environmental damage is just a small part of what this administration is likely to do but an important one to prepare for.
During Trump’s first term, the Cape Cod National Seashore’s budget shrank, which forced the park to halt several scientific projects. Something similar will surely happen again. This could affect ecological restorations like the one underway at Fresh Brook in Wellfleet. The National Seashore Advisory Commission, which represents local residents’ concerns, was dismantled during Trump’s last term, and that could happen again.
Schedule F, an executive order that Trump is set to reinstate, would let him fire government workers who are deemed disloyal. With experienced ecologists out of the way, we can expect weaker protections for endangered species; that could spell doom for struggling Cape species like the roseate tern, the northern long-eared bat, and the North Atlantic right whale.
Offshore wind projects are surely doomed, too. A draft executive order, obtained by the news outlet Heatmap, calls for an end to all offshore wind energy leasing and construction, a termination of tax credits offered to wind companies, and a full government review of all previously approved wind energy projects. Trump may also kill the 30-percent federal solar tax credit by rescinding unspent Inflation Reduction Act money, making home-installed solar much less affordable.
With Trump pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement, as he also did in 2017, and issuing an executive order declaring a “national energy emergency” to boost domestic fossil fuel production, this presidency promises to create what environmentalist Bill McKibben termed “an America-sized hole” in the fight against climate change.
Think of the ways we are vulnerable to climate change on the Outer Cape: The back shore is already eroding by a few feet per year, and intense storms could fuel more rapid erosion; climate change-driven storms could also bring more intense seasonal flooding, as we’ve seen the last few years in Provincetown; the likelihood of a devastating hurricane hitting the Cape will also grow. And were a hurricane to hit, Trump’s record of withholding disaster relief from blue states means we probably cannot expect quick federal help when we need it.
Despite all this, Trump positions himself as a pro-environment politician. He brags about having “the cleanest water” and frames his opposition to wind turbines as environmental protection. But don’t be fooled — when it comes to environmental protection, we are going to be on our own for at least the next four years.
