Some $35 billion is aimed at building small solar sites in rural areas and other improvements. The World Bank chief called the project “foundational to everything.”
Oil and gas executives welcomed President Trump’s early moves on energy policy, but many said they did not plan to increase production unless prices rose significantly.
There are 206 coal-burning power plants left in the United States, which supply about 16 percent of the country’s energy. Experts say burning more doesn’t make financial sense.
“I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems,” the president said. Federal emergency managers from both parties have made the same argument.
The president wants to honor a predecessor, William McKinley, by returning his name to North America’s highest peak. The state’s senators prefer the Native name.
Legal experts said the president was testing the boundaries of executive power with aggressive orders designed to stop the country from transitioning to renewable energy.
Officials and business executives at the annual gathering in Switzerland said the fight against global climate change would continue with or without the United States.
President Trump made major policy moves immediately after taking office, withdrawing from major international agreements, promising steep tariffs and pardoning nearly all of the Jan. 6 rioters.
The president said he’d declare an energy emergency, increase drilling and end support for electric cars. His pivot to oil and gas follows the hottest year in recorded history.