
The fossil fuel industry gets its revenge on green activists
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The oil-and-gas industry is landing blow after blow against climate activists. The Trump administration has cranked out approvals of major projects to ship liquefied natural gas from the Gulf Coast and killed a host of climate-related initiatives.
Meanwhile, Texas billionaire Kelcy Warren has won a nearly $700 million verdict against Greenpeace that could spell the end of the group’s U.S. presence. These are major setbacks for green groups.
They have opposed new exports of U.S. natural gas, sought to stop new pipelines and asked the government to step up support of communities affected by climate change. The defeats herald the challenges that activists face as President Trump and his allies move to expand fossil fuels’ footprint here and abroad.
Trump has directed federal agencies to speed up permits for oil and gas infrastructure, a key demand of his oil and gas donors—including Warren, co-founder of pipeline giant Energy Transfer. The Trump team is also making deep cuts at the Environmental Protection Agency, which played a central role in the Biden administration’s rollout of climate policies. Legal experts said that while green groups have dealt with previous administrations’ attempts to weaken environmental standards, they are facing an extraordinary challenge under Trump 2.0.
“What we’re seeing now is sort of this sense of the opportunity for revenge," said Josh Galperin, an associate professor of law at Pace University. Oil and gas executives who have seen their projects challenged by environmentalists and mired in lengthy permitting have applauded Trump’s actions. “We’ve just kind of been the frog in the boiling pot, and it’s just gotten worse, and worse, and worse," said Alan
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