Michigan elections FAQ: Where Trump, Harris stand on climate, Great Lakes
- The environment looms large in Michigan, a Great Lakes state, as Donald Trump and Kamala Harris compete for the White House
- The Biden-Harris administration is funding clean energy projects, environmental cleanup and lead pipe removal
- Trump reversed environmental regulations and wants to build on record oil production to lower energy costs, boost industries
As the Earth continues to warm, presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are taking different positions on climate change, energy and the environment.
The issue: The world’s average temperature has risen two degrees Fahrenheit since the 1850s, and there is scientific consensus that the warming has been caused by human activity producing greenhouse gases.
Climate change has been tied to 396 U.S. natural disasters resulting in nearly $2.8 trillion in damages and 16,499 deaths since 1980.
Projections show further warming is unavoidable, and the planet is expected to heat up by another several degrees by century’s end. The severity will depend upon whether, and how quickly, society weans itself off the fossil fuels that drive climate change.
How it is important to Michigan: The Great Lakes account for about 90% of the country’s freshwater, raising political debates over whether jobs or the environment should take priority when managing Michigan’s natural resources.
Related:
- See how auto companies left trail of pollution, toxins in Michigan
- Poisoned Michigan — How weak laws and ignored history enabled PFAS crisis
The state’s economy has revolved around automotive and related manufacturing for generations. While related jobs have declined by nearly 290,000 since 2000, manufacturers have contaminated the soil and groundwater of numerous communities, leaving a trail of pollution and blight across Michigan.
A warmer atmosphere is already causing more severe storms, worse mosquito and tick outbreaks, and risk to plants, fish and wildlife in Michigan. The 2023-24 winter season was the state’s warmest on record, and saw a continued degradation of conditions for ice fishing, snowmobiling and other activities central to the “Water-Winter Wonderland.”
But the state’s high latitude and surrounding lakes provide a shield against the most extreme weather changes, making it a potential “climate haven.”
As Michigan prepares for that future, it is struggling to clean up more than 26,000 contaminated sites left over from its industrial past. Ongoing air pollution in Detroit contributes to some of the nation’s highest asthma rates.
The state’s aging infrastructure has contributed to water quality crises in cities like Flint and Benton Harbor. Michigan is also grappling with PFAS "forever chemicals" contamination in various locations.
Mining strongholds in the Upper Peninsula are experiencing a surge in mineral exploration to fuel the EV revolution, prompting concerns about related pollution.
Where Harris, Democrats stand: Kamala Harris plans to build on President Joe Biden’s clean energy plan, promising to follow a similar renewable energy agenda. She has framed climate change as an “existential threat” America has a duty to combat.
As vice president, Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and supported a 2021 infrastructure law. Collectively, those laws will pump hundreds of millions of dollars into environmentally friendly programs like underground lead pipe removal and renewable energy infrastructure.
Harris has said she believes "every person in America has a right to clean water" and in February announced $5.8 billion in federal funds for water infrastructure projects across the country, including $177 million for Michigan. Harris in May announced another $100 million to support Michigan’s EV transition.
With domestic oil production at record levels under Biden, Harris emphasized during the Sep. 10 presidential debate that she would continue to support domestic drilling. The administration last year approved a controversial drilling project in Alaska.
As a presidential candidate in 2019, Harris proposed a ban on fracking but has said she no longer holds that position and said in the recent presidential debate that she “will not ban” the technique if elected president.
The Biden-Harris administration has also used regulations to pursue its environmental agenda, including the EPA’s 2024 decision to limit PFAS in drinking water, declaring the chemicals alarming Michigan scientists for decades “hazardous” in a step toward suing polluters for cleanup.
“Every day, the climate crisis is stark and it is vivid,” Harris said in 2023 during remarks on the administration’s fight against climate change. “We are creating good-paying clean energy jobs, we are rebuilding America’s manufacturing and we are driving American innovation.”
Where Trump, Republicans stand: Trump has frequently downplayed the urgency of climate change, while vowing to reverse Biden’s climate and environmental policies in favor of nonrenewable energy. He’s said he wants to make America the “dominant energy producer in the world,” cut energy prices and support U.S. industries.
While many Republican leaders acknowledge climate change as a result of human activity, party members largely ignored discussion of the issue at the 2024 Republican National Convention. Trump did not directly respond to a question about environmental policy during the Sep. 10 debate with Harris.
During his presidency, the Trump administration rolled back more than 100 environmental regulations, arguing they left the U.S. economy at a competitive disadvantage against China and were bad for businesses. Biden later reversed many of those policies.
Trump’s 2020 budget proposal would have cut most funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a federal pollution cleanup effort. But Trump quickly disavowed that plan as he campaigned for re-election and later signed a funding increase into law.
According to his campaign website, Trump would rescind Biden’s pro-green energy agenda, replacing it with a policy to “unleash American oil and natural gas production.”
"Drill, baby, drill" is a common refrain at Trump rallies. If elected again, Trump has said that he’ll remove "red tape," speed up drilling permits and end renewable energy subsidies while expanding tax cuts for fossil fuels.
“We have more liquid gold under our feet than any other country by far,” Trump said in a July speech at the Republican National Convention. “We are a nation that has the opportunity to make an absolute fortune with its energy.”
Trump in 2020 withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord, an international treaty on climate change mitigation that he recently called a “ripoff of the United States.”
Read more:
- Bridge: See how auto companies left trail of pollution, toxins in Michigan
- Bridge: Poisoned Michigan — How weak laws and ignored history enabled PFAS crisis
- Washington Post: Harris vs. Trump on climate change — Where they stand on the issue
- Fact Check: Trump Clings to Inaccurate Climate Change Talking Points
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