Adviser says no carbon tax coming from Trump

Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who has signed on as an adviser to Donald Trump, is advising the presumptive GOP frontrunner against endorsing a carbon tax.

 

{mosads}Cramer spoke to The Hill after a published report said he was advising Trump to endorse a carbon tax. A similar story based on that report appeared on The Hill’s website. 

Cramer told E&E Daily that he is working on a number of white papers regarding policy recommendations to Trump. 

The North Dakota lawmaker has in the past floated a small fee for carbon emissions as a way to pay for research and development to make fossil fuels cleaner.

However, he insisted in the interview that this would not represent a carbon tax. He also told The Hill that he won’t recommend that Trump endorse a carbon tax.

Cramer is an outspoken climate change skeptic and supporter of the oil, natural gas and coal industries, owing in part to North Dakota’s position as a heavy oil and gas producer.

In the interview with The Hill, Cramer acknowedged some want to see action on climate change, but he suggested that the government must do nothing to hurt the U.S. oil and gas industry.

 

In the interview with E&E, Cramer, who described himself as a skeptic of climate change being caused by man, suggested the American public does want to see something done on the issue.

“But my advice would be, while I’m a skeptic, as well, he is a product of political populism, and political populism believes that there needs [to be] some addressing of climate change,” he said.

Cramer said research and development are the key to making fossil fuels cleaner, not regulations like the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which he will relay to Trump.

 

“I’ve been skeptical, but I don’t resist the reality that we’re heading toward or our goal is a more carbon-constrained world,” Cramer told E&E.

 

“I would still tell him, ‘Yeah, we need to stop and repeal the Clean Power Plan,’” he continued. “If in fact he wants a more carbon-restrained energy policy, he ought to work with real scientists and work with Congress to come up with a better one.”

 

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story included incorrect information. It has been updated to reflect changes and the Cramer interview.