Trump says he won’t risk US wealth with “chimeras and windmills” to fight climate change

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he would not risk America’s oil prospects with “chimeras and windmills” in response to a question about fighting climate change.

“I feel like the United States has enormous wealth. Wealth is under his feet. I have brought out that wealth (…). Right now we are the main energy producer in the world and soon we will be by even more margin,” Trump said at a press conference from Biarritz, in the south of France, where he participated in the coverage of the G7.

“I’m not going to lose that wealth. I’m not going to lose it for chimeras, for windmills that, frankly, do not work too well,” the US president said.

Trump announced in 2017, shortly after taking office, the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement negotiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama, although the formal withdrawal will not occur until 2020. In an election he went so far as to say that global warming is a “hoax.”

In addition, Trump has claimed to be an “environmentalist” and has recalled that he has had to prepare numerous environmental impact reports during his years as a real estate developer. “I want the Earth’s water to be the cleanest, its air to be the cleanest and that’s what we’re doing. I’m an environmentalist. There are many people who do not understand it. I’ve probably done more environmental impact reports than anyone who has been president and I think I know more about the environment than the vast majority.”He argued.

Environmentalists have been quick to mock Trump’s remarks. “The false label about environmentalism is based on gutting the Protected Species Act, bowing to polluting industries and denying climate change while the world burns,” said Greenpeace USA spokesman Travis Nichols.

Source: Europe Press