Barring a contested Republican party convention in Cleveland in July or some other extraordinary event, Donald Trump appears to be on track to be the Republican party nominee.
Last year, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton issued a renewable energy vision fact sheet that set aggressive goals for solar and renewables as it acknowledged the challenge of climate change.
The Trump campaign has not posted the candidate's position on energy and renewables policy. The Trump organization has not responded to repeated requests for the presumptive candidate's energy policy or a white paper on the topic.
Absent that response, we are left with the candidate's tweets (posted during the campaign and over the last few years) in order to understand his policy framework, such as it is. Here's what we could find.
Trump on wind
It's Friday. How many bald eagles did wind turbines kill today? They are an environmental & aesthetic disaster.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2012
Trump on fracking
Fracking will lead to American energy independence. With price of natural gas continuing to drop, we can be at a tremendous advantage.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2012
Trump on solar and Solyndra
Another solar company @BarackObama funded with our money has filed for bankruptcy http://t.co/kfII0sd3 One (cont.) http://t.co/A4pgF5Xh
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2012
Trump on global warming
It's really cold outside, they are calling it a major freeze, weeks ahead of normal. Man, we could use a big fat dose of global warming!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2015
The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012
This very expensive GLOBAL WARMING bullshit has got to stop. Our planet is freezing, record low temps,and our GW scientists are stuck in ice
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2014
Trump on coal
Obama’s war on coal is killing American jobs, making us more energy dependent on our enemies & creating a great business disadvantage.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2014
We will continue to request a non-tweet-based energy plan from the Trump campaign.