Way to upvote your own comment ;). This is very short sighted. Over the past 5 years I've worked in 3 different industries and here are some facts. Companies are in fact trying to become greener every day.
- The companies I worked for all the see the value of more production with less pollution. The vast majority of people are becoming more environmentally conscious and won't allow companies to continue to operate that don't do so responsibly.
- The tech isn't there. The tech that is there provides little to no improvements and are very expensive. Would you spend a million dollars to cut your car emission 1%. How do you expect companies to spend billions of dollars to lower their emissions by .001%?
- Renewable energy isn't necessarily environmentally friendly. Look at the impact of hybrid car batteries on the environment. Look at what happens when wind turbines catch on fire and research the impact they have on birds in the area. Look up all the homes that are flooded due to dams not being able to release enough water.
Companies are greedy, but it doesn't do much good for companies to bankrupt themselves here in the states to try and cut pollution only to be replaced by a different company in China or India that creates more pollution.
Instead of being a keyboard warrior why don't you go out and invent something to help reduce pollution that is cheap and makes a difference in the world. The environmental restrictions that Trump is getting rid of provided little to no benefit to the environment and hurt American jobs.
My point isn't that it's impossible or unlikely for an environmental revolution to occur, it will certainly take a lot more time for the US than other countries, for example 51% of the cars in Norway are electric based, and there is also legislation that is about to be passed that will make electric cars mandatory in Norway within a number of years. The issue I find is more in terms of legislation and political structure, the EPA ban is a definitely a roadblock that sets the US back.
How is the EPA plan setting the US back? Every company I know is still looking ways to go green and clean up there act. The only thing Trump did is get rid of regulations that weren't needed and leave a deal that was causing the US to pay billions of dollars to other countries. Neither of which makes sense from an enconomic or environmental standpoint. Name one company that is going to start increasing pollution due to the EPA set back?
You're right that EPA doesn't affect private sector, businesses like Tesla Energy and many others will still continue to innovate in the renewable energy sector, but the government has definitely cut back on previously held legislative energy based regulations. For example Trump recently issued an executive order to allow offshore oil/gas mining on the Outer Continental Shelf. This promotes oil/gas industry in the US. When the market % of renewable energy companies exceeds oil/gas market % then you'll see a true revolution in renewable energy, but it's going to be a slow road like I said, definitely not over night will take years.