This renewable energy CEO expects growth in Trump’s 2nd term
This renewable energy CEO expects growth in Trump’s 2nd term
Earlier this week, President-elect Donald Trump named Chris Wright, an oil and gas industry executive and strong proponent of fossil fuel, to lead the Energy Department.
Meanwhile, the Energy Department continues to announce grants and loan guarantees for clean energy projects around the country as part of the outgoing Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
Gene Gebolys, the founder and CEO of a biofuels company called World Energy, hopes to be on the receiving end of one of those loans to help his company produce more sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF.
“Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal spoke with Gebolys earlier this year about the government’s role in standing up the SAF industry. Now that the political winds are shifting in Washington, Ryssdal checked back in with Gebolys. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.
Kai Ryssdal: So as you think about the next four years in the space in which your company operates, how’re you feeling?
Gene Gebolys: Well, how am I feeling? I am feeling ready to be surprised by things going differently than everyone says.
Ryssdal: Go on.
Gebolys: Well, you know, I’m thinking back to 2016, and it was a very similar situation. Republicans controlled the House, Senate and the presidency, and a lot of folks in my world were pretty concerned. And it turns out that in the subsequent four years, things went very differently than we would have imagined. There was a lot of growth in clean energy during Trump 1, and I expect a lot of growth in clean energy in Trump 2.
Ryssdal: You know, when we talked however many months ago it was, one of the things that we talked about was how government investment in sort of kickstarting sustainable aviation fuel and large parts of what your business does — government intervention was critical. I don’t know whether the president-elect will repeal the Inflation Reduction Act and all of the other clean energy provisions, or whether he’ll claw some money back. What’s your what’s your level of concern about that?
Gebolys: Well, look, there’s a lot of speculation about what will happen, and I don’t know more than anyone else knows, but I do know that once you really peel back the layers on a lot of this public investment in clean energy, what you end up having is economic growth. It’s got to be seen in the context of global economic competition. And so both public and private investment in clean energy I fully expect will continue. Now, will we have some big headlines about things that change? Of course we will. But on balance, I think we’re going to continue to see ongoing investment.
Ryssdal: You will, I’m sure, be spending substantially more time in Washington and with your lobbyist associates, yes?
Gebolys: I am heading there tomorrow morning.
Ryssdal: All right, well, so what are you going to do tomorrow? I mean, you know, without any names, who are you going to talk to?
Gebolys: Well, it’s early days. We’re just getting nominees. Have a lot of people to meet for the first time, and what we do is not a partisan issue. There’s no Republican or Democratic climate. The work we end up doing has actually more growth in red states than in blue states. So this is not as much a red state-blue state thing as many people make it out to be.
Ryssdal: Well, you’re right to point out that Republican and conservative states have gotten a healthy chunk of the infrastructure and clean energy investment that President Biden and the Congress put into place. But are you really saying that it’s not a political issue?
Gebolys: Well, I think it’s very much a political issue during election cycles. But, you know, the way people govern is often somewhat different than the way they’re running for office. So yeah, of course, there are tons of politics wrapped up in this, and what one day is presented as a clean energy technology, the next day it might be an agricultural economic support technology, but it’s the same technology with different slants depending on where the national priorities are.
Ryssdal: Last thing and then I’ll let you go. You’ve, I’m sure, seen the news that the president-elect has named Chris Wright, who’s a straight-up fossil fuels guy, to be his secretary of energy. Is he on your call list somewhere?
Gebolys: Well, he certainly will be. He’s just finding his way around, and we’re going to have to just find our way around him. But yeah, he certainly will be.
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