"One of the Trump administration's top priorities has been its devastating, unilateral rollback of renewable energy projects and environmental regulations - and a corresponding, aggressive push for fossil fuel interests. But to hear a growing chorus of "abundance" proponents tell it, the real obstacle to climate progress is environmental regulation itself. In a disturbing trend, influential politicians and commentators are propagating the idea that U.S. environmental regulation is too stringent,"
"There are many unfounded ideological assumptions in this statement. Is "bureaucratic inertia" a significant obstacle to desirable outcomes in energy, housing, transportation, or any other sector? Does "restoring effective governance" entail less regulation, necessarily? Is "reducing the cost of living" the single most important thing we can do to relieve the serious economic hardship that many people face today? The "abundance" lobby wants us to believe that the answer to each of these questions is "yes.""
Federal policy has prioritized rolling back renewable energy and environmental protections while promoting fossil fuel interests. A growing "abundance" movement contends that environmental regulation is the primary barrier to climate progress and broader economic development. Advocates portray abundance as a cross-partisan effort to accelerate growth, strengthen U.S. technological leadership, dismantle bureaucratic inertia, restore effective governance, and lower living costs. The movement links regulatory constraints to delays in housing, mass transit, renewable energy, and other projects. Several of the movement's assumptions lack empirical support, including the ideas that less regulation automatically produces better governance or that cost-of-living reduction should override other social and environmental priorities.
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