Abre’ Conner: Trump’s Energy Policies Have Failed Black America
By Abre’ Conner
Donald Trump has failed Black Americans in almost every way possible. He promised to improve our economic standing, lower costs for working families, and reduce “energy and electricity prices by half.” Instead, the cost of living has skyrocketed and utility bills have gone up with no end in sight.
Since Trump took office, electricity prices have risen 13%. For Black households who already spend 43% more of our income on energy than white households, that is a major blow. Families are having to grapple with the decision to either feed their children or warm their houses.
You know who isn’t struggling to keep the lights on? Trump’s big oil executive buddies. They’ve cashed in while families have paid the price.
Trump ran on making America great again. Is this what greatness looks like?
Trump cut nearly $8 billion in grants for clean energy projects that would have made electricity more reliable and affordable, and gutted programs like LIHEAP, which helps low-income families keep cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Worse still, his administration has moved to repeal nearly five decades of protections under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)—the “Magna Carta” of environmental laws—shattering a foundational statute and clearing the way for unchecked pollution in Black neighborhoods.
Environmental racism’s next act? Sprawling, dirty AI data centers being built in Black communities like Memphis, Tennessee, and Bessemer, Alabama. To fully unleash these polluting data centers, Trump even signed an executive order overriding state-level AI laws, aiming to preempt the local regulations that could otherwise protect communities from this unchecked development.
We’ve been here before. Black America has always had to play the hand we were dealt, stretching a dollar, keeping the heat on, and making ends meet. We’ve built resilience in a game that was never fair. But every move the president has made to transfer wealth to his mega-rich donors at the expense of the American people has only made things worse.
By eliminating clean energy incentives, he slowed progress on climate change and drove up bills in our neighborhoods. By rolling back more than 100 environmental rules, he shattered protections and put our communities’ health in danger. All while AI data centers are expected to double U.S. electricity demand by 2030, surging to an estimated 35 gigawatts, raising prices for everyone and especially for low-income and majority-Black neighborhoods where these facilities are being built.
Not only are these data centers financially expensive, but they also often rely on infrastructure such as gas turbines, which release harmful pollutants and hazardous chemicals like formaldehyde. Once again, we’re paying the bill while billionaires collect the winnings.
The truth is simple: America needs cleaner, more affordable energy, as our Frontline Framework principles highlight. New renewable projects are often cheaper than fossil fuels and create good-paying jobs.
Investing in clean energy means our families can spend less on utilities and more on our futures. It means more stability, more savings, and more power, literally and figuratively.
It’s a win-win scenario. As recent elections in Virginia and New Jersey demonstrated, concerns about affordability – including rising energy costs – are increasingly salient at the ballot box, a dynamic that will also undoubtedly shape the 2026 midterm elections.
Trump’s shown his hand, and it’s clear he’s not betting on us.
The midterm elections—including those less high-profile, such as the recent Georgia Public Service Commission election—and other local elections are our chance to course correct, elect leaders who will fight for us, and hold Trump accountable. We have to vote every year, in every election, because when the stakes are our lives and livelihoods, we have to make our voices heard.
Abre’ Conner is the Director of the Center for Environmental and Climate Justice and oversees the strategy and collaboration across the NAACP to dismantle environmental racism. She has taught Education Law and was faculty in the Environmental Policy and Management Program at the University of California-Davis.
