The Trump administration plans to eliminate the Energy Star program, a 33-year-old energy efficiency certification for appliances such as refrigerators and dishwashers that has helped American consumers save more than $500 billion in energy costs, according to the program.
The plan to eliminate Energy Star was announced at an Environmental Protection Agency meeting on Monday, where the agency showed a chart marking the program for closure as part of a reorganization effort, according to a document obtained by Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) committee and shared with CBS News. The news was earlier reported by CNN.
The slides were also confirmed by a union representing government employees, which said the workers were told at the meeting that the Energy Star program would be eliminated.
The EPA said it is reorganizing the agency, although it didn’t specifically mention the Energy Star program. When asked in a follow-up question to confirm the Energy Star program is slated for elimination, the EPA didn’t respond.
“The EPA is delivering organizational improvements to the personnel structure that will directly benefit the American people and better advance the agency’s core mission, while Powering the Great American Comeback,” the agency said in an email.
Energy Star was created in 1992 under President George H.W. Bush with the idea of helping consumers save money while reducing energy consumption. Its blue stickers on appliances, inform shoppers that those products meet energy efficiency standards set by the EPA. During his first term, President Trump had sought to close the Energy Star program, but the effort was abandoned after pushback from appliance manufacturers and lawmakers in both parties.
“Trump claimed he’d lower prices on Day 1, but by eliminating this program, he will force Americans to buy appliances that cost more to run and waste more energy,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island and the EPW ranking member, in an Tuesday email to CBS News.
He added, “It’s yet another a giveaway to polluters and a raw deal for working families. This isn’t economic policy, it’s economic sabotage — sabotaging family budgets to pay off fossil fuel donors.”
The White House didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Energy savings
About $100 billion’s worth of appliances bearing the Energy Star sticker are sold each year, according to the EPA. The agency also says the program has helped prevent 4 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere.
The Trump administration has taken aim at energy regulations because it argues that they increase costs for manufacturers and energy providers, which ultimately raises prices for consumers. The administration wants to boost fossil fuel and mineral extraction on U.S. lands, part of its goal to battle inflation.
Appliances are part of that push. Mr. Trump has pledged to “unleash America’s affordable and reliable energy and natural resources,” according to an executive order he signed in January, which ordered a review of “restrictions on consumer choice of vehicles and appliances.”
The president has also complained about his personal experience with energy-efficient products. While signing an executive order last month aimed at producing higher water pressure in showers, Mr. Trump noted, “I like to take a nice shower to take care of my beautiful hair.”
He added, “I stand under the shower for 15 minutes until it gets wet. It comes out drip, drip, drip. It’s ridiculous.”
The Energy Star program is a voluntary labeling program, with manufacturers that meet the EPA’s energy efficiency standards opting to put the blue sticker on their products.
