Memo: Trump’s fossil-fueled policies are making disasters like this weekend’s winter storm costlier and more deadly for Americans
By Public Citizen's Climate and Energy Programs
As a climate change-driven winter storm threatens 230 million Americans across 33 states, the Trump administration is directly responsible for putting families in harm’s way with policy choices that expand fossil fuels and block clean energy—a deadly duo that is driving more extreme weather, increasing energy costs for families and businesses, and undercutting grid reliability and safety.
This winter storm is a climate disaster.
- Blizzards are becoming more intense amid climate change, despite shorter winters and rising global temperatures. The rapidly warming Arctic has been specifically linked with severe winter weather in the United States.
- A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which eventually falls as precipitation—rain or snow. Warmer seas also increase the energy and moisture available to storms, amplifying their severity.
- This weekend’s winter storm is also being driven by the polar vortex, a patch of cold air that is generally contained in the northern latitudes. Thanks to warmer temperatures in the Arctic and reduced sea ice, this cold air is being pushed south.
- Climate change is exacerbating both of the forces behind this storm: It is increasing the atmospheric moisture coming off California and the Gulf of Mexico that generates the storm’s precipitation, and it is contributing to the disruption of the polar vortex, which causes more precipitation to fall as snow and ice.
Trump’s policies are making storms like this one more dangerous.
- Trump has canceled federal support for hundreds of clean energy projects over the last year, driving up utility costs and keeping energy options off the grid as demand soars. As record cold sets in across the country, these projects would have generated enough electricity to power 13.6 million homes.
- On-site solar and batteries are an effective resilience strategy that could save lives when grids go dark. But fossil fuel-dominated utilities have discouraged investment in on-site solar, and Trump cancelled $7 billion in Solar for All grants that would have brought distributed solar (and batteries in some cases) to 900,000 low-income households.
- Clean energy sources are intermittent, but also predictable. Solar energy performs especially well on cold, sunny days. During Winter Storm Uri, which killed hundreds of people in mid-February 2021, the majority of grid failures were from gas power plants. So-called “base load” was anything but reliable during Texas’ last major grid crisis.
- Compounding these concerns is the role of data centers—which Trump has been promoting across the board—in increasing demand for electricity. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation has warned that data centers present significant reliability challenges to the bulk power market, making the risk of blackouts during winter storms even higher.
- The Trump administration just decreed that backup generators, primarily diesel-powered, held by data centers and other major facilities should be made available for the coming storm. As the order recognizes, most of these units are not grid connected, and so have no utility or coordination abilities to address a system emergency. Unmentioned in the order is the massive harm to public health stemming from operation of these polluting systems.
- Trump has gutted FEMA, slashing hazard mitigation programs and cutting thousands of positions that are likely to be desperately needed to respond to the coming disaster.
Trump’s policies are making storms like this one more expensive.
- Price gouging is a major concern at times like this. In November 2025, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission terminated its investigation into corporate price gouging during Winter Storm Uri with no enforcement actions—just one example of how Trump has systematically removed guardrails that could protect consumers in the wake of this disaster.
- Trump promised he would slash Americans’ utility bills in half within 12 months of taking office. Needless to say, this hasn’t happened. At a time when utility bills and heating costs are sending millions of Americans into financial strain, recent cold snaps have increased electricity prices while natural gas prices jumped by 25% in the days ahead of the storm in part because domestic supplies are tighter due to record exports of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG).
- Natural gas, which provides fuel and power for many homes, jumped in price last year. This was driven in part by the Trump administration’s support for “unfettered” U.S. exports. Eight LNG export terminals now consume more natural gas than all 74 million American households with natural gas utility service. Household electricity bills rose 9.6% in 2025 to about $155 monthly, and gas bills climbed an average of $124 in the first nine months of Trump’s presidency. That translates directly into steeper bills during winter cold snaps.
- In 2022, Public Citizen warned that weak oversight of energy markets can drive extreme price swings that hurt families during climate-fueled disruptions like winter storms. When regulators fail to enforce strong limits on market manipulation, consumers are left paying higher heating and power costs that have little to do with real supply shortages.
THE BOTTOM LINE: As millions of Americans prepare for the next big winter storm amplified by climate change, we should recognize the way Trump’s fossil fuel-dominated policies are making these disasters more dangerous and more expensive for millions of Americans. It’s past time to stop doubling down on expensive and deadly oil, gas, and coal when cleaner, cheaper, and safer alternatives are ready now.