President Donald Trump made no mention of climate change during his State of the Union address Tuesday night, but the issue loomed over his long speech.
RELATED STORY | Scripps News fact-checks President Trump's State of the Union address
The president promoted his “drill, baby, drill” agenda and criticized former President Joe Biden’s so-called “green new scam.” Trump has often voiced support for U.S. energy production and jobs. But Thomas Kilday, a wind worker with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers who attended the speech, told Scripps News that Trump administration policies have negatively impacted his job.
“In my time at Revolution Wind, we’ve been the victim of two stop work orders,” Kilday said. “... It’s difficult to reconcile because we just want to be able to do the work. We’re proud of the work that we do. We’re hard workers and we want to be able to have the ability to do it.”
During his State of the Union address, Trump reiterated his campaign promises of lowering energy costs for Americans. He has long been critical of reliance on renewable energy, particularly wind and solar power.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Trump admin plans for new oil drilling off coasts of California and Florida
“I hear [President Trump’s] calls for energy jobs and the economy and new jobs and working, but I hope it extends to all power generation,” Kilday said. “I mean, I started in offshore wind to be on the forefront of this new frontier of energy generation in the country. I’m at the start of my career — I’m a young guy and I’ve had a lot of training and worked real hard to get certifications and have the ability and the skills to do this work and I look forward to using it for the rest of my career and myself and so many other workers like me are just hoping to be able to do that. It’s a shame that we have to question that because of these roadblocks.”
Watch Scripps News' full interview with Thomas Kilday in the video player above.
