Trump’s Tax Law Throws Lifeline to Unloved Energy and Climate Sectors

President Donald Trump’s sweeping $3.4 trillion fiscal package is already creating opportunities for segments of the energy and climate industries that had fallen out of favor, struggled to grow or haven’t managed to break through.

The tax and spending law signed on July 4 provides a lifeline to a coal industry that’s long been squeezed by cheaper renewable and natural gas-fired power. The law provides a boost to nuclear — a sector that had regained investor and political support before Trump’s return to the White House, but has yet to translate that enthusiasm into much domestic growth in electric capacity. And the law may actually help advance an unproven and risky planet-cooling system that has lived in the shadows for decades — geoengineering.