Trump to sign order sweeping away Obama-era climate policies

[webfact]

Trump to sign order sweeping away Obama-era climate policies

By Valerie Volcovici

REUTERS

 

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a bill signing event in the Roosevelt room of the White House in Washington, U.S., March 27, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday to undo a slew of Obama-era climate change regulations, a move meant to bolster domestic energy production but which environmentalists have vowed to challenge in court.

 

The decree, dubbed the "Energy Independence" order, will seek to undo former President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan requiring states to slash carbon emissions from power plants - a critical element in helping the United States meet its commitments to a global climate change accord agreed by nearly 200 countries in Paris in December 2015.

 

It will also rescind a ban on coal leasing on federal lands, reverse rules to curb methane emissions from oil and gas production, and reduce the weight of climate change in federal agencies' assessments of new regulations.

 

"We're going to go in a different direction," a senior White House official told reporters ahead of Tuesday's order. "The previous administration devalued workers with their policies. We can protect the environment while providing people with work."

 

Trump will sign the order at the EPA with the agency's Administrator Scott Pruitt, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Tuesday afternoon.

 

The wide-ranging order is the boldest yet in Trump’s broader push to cut environmental regulation to revive the oil and gas drilling and coal mining industries, a promise he made repeatedly during his campaign for the presidency.

 

"I cannot tell you how many jobs the executive order is going to create but I can tell you that it provides confidence in this administration’s commitment to the coal industry," Kentucky Coal Association president Tyler White told Reuters.

 

PARIS ACCORD NOT ADDRESSED

 

Environmental groups have promised to challenge the orders.

 

"These actions are an assault on American values and they endanger the health, safety and prosperity of every American," said billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer, the head of activist group NextGen Climate.

 

Green group Earthjustice said it will fight the order both in and out of court. “This order ignores the law and scientific reality," said the group's president Trip Van Noppen.

 

Trump campaigned on a promise to sweep aside green regulations he said hurt the economy, and vowed to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord. Since being elected, however, he has been mum on the Paris deal and the executive order does not address it.

 

The White House official said Trump's administration was discussing its approach to the accord, meant to limit the planet's warming by reducing carbon emissions.

 

The order will direct the EPA to start a formal "review" process to undo the Clean Power Plan, which was introduced by Obama in 2014 but has never been implemented in part because of legal challenges brought by Republican states.

 

The review is likely to trigger legal challenges by environmental groups and some state attorneys general that could last years.

 

The Clean Power Plan would have required states to collectively cut carbon emissions from power plants by 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

 

(Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Mary Milliken)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-03-28

[thaibeachlovers]

environmentalists have vowed to challenge in court.

I believe that as long as they are regulations and not law, there is nothing that the courts can do about it. 

I think it's barking that the president can just pass loads of stuff without it going through congress, but I guess that's the way the founding fathers wanted it. I'm sure Obama got rid of lots of Bush regulations too, but I don't recall the liberals complaining about that.

 

[craigt3365]

Quote

a critical element in helping the United States meet its commitments to a global climate change accord agreed by nearly 200 countries in Paris in December 2015.

Terrible thing to do.

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/27/politics/trump-climate-change-executive-order/index.html

Quote

 

Through Trump told The New York Times during the election that he has an "open mind" about confronting climate change, he also once called it a hoax.

 

"The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive," Trump tweeted in November 2012.

 

 

The man's a fool.  Great way to not show environmental leadership to the world. 

 

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/03/steve-bannon-climate-change-project-biosphere

 

 

Quote

 

Steve Bannon's Weird Journey From Biosphere Champion to Climate Denying Crank

Trump's cabinet is full of contenders as America's most dangerous climate villain. EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, after all, has alarmingly close ties to the fossil fuel industry, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson used to run Exxon Mobil, the largest oil company in the world.

........

Bannon is reportedly leading the effort to convince Trump to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, the 194-nation accord that world leaders have described as " the best chance we have " at saving humankind from catastrophic global warming.

 

 

 

 

[tomwct]

Sounds like a great idea to me and the other vast numbers of American Workers!

[Jingthing]

This move is both deplorable and despicable.

[craigt3365]

1 minute ago, tomwct said:

Sounds like a great idea to me and the other vast numbers of American Workers!

So it's OK to ruin the environment (and potentially your health) just to make a few dollars?  Mining coal is a big part of this.  Go to China some time.  The air is terrible there and coal is one of the big reasons why.

[Scott]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

environmentalists have vowed to challenge in court.

I believe that as long as they are regulations and not law, there is nothing that the courts can do about it. 

I think it's barking that the president can just pass loads of stuff without it going through congress, but I guess that's the way the founding fathers wanted it. I'm sure Obama got rid of lots of Bush regulations too, but I don't recall the liberals complaining about that.

 

A regulation has the same force and effect as law and is generally considered to be an interpretation of a law.   The law gives a broad statement and the regulation is how it is implemented.   The regulations can be challenged in court if the intent is seen as going against the law.  

[Credo]

It would appear that the only way this president can rule is with an Executive Order.   It also seems that he can't do anything; just undo things.   

 

What a farce.  A sad, sad farce.   

[Berkshire]

17 minutes ago, tomwct said:

Sounds like a great idea to me and the other vast numbers of American Workers!

A job gained in the fossil fuel sector would probably mean a job loss in the clean energy sector.  So what are you crowing about?

 

[Clean energy jobs, including those from solar, wind, energy efficiency, smart grid technology and battery storage, vastly outnumber all fossil fuel jobs nationwide from the coal, oil and gas sectors.]

["Donald Trump is attacking clean energy jobs purely in order to boost the profits of fossil fuel billionaires,”]

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2017/03/27/attention-donald-trump-new-report-shows-clean-energy-employs-far-more-workers

 

[President Trump’s budget slashes investment in clean energy — the biggest new source of sustainable high-wage employment in the world.]

https://thinkprogress.org/america-last-trumps-budget-cedes-millions-of-high-wage-jobs-to-china-655c943546f1

 

[darksidedog]

Nearly 200 Countries recognise the need for Environmental improvements, but one man can just ignore reality so the energy sector can make a few more dollars.

I suspect if the Founding Fathers were writing the Constitution again today, they would be making a few changes to the executive orders section.

[thaibeachlovers]

2 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

Nearly 200 Countries recognise the need for Environmental improvements, but one man can just ignore reality so the energy sector can make a few more dollars.

I suspect if the Founding Fathers were writing the Constitution again today, they would be making a few changes to the executive orders section.

In a sensible country, one person can't make regulations that affect everyone. Only laws that are made by the people's representatives should be allowed.

Ireland has the best idea- the president has ZERO power to do anything other than be a figurehead.

[true word]

Please tell I'm wrong but I'm starting to think of Trump as a genuine redneck all he do is just after Obama?

Edited March 28, 2017 by true word

[craigt3365]

33 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

A job gained in the fossil fuel sector would probably mean a job loss in the clean energy sector.  So what are you crowing about?

 

[Clean energy jobs, including those from solar, wind, energy efficiency, smart grid technology and battery storage, vastly outnumber all fossil fuel jobs nationwide from the coal, oil and gas sectors.]

["Donald Trump is attacking clean energy jobs purely in order to boost the profits of fossil fuel billionaires,”]

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2017/03/27/attention-donald-trump-new-report-shows-clean-energy-employs-far-more-workers

 

[President Trump’s budget slashes investment in clean energy — the biggest new source of sustainable high-wage employment in the world.]

https://thinkprogress.org/america-last-trumps-budget-cedes-millions-of-high-wage-jobs-to-china-655c943546f1

 

Good posts.  Some people just don't get it.  And thus, fall for Trump's BS.

[JaseTheBass]

8 minutes ago, true word said:

Please tell I'm wrong but I'm starting to think of Trump as a genuine redneck all he do is just after Obama?

Starting?

 

Most of the world is at a loss as to how a single person could have voted for that pr***

[Jingthing]

30 minutes ago, JaseTheBass said:

Starting?

 

Most of the world is at a loss as to how a single person could have voted for that pr***

trump is more like Archie Bunker (quaint proud ignorance/bigotry) but the people he has surrounded himself with like Bannon are more third-reich-like than quaint. 

[geriatrickid]

1 hour ago, tomwct said:

Sounds like a great idea to me and the other vast numbers of American Workers!

Who are these vast numbers of American workers? The only vested interest which has pushed for this is the coal industry, particularly the dirty coal producers.

 

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

In a sensible country, one person can't make regulations that affect everyone. Only laws that are made by the people's representatives should be allowed.

Ireland has the best idea- the president has ZERO power to do anything other than be a figurehead.

A sensible person would not make such a silly statement.  Ireland has roughly the same population size as Milan our Toronto. Ireland has absolutely nothing to show, nor teach the USA as it has suffered from decades of corruption and economic mismanagement. In your glorious land, women's rights were  denied and children were allowed to be savaged by the state religion.

Irish people hit hardest during financial crisis, ECB report reveals

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Ireland’s citizens lost more of their personal wealth than any other eurozone country in the aftermath of the financial crash, while Germany and the Netherlands gained the most, fresh data from the European Central Bank shows.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/business/irish-people-hit-hardest-during-financial-crisis-ecb-report-reveals-360532.html

 

45 minutes ago, JaseTheBass said:

Starting?

Most of the world is at a loss as to how a single person could have voted for that pr***

Not really.  People voted for  worse;Putin in Russia Jacob Zuma in South Africa, the various slime despots in Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Brazil.  India has a PM and state governors who engage in religious intolerance, with some governors calling for violence.   

 

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

environmentalists have vowed to challenge in court.

I believe that as long as they are regulations and not law, there is nothing that the courts can do about it. 

I think it's barking that the president can just pass loads of stuff without it going through congress, but I guess that's the way the founding fathers wanted it. I'm sure Obama got rid of lots of Bush regulations too, but I don't recall the liberals complaining about that.

 

President Obama  signed executive orders closing the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba; ending the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret prisons; and requiring all interrogations to follow the noncoercive methods of the Army Field Manual. Big difference. One shows moral integrity, while the other panders to business interests.  

 

And remember the Republicans blocked the closure of the prison camp.  If it was fair game to block the closing of Guantanamo, I expect that a morally justified opposition to the evil acts of the Trump administration cannot be criticized.

 

 

Edited March 28, 2017 by geriatrickid

[JaseTheBass]

2 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

 

Not really.  People voted for  worse;Putin in Russia Jacob Zuma in South Africa, the various slime despots in Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Brazil.  India has a PM and state governors who engage in religious intolerance, with some governors calling for violence.  

Doesn't say much for the people of any of these countries.

 

You forgot the idiotic Bexiters too.

[sujoop]

1 hour ago, tomwct said:

Sounds like a great idea to me and the other vast numbers of American Workers!

Ah bliss...  'winning' with Trump:
 

-reversed Obama rule banning mentally impaired persons from buying a firearm

-reversed Obama rule restricting the dumping of mining waste in streams and rivers

-reversed Obama rule requiring energy companies to disclose how much they're paying foreign governments

-reversed Obama clean water rules pertaining to run-off from Golf Courses and wetlands

-reveresd Obama rule aimed to help states identify failing schools and come up with plans to improve them

-reversed Obama rule requiring teacher programs be evaluated based on the academic outcomes of those teachers' students

 

Meanwhile, Trump supporters are cheering his reversals of that 'BAD GUY' Obama: 
"Yay, he's lowering our educational standards and making our air and water dirty again. Isn't this great!"

[kamahele]

4 hours ago, tomwct said:

Sounds like a great idea to me and the other vast numbers of American Workers!

Unfortunately you may be right that so many Americans are ignorant as to the effects of pollution on their health and the health of the planet. Buying a few more years of fossil fuel profits at the expense of the human race....

[williamgeorgeallen]

would think all the bail out and stimulus spending could be directed toward re newable energy industries and battery production. solar panels on roofs and storage batteries under them would provide many jobs and help the environment at the same time.

Edited March 28, 2017 by williamgeorgeallen

[Thaidream]

Trump and his team are still using smoke and mirrors to sell America more nonsense.

Where are all the jobs he promised to create?   Where is the Trillion Dollar infrastructure bill that will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and rebuild a crumbling America. Where is the tax reform bill that promises to get business to bring billions back to the US to invest in American business in America?

 

Instead he plows ahead with trying to get rid of Obamacare with a new healthcare plan that takes money from the poor and gives it to the rich. Not even the Republican house could pass that one.  Trump's new budget is a disaster- giving the military another $54 Billion by again taking money from the poor and elderly.

 

The man is incompetent and ignorant. Keep believing him at your own peril

 

[Basil B]

And next week he will sign an executive order for the destruction of any history book that mentions Obama...

[joecoolfrog]

14 hours ago, tomwct said:

Sounds like a great idea to me and the other vast numbers of American Workers!

Yes and thank goodness this wont impact the entire planet....

[simple1]

17 hours ago, sujoop said:

Ah bliss...  'winning' with Trump:
 

-reversed Obama rule banning mentally impaired persons from buying a firearm -reversed Obama rule restricting the dumping of mining waste in streams and rivers -reversed Obama rule requiring energy companies to disclose how much they're paying foreign governments -reversed Obama clean water rules pertaining to run-off from Golf Courses and wetlands -reveresd Obama rule aimed to help states identify failing schools and come up with plans to improve them -reversed Obama rule requiring teacher programs be evaluated based on the academic outcomes of those teachers' students

 

Meanwhile, Trump supporters are cheering his reversals of that 'BAD GUY' Obama: 
"Yay, he's lowering our educational standards and making our air and water dirty again. Isn't this great!"

Another act of bastardry by Trump

 

Cancelling Obama Admin law for internet user privacy

[cooked]

4 minutes ago, simple1 said:

Another act of bastardry by Trump

 

Cancelling Obama Admin law for internet user privacy

The administration of domains was handed over to ICANN during Obamas era.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37517889

[simple1]

3 minutes ago, cooked said:

The administration of domains was handed over to ICANN during Obamas era.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37517889

It seems the Trump Administration is fixated on destroying any semblance of decency in the US. Do you also agree with this role back?

 

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/03/28/congress_approves_sale_of_internet_histories/

[notmyself]

6 minutes ago, simple1 said:

It seems the Trump Administration is fixated on destroying any semblance of decency in the US. Do you also agree with this role back?

 

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/03/28/congress_approves_sale_of_internet_histories/

 

Which I think was the point you were making in the first place.

[simple1]

1 minute ago, notmyself said:

 

Which I think was the point you were making in the first place.

Maybe incorrect, but don't believe poster understood the context of my comment. So, Yes, providing more detail for 'Cooked'

[tomwct]

You guys don't get it! Obama himself issued these regulations by executive order without Congresses approval. All Trump is doing is cancelling Obama's regulations by Executive Order. Trump ran his election to cancel most of Obama's EO's and Won! So, It's kinda refreshing that a politician is actually following through on his promises. Trump has 4 years to prove himself before he needs to run for re-election. I think he will be successful and hope he promises Term Limits on our Career Politicians in 2020. He would win

on that promise!

[notmyself]

Don't get it lol. Just because something was done un EO does not make it bad. Companies being award federal contracts had to be in good standing for 3 years. Good standing such as paying their employees. I think that is perfectly reasonable but because it was an EO it means it is bad? Not being allowed to dump coal waste into rivers sound great but it was an EO so it must be bad?