14Mar

Trump is Poised to Issue a Sweeping Order Dismantling Obama’s Climate Plan this Week

Via The Washington Post: President Trump could issue a sweeping executive order within days aimed at reversing his predecessor’s climate policies, a measure that energy industry officials and environmentalists have been anticipating for weeks. The directive will instruct members of the Cabinet to rewrite regulation restricting carbon emissions from both new and existing power plants, lift […]
13Mar

Coal Industry Urges Trump to Protect Fossil Fuel Research

Via The Hill: A group of coal-mining firms, labor unions and energy-industry associations is asking the Trump administration to spare a critical research office from budget cuts this year. In a letter to President Trump released on Monday, the groups said the White House should protect the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy from […]
09Mar

Lift the Moratorium on Federal Coal

March 9, 2017 Coal is declining as a source of power, say critics, because cheap and abundant natural gas is keeping coal in the ground and away from power plants. Today, coal generates a third of the nation’s electricity, a steep drop from its 50 percent market share when President Obama took office. Coincidence? We […]
09Mar

The Clean Power Plan is Gone — and There’s No ‘Replace’

Via E&E Publishing: The White House intends to unravel the Clean Power Plan without providing a replacement, according to a source briefed on the issue. An executive order expected to be released next week also instructs the Justice Department to effectively withdraw its legal defense of the climate rule in the U.S. Court of Appeals […]
09Mar

Trump Agency Heads Already Rolling Back Obama-era Rules on their Own

Via Fox News: President Trump’s newly installed agency heads are starting to take a lead role unraveling a web of Obama-era regulations, acting alongside congressional Republicans and the president himself to roll back rules they claim hurt business or simply go too far. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke was the latest to peel back red tape. […]
07Mar

Trump to Scrap Obama Climate Plan, Costly Coal Rules

Via The Washington Examiner: President Trump plans to sign an executive order this week that scraps two major Obama energy and climate regulations in one fell swoop. The presidential executive order aims to roll back the Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of former President Barack Obama’s climate agenda, and the Interior Department’s moratorium on new […]
06Mar

Week Ahead: White House Readies Climate Orders

Via The Hill: The White House in the coming week could release long-awaited climate change executive orders undoing much of the Obama administration’s work on the issue. According to reports, President Trump is set to sign an order calling for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to repeal the Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of Obama’s […]
06Mar

Trump’s Coal Council to Drill Down on Advanced Technology

Via The Washington Examiner: President Trump’s clean coal agenda could get some much-needed clarity as federal advisers take a hard look at advanced technologies to make coal plants more competitive and climate-friendly, as Trump’s plan to repeal regulations will only go so far toward restoring the industry. Some of the experts slated to lead the […]
03Mar

Trump and Big Coal

Via The New York Times: Re “Letting Polluters Run Free” (editorial, Feb. 23): The “fresh hyperbole” you attribute to the president better describes your editorial against the sensible action he took. Contrary to your suggestion, coal companies require a multitude of federal and state permits intended to minimize or avoid impacts to water bodies, and […]
01Mar

Trump Making Good on Promises to Coal Miners

Via The Orange County Register: Reducing harmful regulations and bringing back blue-collar jobs were major themes of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Now he is following through on those pledges. President Trump signed legislation repealing an Interior Department rule finalized in the waning days of the Obama administration that restricted the amount of coal mining debris […]