President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that will roll back many of former President Barack Obama’s efforts to curb global warming. But the verdict is still out whether that goal will be accomplished.
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“That would harm our clean water, forests, wildlife and communities”, said Adirondack Council William Janeway in a statement. The Obama administration, some Democratic-led states and environmental groups counter that it would spur thousands of clean-energy jobs and help the US meet ambitious goals to reduce carbon pollution set by the global agreement signed in Paris.
On December 29, 2016, a broad coalition of states and localities called on President-Elect Trump to continue the federal government’s defense of the Clean Power Plan in a letter, urging him to reject “misguided advice” from a group of Attorneys General led by West Virginia to discard the Clean Power Plan.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds up an executive order on “energy independence” during a signing ceremony at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters in Washington, U.S., March 28, 2017.
Jeanne Shaheen calling the move to scale back many restrictions on the coal industry “shortsighted”. Another provision aimed at generating jobs would lift a suspension on federal coal leasing by the U.S. Interior Department.
Likewise, facilities that burn coal are shutting down.
But energy economists say the expected order falls short of both of those goals – in part because the United States already largely relies on domestic sources for the coal and natural gas that fires most of the nation’s power plants.
“[The president] believes that we can serve the twin goals of protecting the environment – providing clean air, clean water, getting EPA back to its core mission, while at the same time”.
In 2008 there were 88,000 coal miners in the United States, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
The executive order “directs all agencies to conduct a review of all regulation, rules, policies, and guidance documents that put up roadblocks to domestic energy production and identify the ones that are not either mandated by law or actually contributing to the public good”, Spicer said. In essentially ignoring the country’s role in climate change, Trump is neglecting to look out for the true needs of American families, and is prioritizing business interests instead.
But that said, Murray was also realistic about the fate of the industry.
Trump can probably tack a few years onto the lifespan of the coal industry, but he nearly certainly can’t revive it as a viable economic engine for communities where it was once prominent. What’s more, many older plants still in use were made exempt from key provisions of the 1970 Clean Air Act, under the assumption they would eventually be replaced. “Since the CPP had not gone into effect yet, it hadn’t cost any jobs”. That 40-percent makes PRB coal among the highest taxed commodities in the world. “Those jobs will not be at risk in the future from this source now”.
Today, the number of coal miners has fallen around 25 percent.
Experts say coal’s biggest problem isn’t a shortage of the fuel to dig or even climate change regulations but cheap and abundant natural gas.
“As a formal matter, we can not really withdraw from Paris for about two years”, said Lazarus.
Outside the coal industry, however, voices on the subject were considerably less sunny.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a joint statement with California Gov.
Colorado’s lawmakers, like most Americans, are split on the issue of man-made climate change and what can be done about it.
Chairman Tom Perez is blasting President Trump’s reversal of Obama-era climate change efforts, calling the move unscientific and awful for the environment.
PHOTO: An Associated Press graphic shows employment numbers in the energy sector.
Reopelle also disputed the president’s claims about job creation, noting that renewable energy technology has plenty of room for job growth. By trying to repeal the Clean Power Plan, Trump would be killing a regulation that does exactly that.
“They love the job”, the president said.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) also blasted the order.
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Mr Trump has described the move as a way to increase the nation’s “energy independence” and restore thousands of lost coal-mining jobs.
