Trump orders reversal of climate actions

In an executive order signed on March 28, President Donald Trump mandated a review of all government agency actions deemed to place a burden on the safe and efficient development of domestic energy resources. The order takes particular aim at actions from the Obama administration to address climate change, with various reports and memoranda ordered rescinded, including President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, Power Sector Carbon Pollution Standards, the Climate Change and National Security memorandum and the Climate Action Plan Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions.

Also on the firing line is the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, a series of regulations designed to curb carbon emissions from industrial scale power generation facilities. Trump has ordered the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to review these regulations in the light of the new administration’s energy policies and, as soon as practicable, change the guidance associated with the regulations or propose rules suspending, revising or rescinding the existing rules.

The Clean Power Plan, which does not actually apply to Alaska, has become the target of multiple lawsuits and is currently subject to a stay imposed by the U.S. Supreme Court. The regulations were a key component of Obama’s strategy in support of the Paris international agreement on climate change.

According to Trump’s order, his administration’s energy policy includes the promotion of the clean and safe development of U.S. energy resources while avoiding regulatory burdens that unnecessarily encumber energy production, constrain economic growth and prevent job creation. The order also says that government agencies should take appropriate actions to promote clean air and clean water for the American people, while also respecting the proper roles of the Congress and the states concerning these matters.

In other action, on March 27 Trump signed into law a resolution passed by Congress to cancel the Bureau of Land Management’s new land planning regulations, commonly known as Planning 2.0. The resolution was passed under the terms of the Congressional Review Act, a statute allowing the cancellation of any federal agency rule that had gone into effect within the previous 60 days.

- ALAN BAILEY