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Trump Environment Policy Tag

I have a startling admission to make: I do believe global warming is making a comeback.  Why? Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Chief Administrator Scott Pruitt's rollback of senseless regulations warms my heart so much that I am sure it has raised the global temperature average! To begin with, the EPA is now scrapping Obama-era rules tightening restrictions on the disposal of coal ash, the byproduct from coal-fired power plants.

Last week, Scott Pruitt, EPA Administrator, stated he intended to form a ‘red team’ to debate climate science.
“U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is leading a formal initiative to challenge mainstream climate science using a “back-and-forth critique” by government-recruited experts, according to a senior administration official. The program will use “red team, blue team” exercises to conduct an “at-length evaluation of U.S. climate science,” the official said, referring to a concept developed by the military to identify vulnerabilities in field operations.

Legal Insurrection readers will recall that the Environmental Protection Agency under Obama enacted one of the most flagrant regulatory power grabs in American history with the Waters of the United States rule (WOTUS). WOTUS redefine how "waters of the United States" are subject to federal regulations under the Clean Water Act. Attempted enforcement of these rules led to farmers being fined astronomical amounts after installing stock pods that had no potential impact on navigable waters, nor posed any other significant environmental threat to the community.

President Trump has faced many opponents during his quest for the White House and the early days of his administration. However, no group seems to be as powerful as the judiciary when it comes to gutting his policies. Legal Insurrection readers will recall that one of Trump's first acts as President was signing the executive order to move forward with the Dakota Access and Keystone Pipelines. The good news is that the Dakota Access Pipeline began shipping oil on June 1.

Life at the current Environmental Protection Agency now resembles an episode of "The Apprentice", the iconic reality show once hosted by President Donald Trump. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt once battled the agency he now leads and argued its scientists often failed to properly assess the fiscal impact relative to actual risk related to implementing new regulations on businesses. As a result of his leadership, half of the Science Advisory Board has been dismissed.
Deborah L. Swackhamer, chairwoman of the Board of Scientific Counselors, confirmed Monday that nine of the 18 outside experts on her panel will not serve a second three-year term. The affected board members' terms expired April 30.

The Trump administration is exploring the possibility of punching a hole in former President Obama’s 2015 ozone pollution rule.
Justice Department attorneys are asking the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to delay oral arguments scheduled for later this month in a lawsuit challenging the Obama rule, while the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reviews the regulation and its position on it. “EPA intends to closely review the 2015 rule, and the prior positions taken by the agency with respect to the 2015 rule may not necessarily reflect its ultimate conclusions after that review is complete,” the attorneys wrote. Under the Obama administration, attorneys were defending the pollution rule against a coalition of business groups and conservative states, led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

People on the left frequently mock conservatives for being people of faith and believing in God. Yet if you listen to leading voices from the Progressive community, you would think we're living in the end times. Trump recently rolled back some of Obama's policies on climate change and has also taken action to roll back regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency. In response, Van Jones wrote this for CNN:
Van Jones: Trump may have signed Earth's death warrant As usual, Donald Trump is completely upside down on the facts. In 2015, President Barack Obama created the Clean Power Plan to slow climate disruption. It was the first action ever taken by the US government to cut carbon pollution from existing power plants.

The last time we checked in on the Environmental Protection Agency, a long-time staffer and social justice warrior had just tendered his resignation after recognizing the political climate had dramatically changed. Things are about to get a little hotter for this merry band of bureaucrats, as they are being sued by Judicial Watch.
The watchdog group is seeking copies of the EPA's proposals and awards for environmental justice grants delivered in 2014 and 2015, and said it hasn't been provided with any documents yet.

Hot stock tip: invest in companies producing anti-smog surgical masks. That is, if you buy into Chris Cuomo's environmental alarmism. On CNN this morning, the panel discussed the Trump admin's announcement yesterday that it plans to roll back some of the Obama-era EPA regs viewed as overly restrictive on the coal industry. Cuomo claimed that the Obama regs are "seen as key to keeping the United States from looking like Shanghai in terms of blowing all kinds of black smoke into the air."

The head of America's "largest privately held" coal firm has expressed optimism for his industry under President Donald Trump after a meeting held last month. Murray Energy's CEO and founder Robert Murray spoke with The Guardian on Monday. He believes that Trump will stick to his campaign promises for the coal industry by reducing regulations and overturning a few of President Barack Obama's plans related to climate change. It's hard to deny his thoughts as coal communities in Virginia have seen a drastic positive change since Trump became president.

In May of 2015, the Obama administration engaged in one of its more shocking and unacceptable power grabs with the EPA's Waters of the United States rule.  President Trump, thus far clearly intent on keeping his campaign promises, is going to reverse this onerous overreach of the federal government as early as Wednesday. Writing at the time of the rule's announcement, I noted that the scope of the rule was such that it included, quite literally, puddles in one's driveway or yard.