The Trump administration announced new plans Tuesday to roll back and replace Obama-era regulations on emissions from coal-fired power plants – a move praised by the coal industry as a job saver but panned by critics as a green-light to polluters.
The newly unveiled Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule, as it’s called, would give states broad authority to determine how to restrict carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. It’s meant as a replacement to the Obama-era Clean Power Plan that sought to speed up the closure of coal-burning power plants and cut back on greenhouse gases by cutting carbon dioxide emissions and encouraging utilities to invest in cleaner energy sources like wind and solar.
“The ACE Rule would restore the rule of law and empower states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide modern, reliable, and affordable energy for all Americans,” Environmental Protection Agency Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a statement. “Today’s proposal provides the states and regulated community the certainty they need to continue environmental progress while fulfilling President Trump’s goal of energy dominance.”
The effort is part of Trump’s overall bid to roll back regulations and help the struggling coal sector in particular. He is likely to highlight the plan at a rally in Charleston, W.Va., Tuesday evening. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]NBC News left out a key bit of information in a story on how the Trump administration “is using a lighter touch” when it comes to initiating enforcement actions against companies that break the law.
Specifically, NBC News reported Monday that at “the Environmental Protection Agency, there’s been a steep drop in both civil and criminal cases against polluters since the Obama administration, with new enforcement actions hitting a 10-year low in 2017.”
It’s correct there was a “steep drop” in EPA enforcement actions in 2017, but that’s a continuation of a trend that started under the Obama administration.
In fact, EPA criminal enforcement actions have declined almost every year after peaking at 387 in 2009. By 2017, the number of criminal cases brought had fallen to 115, according to EPA figures.
So why did criminal enforcement cases plummet during the Obama administration?
Environmental crimes are often complex and take time to investigate, and EPA said in 2014 that its “focus on high impact more complex cases results in fewer investigations overall.” – READ MORE
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