Trump signs executive order undoing Obama’s clean power plan

Trump’s determination to push ahead with a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent duty on aluminum has prompted threats of retaliation from the European Union, Canada, China and Brazil among others. (Image Evan El-Amin | Shutterstock )

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that undoes the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan and has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to review and rewrite it.

The broad-ranging executive order was one of Trump’s promises during his presidential campaign last year and it’s part of a wider effort to cut environmental regulations.

The targeted plan called on governments to reduce carbon emissions from power plants and had an overall goal of cutting missions by at least 26% by 2025. And by 32% by 2030, which would have reduced significantly the share of coal in power generation worldwide.

The “Energy Independence” executive order, Law360 reports (sub. required) also instructs the US Department of the Interior to overturn a rule regulating hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

The broad-ranging executive order was one of Trump’s promises during his presidential campaign last year and it’s part of a wider effort to cut environmental regulations and revive the US mining sector.

Environmentalists slammed the move, calling it dangerous and saying it goes against the broader global trend toward cleaner energy technologies.

“These actions are an assault on American values and they endanger the health, safety and prosperity of every American,” environmental activist Tom Steyer, the head of activist group NextGen Climate said in an e-mailed statement.

Trump and several members of his administration have long expressed they don’t believe in climate change. Scott Pruitt, the head of EPA, is in fact known for frequently denying that carbon dioxide emissions may be a cause of global warming.

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