Trump can’t revive fossil fuel industry, EPA chief taunts: ‘Train has left the station’

Even if he tries to resuscitate a sagging coal industry and ramp up oil and gas drilling across the country, President-elect Donald Trump will be unable to reverse the nation’s move toward clean energy, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said Monday. In one of her final speeches before leaving office in January, the EPA chief — a controversial figure who has presided over an unprecedented crackdown on coal-fired power plants — said she’s confident much of the agency’s work will stand the test of time. While Mr. Trump has vowed to reverse the some EPA regulations and put coal miners back to work, Ms. McCarthy said those efforts largely will be unsuccessful due to broader market forces. She said the agency’s Clean Power Plan (CPP), which greatly limits emissions from coal plants, has been just one reason why the U.S. is getting more of its power from renewable sources. “Folks, clearly there is more going on in our world and our energy sector that the Clean Power Plan can account for. … This is all about the energy transition that’s already happening,” she told an audience in Washington. “The clean-energy economy, folks, that train has left the station.”...more