...Environmentalists have good reason to
worry about President-elect Donald J. Trump. In 2012, Trump tweeted that
climate change was a “concept” ginned up by the Chinese. Now, he’s appointed a prominent critic of climate science and policy to oversee the Environmental Protection Agency’s transition. On his new website, Trump promises to grease the permitting skids for fossil fuel production, end the “war on coal,” support
renewable energy and scrap the Clean Power Plan. At the same time, he
professes a commitment to “our wonderful natural resources.” The energy industry is delighted. “I
think what we’re looking for right off the bat is simply having an
administration that is not openly hostile to us,” says
Kathleen Sgamma of the Western Energy Alliance. Meanwhile,
conservationists expect to spend the next four years defending their
Obama-era gains. But Obama’s environmental achievements
are considerable, and Trump can’t vanquish them with a snap of his
fingers. Many power plants have already taken steps to rein in toxic
mercury emissions and pollutants that cloud parks and wilderness with
brown haze. Obama’s clean car rules have already stood up in court. So
far, Obama has designated 27 national monuments — more than any other administration — and the new president has no clear legal authority to erase those protections. Still, the carbon-cutting Clean Power
Plan, one of the president’s most significant accomplishments, is in
peril. And the rarely used Congressional Review Act allows Congress to
weigh in on any rule finalized after May 30 of this year, according to a
Congressional Research Service estimate, by giving it 60 days in
session to pass something called a “joint resolution of disapproval.” If the president signs the resolution, the rule is nullified, and agencies are forbidden to issue similar rules. Here we highlight some of the Obama
administration’s achievements and Trump’s position on them, if known,
and explain how Trump could attempt to undo them...more
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
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