EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Repeals Obama-Era Carbon Emissions Rule

Horrifying. We must never stop in our efforts to heal 

the great sickness of our nation which is tragically

spread all across our Earth Mother. - Molly

 

In Washington, D.C., the Trump administration said Tuesday it will end the Clean Power Plan, President Obama’s landmark rule on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. EPAadministrator Scott Pruitt made the announcement standing alongside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell during a visit to a coal mining and construction firm in Hazard, Kentucky.

Scott Pruitt: “Regulatory power should not be used by any regulatory body to pick winners and losers. The past administration was unapologetic. They were using every bit of power, every bit of authority, to use the EPA to pick winners and losers in how we generate electricity in this country.”

Obama’s Clean Power Plan would have reduced greenhouse gas emissions in part by decommissioning coal-fired power plants. The plan would have helped the U.S. partly meet its obligations under the Paris climate accord, though critics say it didn’t go nearly far enough. Cancellation of the Clean Power Plan drew condemnation from environmentalists, including author and activist Bill McKibben, who tweeted, “Neither flood nor hurricane nor wildfire can keep these men from their task of dismantling environmental protections.”

Democracy Now! headline: https://www.democracynow.org/2017/10/10/headlines/epa_chief_scott_pruitt_repeals_obama_era_carbon_emissions_rule