Since his victory on November 8, 2016 Donald Trump’s presidency has been full of both ups and downs. One area in particular that has been through much change in the recent months is the U.S. environmental policy, and depending on who you listen to this too has been both good and bad. We will now look at some of the key changes that have been put into place that will affect the world for the time to come.
On February 1, 2017, the U.S. Senate confirmed ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. This nomination sparked outcry amongst environmentalists, due specifically to his extensive ties to fossil fuels, as well as his ever changing stance on climate science and the dangers of fossil fuels.((National Geographic, A Running List of How Trump is Changing the Environment, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/how-trump-is-changing-science-environment/. (last visited April 21, 2017)). For example while CEO at Exxon, the company had funded two major climate deniers, the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). On the other side of the issue in 2006, after Tillerson’s rise to CEO in January of that year, Exxon wrote in a letter that: “We recognize that the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere poses risks that may prove significant for society and ecosystems.”((Inside Climate News, Rex Tillerson’s Record on Climate Change: Rhetoric vs. Reality, https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22122016/rex-tillerson-exxon-climate-change-secretary-state-donald-trum. (last visited April 21, 2017.)) This is believed to be Exxon’s first public acknowledgment that fossil fuels are a source in climate change.
On February 16, 2017, President Trump signed a joint resolution revoking the U.S. Department of Interior’s “Stream Protection Rule.” This rule, done under President Obama, helped to place strict restrictions on putting mining waste into nearby waterways. This was done due to Trump’s promise to bring back coal, and made it easier for waste to be disposed of.
On February 17, 2017, the U.S. Senate confirmed former Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt as the head of the U.S. EPA. This was a move that seemed surprising due to the fact that as attorney general of Oklahoma, Pruitt frequently sued the EPA overs it strict regulations, most notably leading a 27-state lawsuit against the Clean Power Plan.((National Geographic, A Running List of How Trump is Changing the Environment, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/how-trump-is-changing-science-environment/. (last visited April 21, 2017.)) The states argued that the Clean Power Plan “is an unprecedented power grab by EPA that seeks to reorder the Nation’s energy grid,” and that an agency can’t exercise such power without “clear congressional authorization.”((National Catholic Reporter, Supreme Court stay, vacancy raise questions about Clean Power Plan’s future, http://ncronline.org/blogs/eco-catholic/supreme-court-stay-vacancy-raise-questions-about-clean-power-plans-future. (last visited April 21, 2017.))
On March 24, 2017, Trump’s administration State Department granted a permit for the construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. The Keystone Pipeline is a proposed project that is approximately 1,661 miles long and 36 inches wide that would transport crude oil from Alberta, Canada and then connect to an existing pipeline in Nebraska and Kansas before continuing through Oklahoma to refining centers in the Texas area. TransCanada introduced this proposal on September 19, 2008 to the U.S. State Department.((Canadian Business, Timeline: Key dates in the history of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project, http://www.canadianbusiness.com/business-news/timeline-key-dates-in-the-history-of-the-proposed-keystone-xl-pipeline-project/. (last visited April 21, 2017.)) In December 2011, U.S. legislators passed a bill containing a provision which required President Barack Obama to determine the pipeline’s future in the next 60 days.((Id.)) On January 18, 2012 Obama rejected the Keystone XL. Then, on January 22, 2013 Nebraska Governor Dave Heinman approved TransCanada’s proposed new route, a decision that a Nebraska district court held was unconstitutional.((Id.)) Following this, on January 9, 2015 the Nebraska Supreme Court struck down the lower-court ruling. On January 29, 2015 the U.S. Senate approved a bill to build the Keystone XL, but then on February 24, 2015, Obama vetoed the bill that would have approved construction.((Id.))
On March 27, 2017, Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the highly controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, notified the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in its status report that it has pumped oil into the pipeline that lays underneath North Dakota’s Lake Oahe.
On March 28, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order that basically dismantled much of the climate change enacted by the Obama administration.((National Geographic, A Running List of How Trump is Changing the Environment, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/how-trump-is-changing-science-environment/. (last visited April 21, 2017.)) This order took steps to downplay the future costs of carbon emissions, walked back tracking of the federal government’s carbon emissions, rescinded a 2016 moratorium on coal leases on federal lands, and struck down Obama-era executive orders and memoranda aimed at helping the country prepare for climate change’s worst impacts, including threats to national security.((Id.)) Most notably, the executive order begins the process of rescinding the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, an Obama-era regulation designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from new and existing power plants.
On April 13, 2017, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt announced a “back-to-basics” agenda. Pruitt described this as “protecting the environment by engaging with state, local, and tribal partners to create sensible regulations that enhance economic growth.”((Id.)) The two key points of this agenda is to implement review of the Clean Power Plan and the Waters of the United States rule, two huge Obama-era environmental regulations.
These changes so far have been met with praise or anger, depending on which side you support. One thing is for certain, however – that no one is sure were these changes will lead to. The future of U.S. environmental policy is one that we are keen to watch.