Trump makes it easier to legally pollute
- On This Day In The Trump Administration
- Sep 6, 2024
- 2 min read
September 6: On This Day In 2019
Democrats have long understood the existential threat posed by climate change. But since Republicans typically keep their head in the sand/coal, little can be done about it at the federal level.
Obama tried his best: In 2015, his administration unveiled the Clean Power Plan, requiring each state to dramatically reduce the emissions and pollution caused by generating electricity. The plan would have reduced pollution by around 20%.
Trump reverses progress: As they often do, conservatives immediately challenged the rules in court. Trump mercilessly attacked Obama’s plan during his 2016 campaign and made overturning it his priority. And, sure enough, OTDI 2019, Trump’s repeal of Obama’s system formally took effect.
Trump tried to substitute that system with his own less-environmentally-friendly “Affordable Clean Energy” plan. But activists felt those rules were designed to make it impossible for future administrations to tackle climate change. Trump’s plan would not have capped any emissions from power plants; they essentially made it impossible to regulate the plants at all.
“This [plan] will result in a less than 1 percent reduction in carbon emissions from coal plants and the whole sector compared to what you’d expect with business as usual,” noted David Doniger from the National Resources Defense Council.
Biden/Harris moved us forward again: The courts later struck down Trump’s plan, as well as the original Clean Power Plan. The Biden/Harris Administration issued replacement rules once they came into office, and, of course, managed to pass some of the most significant climate legislation in a generation.
Yesterday's update: Never a fan of improving our environment or combatting climate change (which he insists isn't even real), Trump just announced that he'll end the climate-fighting policies in the Biden/Harris Inflation Reduction Act: "My plan will terminate the Green New Deal, which I call the Green New Scam,” he told the Economic Club of New York. Btw, other GOPers aren't so sure that's wise, because so much of the benefits from that Inflation Reduction Act have been flowing to Red states.
{Btw, Trump proved yet again at that same event in NYC that he now lacks the mental agility to answer a policy question using English sentences. Note: This was NOT generated by AI: https://x.com/reshmasaujani/status/1831869410359046642 }
Dig Deeper
Read about the benefits of the proposed Clean Power Plan
Trump’s proposed watering down of the plan is here
More discussion of Trump’s rules
Politico has the story on yesterday's announcement
On This Day In The Trump Administration: Trump makes it easier to pollute, affordable clean energy ACE CPP