EPA defies climate warnings, gives coal plants a reprieve
WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite scientists' increasingly urgent warnings, the Trump administration ordered a sweeping about-face Wednesday on Obama-era efforts to fight climate change, easing restrictions on coal-fired power plants in a move it predicted would revitalize America's sagging coal industry.
As miners in hard hats and coal-country lawmakers applauded, Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler signed a measure that scraps one of President Barack Obama's key initiatives to rein in fossil fuel emissions. The replacement rule gives states more leeway in deciding whether to require plants to make limited efficiency upgrades.
Wheeler said he expects more coal plants to open as a result. But one state, New York, immediately said it would go to court to challenge the action, and more lawsuits are likely.
The EPA move follows pledges by candidate and then President Donald Trump to rescue the U.S. coal industry, which saw near-record numbers of plant closings last year in the face of competition from cheaper natural gas and renewables. It's the latest and one of the biggest of dozens of environmental regulatory rollbacks by his administration.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/epa-defies-climate-warnings-gives-coal-plants-a-reprieve/ar-AAD6hpz?li=BBnbcA1
Wheeler's an idiot. Coal is dead.
