Stalled on health care, Trump scores on energy
U. S. policy has taken ‘ 180- degree turn’ during his administration
President Trump had barely settled into the Oval Office in January when he signed executive orders opening the door for construction of the controversial Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines. He was just getting started. In the following weeks, the Trump administration lifted a moratorium on coal leasing on federal land; blocked regulations on power- plant carbon emissions; overturned a ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean; delayed rules intended to prevent methane leaks from oil and gas wells; and announced plans for the U. S. to pull out of the Paris climate agreement.
Trump’s promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act suffered a stunning defeat in Congress, and the prospects for his tax- reform pledge are far from certain. But when it comes to energy policy, the administration has managed to forge ahead on initiatives aimed at not only making the U. S. energyindependent but turning it into an even more dominant energy force.
“These are consequential changes in the sense that they move energy policy in a new direction — essentially a 180degree turn from where we had been less than a year ago,” said David Konisky, an energy expert at Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
Much of Trump’s early focus has been on dismantling rules and regulations put in place by President Obama to protect the environment, fight climate change and make the country less dependent on fossil fuels.
Obama had killed the proposed Keystone XL project, for example, because of environmental concerns. In the final weeks of his administration, Obama also blocked the Dakota Access pipeline that had been the subject of heated protests by Native American groups and environmentalists.
Trump has succeeded in moving his energy agenda forward because he has been able to use administrative actions rather than waiting to build consensus in Congress, Konisky said.
Environmental groups and others, however, are challenging many of Trump’s attempts.
This month, a federal appeals court in Washington ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to enforce an Obama- era rule limiting the amount of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, that can be emitted from new or modified oil and gas wells.
The administration can expect other legal challenges, said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club.
“This administration is the biggest threat to the health of our planet,” he said. “Resisting this administration is a top priority for the Sierra Club for now and the foreseeable future.”
What’s more, watchdog groups say, Trump is filling his administration with people with ties to the energy sector. Michael Catanzaro, Trump’s special assistant for domestic energy and environmental policy, has worked as a lobbyist for several oil and gas companies.
This month, Trump nominated Michael Menezes and Paul Dabbar, both of whom have personal investments in energy companies, as undersecretaries in the Energy Department. Several other appointees in the Energy and Interior departments also have worked for or lobbied on behalf of energy interests.
Even if the administration prevails, many of the clean energy programs it is trying to overturn have spawned similar initiatives by states, cities and private industry, said David Monsma, executive director of the energy and environment program at the Aspen Institute, aWashington- based think tank.