Trump energy plan aims to revive coal
Proposal gives states clout over power plants
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Tuesday moved to prop up the declining coal industry with an overhaul of Obama-era pollution rules.
The proposal broadly increases the authority given to states to decide how and how much to regulate existing coal power plants.
The EPA said its Affordable Clean Energy rule “empowers states, promotes energy independence and facilitates economic growth and job creation.”
“We are putting our great coal miners back to work,” President Donald Trump crowed during a rally Tuesday night in West Virginia.
“We want a clean environment. … I want clean air. I want crystal clean water and we’ve got it. We’ve got the cleanest country in the planet right now,” Trump said. “But I’m getting rid of some of these ridiculous rules and regulations, which are killing our companies … and our jobs.”
Acting EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler told reporters, “Today we are fulfilling the president’s agenda.”
The proposal dismantles President Barack Obama’s 2015 Clean Power Plan, one of his administration’s legacy efforts against climate change. The Obama rules, which have been halted by court challenges, would have increased federal regulation of emissions from the nation’s electrical grid and broadly promoted cleaner energy, including natural gas and solar and wind power.
Michelle Bloodworth, president of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a trade group that represents coal producers, called the new rule a marked departure from the “gross overreach” of the Obama administration and said it should prevent a host of premature coalplant retirements.