Barr called top contender for AG post
WASHINGTON — Former attorney general William Barr is President Donald Trump’s leading candidate to be nominated to lead the Justice Department, according to people familiar with the deliberations.
The choice could be announced in the coming days as the agency presses forward with a probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Mr. Barr, 68, a well-respected Republican lawyer who served as attorney general from 1991 to 1993 under President George H.W. Bush, has emerged as a favorite among a number of Trump administration officials, including senior lawyers in the White House Counsel’s Office. Mr. Barr declined to comment.
Given the political fights enveloping the Justice Department, any attorney general general nominee is likely to face tough questions at their Senate confirmation hearing.
The president has repeatedly accused the department of launching a biased investigation into his campaign, and charged Special Counsel Robert Mueller is conducting a “witch hunt” targeting him and his aides. Democrats want assurances the department’s next leader will resist political pressure from the White House.
Walker weighing bills
MADISON, Wis. — Republican Gov. Scott Walker is weighing whether to sign a sweeping package of bills that would weaken the powers of his Democratic successor.
Walker spokesman Tom Evenson said Thursday that the governor was reviewing the bills that passed early Wednesday morning during a rare lame-duck legislative session. The Republicancontrolled Legislature approved the measures following overnight debate.
Mr. Evenson didn’t give a time frame for when Mr. Walker would act. The governor has six days to take action once the bills are delivered to him. His office worked closely with legislators to craft the measures, but GOP lawmakers made last-minute changes.
Mr. Walker is getting bipartisan pressure to veto the measures, including from Gov.-elect Tony Evers. Mr. Walker has already signaled general support for the legislation.
Coal controls are eased
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency acted again Thursday to ease rules on the sagging U.S. coal industry, this time scaling back what would have been a tough control on climate-changing emissions from any new coal plants.
The latest Trump administration targeting of legacy Obama administration efforts to slow climate change comes in the wake of multiplying warnings from the agency’s scientists and others about the accelerating pace of global warming.
Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler signed a proposal to dismantle a 2015 rule that any new coal power plants include cutting-edge techniques to capture the carbon dioxide from their smokestacks. He called the Obama rules “excessive burdens” for the coal industry.
Asked about the harm that coal plant emissions do to people and the environment, Mr. Wheeler responded, “Having cheap electricity helps human health.”
Janet McCabe, an EPA air official under the Obama administration, and others challenged that. She cited the conclusion of the EPA’s own staff earlier this year that pending rollbacks on existing coal plants would cause thousands of early deaths from the fine soot and dangerous particles and gases.
The EPA was “turning its back on its responsibility to protect human health,” she said Thursday.