President Trump signs order to repeal Obama administration’s climate change rules, Arkansas officials cheer

Arkansas’ congressional delegation and government officials on Tuesday praised President Donald Trump’s decision to roll back many of the Obama administration’s climate change initiatives, including the far-reaching Clean Power Plan that is now pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

In a move that allows Trump to keep his campaign promise to essentially take the legs out from under the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the president directed the agency’s new Administrator, former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, to immediately “suspend, revise, or rescind four actions related to the Clean Power Plan that would stifle the American energy industry.”

“I am going to lift the restrictions on American energy, and allow this wealth to pour into our communities,” Trump said, adding that the Obama administration burdened Americans with costly regulations that harmed American jobs and energy production. In a press release issued by the White House, the Trump administration cited pro-coal industry reports that the Clean Power Plan could cost up to $39 billion a year and increase electricity prices in 41 states by at least 10%. The goal of former President Obama’s precedent-setting rules was to mandate states to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by an average of 32% by 2030.

In his decision today, Trump’s executive order will remove a number of restrictions on the production of fossil fuels on federal lands and conduct a review of existing actions that harm domestic energy production.

It will also disband the federal government’s Interagency Working Group (IWG) on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases, and directs federal agencies, such as the Department of Energy, EPA and Interior Departments, to conduct a review of existing actions “that harm domestic energy production and suspend, revise, or rescind actions that are not mandated by law.”

In announcing his $1 trillion budget nearly two weeks ago, Trump announced plans to slash the EPA’s 2018 budget by 31% to only $5.7 billion and cut more than 3,200 jobs from the agency’s payrolls. As news of Trump’s action reached lawmakers, trade groups and government officials in Arkansas, most Republican Party officials across the state strongly supported a key plank of the president’s energy independence policy.

“I’ve long opposed these heavy-handed regulations; they’ve done serious harm to Arkansas’s economy. So I’m glad to see the president put a stop to them today,” Sen. Tom Cotton said in a statement. Sen. John Boozman of Rogers added he was pleased to see President Trump continue his commitment to reign in the Obama’s administration overreaching federal agencies.

“Rolling back the misnamed Clean Power Plan protects Arkansas families from a drastic increase in energy costs, electricity blackouts and job cuts. This is especially important to low-income families and seniors living on a fixed income. Arkansas has worked hard with the energy industry to balance environmental concerns while supplying an affordable and reliable source of energy and this action will allow them to continue that collaboration.”

Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, a frequent critic of the EPA under former President Obama, also thanked Trump for halting the “unlawful Clean Power Plan,” saying the EPA “can return to the drawing board to craft a plan that seeks input from the states and actually protects the environment, not push the agenda of a liberal few.”

EPA SUPPORTERS PUSH BACK
Despite the anticipated support from fellow Republicans, climate change supporters were also in unison in expressing outrage at the Trump administration’s decision to essentially revoke the Clean Power Plan and other EPA dirty air regulations.

“Trump and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt are doing what they do best – enriching their friends in oil and gas while rolling back protections on clean air and water for the rest of us,” said Glen Hooks, director of Arkansas chapter of the Sierra Club. “The roll back of the Clean Power Plan and other clean air and clean water protections will cost us our lives and our health, as well as money and savings for Arkansans who are sick of propping up Entergy’s aging and dirty coal plants with their hard-earned money.”

Also, more than 70 local elected officials with the National League of Cities criticized the Trump administration’s actions today in a letter to the president. Mayor Lioneld Jordan of Fayetteville was one of the officials who signed the letter, encouraging Trump to protect the nation’s environment and remained committed to the Paris climate change agreement.

“Cities have already taken bold action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare our communities for extreme weather events, and we stand ready to continue this work. Nonetheless, our efforts to promote resilient communities and enhance public health would only be complemented by a strong federal-local partnership,” said NLC President Matt Zone said in a statement.

Zone, a Cleveland city council member, added: “We believe today’s executive order undermines this partnership, imperils the health of our citizens and threatens our environment. Rolling back federal actions designed to protect the environment will have impacts to local economies, public health and public safety.”

Meanwhile, Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality Director Becky Keogh is taking a more measured stance after President Trump’s executive order. Keogh said Arkansas, through the work of ADEQ and the state Public Service Commission, has already taken steps to implement measures to improve the state’s air and water quality, while also seeking to diversify the state’s energy mix and reduce the use of fossil fuels.

Keogh, who was at the State Capitol attending legislative budget meetings when Trump issued his executive order Tuesday, said her department will have to wait and see how the new EPA Administrator’s policies are implemented before announcing any major changes that will impact Arkansans. She said Arkansas is already close to completing the process to implement the EPA’s Regional Haze plan to improve visibility in wilderness areas across Arkansas and Missouri.

CLEAN POWER PLAN APPEARS DEAD IN ARKANSAS
Just over a year ago, Keogh and PSC Commissioner Ted Thomas halted ongoing stakeholder meetings on implementation of the state’s Clean Power Plan due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s stay blocking the federal Environmental Protection Agency from implementing the far-reaching carbon emission rules.

At the direction of Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Keogh and Thomas began the stakeholders’ group first meeting in the fall to get input on a new “emissions standard” roadmap for putting Arkansas on track to cut carbon pollution from the power sector 36% below 2005 levels by 2030.

In January 2016, Keogh and Thomas submitted final comments to EPA officials in order to meet the EPA’s first deadline for how the state plans to comply with the central piece of the president’s climate change agenda. Comments from state regulators and stakeholders provided a snapshot of how the state intended to comply with the Clean Power Plan. But a month later, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of President Obama’s historic climate change rules, blocking the EPA from implementing rules that would dramatically reduce carbon dioxide emissions across the U.S. by shutting down most of the nation’s coal-fired power plant fleet.

At the time, Chief Justice John Roberts issued the stay pending disposition of the Clean Power Plan opponents’ petitions for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and disposition of the applicants’ petition for a writ of certiorari, which forces the lower court to deliver its record in the case so that the higher court may review it.

According to EPA rules before the high court intervened, Arkansas regulators had until Sept. 6, 2016, to submit a final implementation plan to comply with former President Obama’s plan. However, that date has come and gone after the full bench of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral arguments in late September.

Now that President Trump has moved forward with his executive order to withdraw the Clean Power Plan, the pending ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court still could take years to unwind even though EPA Administrator will not likely back the lawsuit.

Climate change supporters said late Tuesday afternoon they will continue the fight against the president’s sweeping executive order in court. Austin, Texas-based Earthjustice, part of a coalition of environmental groups intervening in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to defend the Clean Power Plan, said it will continue the fight to block the president’s “sweeping executive order.”

“This order ignores the law and scientific reality. Dirty coal power is never coming back because it can’t compete with clean energy, and denial won’t make climate change go away,” said Earthjustice President Tim Van Noppen. “(We) will continue to defend clean air and progress on climate in court and out, and we will never back down from protecting our public lands.”