President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that rolls back policies designed to combat climate change implemented by former President Barack Obama. The order is a broad stroke, touching everything from federal policy-making to regulations on home appliances. Today’s move allows the Trump administration to rewrite carbon emission rules for new and existing power plants, and restarts the federal coal leasing program, enabling energy companies to once again buy the rights to mine on federal lands.
The government no longer has to consider how federal actions might impact climate change when conducting reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act — this includes construction like the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The Obama administration introduced the “social cost of carbon” metric, which gauged how global warming affected everyday life for American citizens, but today’s executive order repeals this measurement.
