Trump signs orders to kill Obama's climate change policies
What's the story
President Donald Trump has ratified and signed an administrative order which will roll back Obama-era edicts aimed at controlling climate change.
The president said this order was aimed at ending the "war on coal" and "job-killing regulations".
The Energy Independence Executive Order shelves more than half a dozen orders authorized by his predecessor and promotes fossil fuels.
29 Mar 2017
What changes now?
Among the actions now rescinded, the most notable was the Clean Power Plan, that required "states to slash carbon emissions".
This plan would have shut down "coal-fired power plants, frozen construction of new plants and replaced them with vast new wind and solar farms".
Trump said he intended to bring the jobs back with this roll back.
Details
Trump's orders may be a fatal blow to Paris Treaty
Without these rules in place, the United States is set to fall far short of its 2015 Paris Agreement pledge: to lower emissions by at least 26 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.
Obama's hopes to cut tailpipe CO2-emissions from automobiles will take a hit as a review of fuel standards was ordered by Trump.
Without these regulations reaching Paris target would be impossible.
Similar in countries
Is US setting a wrong precedent?
This order can be symbolic, especially because it may reflect in China and India taking cues from "Trump's America that the era of carbon controls is over. This is what really matters to the future of the planet."
Coal vs Climate
Let's end 'coal war', the climate will save itself
The Obama government placed a halt on coal leasing on federal areas in 2016, pausing new applications.
Further, it wanted to make public the database on the carbon released from fossil fuels developed on federal lands.
Trump has essentially ordered Ryan Zinke- Secretary of the Interior to lift this moratorium contending that: "My administration is putting an end to the war on coal".
Checking Trump
Sorry Trump, you may not be able to kill everything!
While Trump has begun overturning Obama orders but repealing everything Obama "has done on climate will be difficult".
Few rules, such as the fuel economy standards cannot be murdered completely- only weakened.
Few other administrative rollbacks could get prevented by federal judges.
Lastly, a few Republicans may thwart the extreme cuts Trump has proposed to clean energy programs.