After his decision to alter the erstwhile government’s policies on ‘illegal’ migrants triggered a worldwide row, another controversy is in the pipeline as the Donald Trump administration is set to roll back Barack Obama’s climate change plans.
According to reports, the President is all set to sign an executive order on Tuesday aimed at undoing some of the most prominent environmental regulations of his predecessor.
The order represents a clear difference between how Trump and Obama view the role the US plays in combating climate change and dramatically alters the government's approach to rising sea levels and temperatures -- two impacts of climate change.
A White House official on Monday said that the Trump administration believes the government can both ‘serve the environment and increase energy independence at the same time’ by urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for focus on what the administration believes is its core mission: Clean air and clean water.
More important than regulating climate change, the official said, is protecting American jobs.
The White House official said the best way to protect the environment is to have a strong economy, noting that countries like India and China do less to protect the environment.
"It is an issue that deserves attention," CNN quoted the official as saying.
Tuesday's order will initiate a review of the Clean Power Plant initiative, rescind the moratorium on coal mining on US federal lands and urge federal agencies to "identify all regulations, all rules, all policies ... that serve as obstacles and impediments to American energy independence," he added.
The order will rescind at least six Obama-era executive orders aimed at curbing climate change and regulating carbon emissions, including the former President's November 2013 executive order instructing the federal government to prepare for the impact of climate change and the September 2016 presidential memorandum that outlined the "growing threat to national security" that climate change poses.
"The previous administration devalued workers by their policies," the official said.
"We are saying we can do both we can protect the environment and provide people with work" he added.
With IANS Inputs
