Trump Administration goal: undo every climate-change effort

Donald TrumpIt was clear well before November's election that candidate Donald Trump did not believe in the accepted science of climate change. He referred to it using an excremental epithet, and also claimed that it was a Chinese hoax created to hurt the U.S. Scientists around the world and the majority of Americans accept the science of climate change, but...

Bill making it harder for scientists to sit on EPA Science Board advances

U.S. Capitol BuildingSince the election of Donald Trump, considerable attention has focused on how a candidate who campaigned on promoting fossil fuels would treat the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies charged with regulating those industries. But potential changes to the EPA do not come solely from the Executive Branch. Over the past few...

Carbon emissions from making electricity could vanish by 2060: study

Coal-fired Nanticoke Generating Station, Ontario, Canada, now being converted to 44-MW solar farmOne of the major sources of carbon emissions is electricity generation. It's an issue that is becoming increasingly important in the automotive sphere, due to the slow rise of plug-in electric cars. So what would it take to eliminate carbon emissions entirely from making electricity? DON'T MISS: Bipartisan governors' group urges Trump to back...

Bipartisan governors’ group urges Trump to back solar, wind power

wind farmThe new presidential administration seems poised to take a radically different approach to energy policy than its predecessor. That approach is founded on denial of accepted climate science, and an expressed desire to promote the fossil-fuel industry, including the so-called revival of coal. But while the White House prepares to execute what looks...

EPA to reopen emission-rule review; how important is this step?

Donald TrumpTomorrow is expected to be the day when President Donald Trump announces the EPA will reopen the comment period for the vehicle emissions standards it finalized in the waning days of the Obama Administration. The event will likely be accompanied by predictable language: Trump will be “highlighting the need to eliminate burdensome regulations...

Photos reveal how polluted the U.S. was before EPA was founded

Smog obscures George Washington Bridge, 1973 [From EPA Documerica series]It can be argued that the current presidential administration appears to lack interest in the traditional mission of the Environmental Protection Agency. As a candidate, Donald Trump advocated wholesale repeal of environmental regulations and increased production of fossil fuels. He has also called climate science a "hoax" created by China to hurt...

China happy to become world’s climate-change leader if U.S. lags

ChinaUnder the administration of President Barack Obama, the U.S. joined the rest of the world and took a leading role in global efforts to avert irreversible climate change. But that seems unlikely to continue under the Trump administration, which has nominated climate-science deniers to numerous key positions. Just yesterday, the head of Trump's EPA...

U.S. to pull out of Paris climate-change agreement under Trump

Donald TrumpAs seemed likely from the day Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, the country will pull out of the global Paris Climate Agreement to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. The move had been signaled even before the election by the new president's choice of noted climate-science denier Myron Ebell as head of his EPA transition team...

Trump EPA ordered to remove climate science; gag order, grant freeze too

The White House, Washington, D.C.  [Creative Commons license by dcjohn]Following the removal of all mentions of climate change from the White House website, the new administration has apparently trained its sites on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA and a handful of other government agencies are now reportedly under gag orders: employees are forbidden to discuss ongoing changes, post new material on...