Global InformationEnvironmental policy of the Donald Trump administration information
 | This article needs to be updated. (March 2022) |
| ||
|---|---|---|
|
Business and personal
45th President of the United States
Tenure
Policies
Appointments
Presidential campaigns
Impeachments
Prosecutions
Interactions involving Russia
COVID-19 pandemic
 |
||
The environmental policy of the Donald Trump administration represented a shift from the policy priorities and goals of the preceding Barack Obama administration. Where President Obama's environmental agenda prioritized the reduction of carbon emissions through the use of renewable energy with the goal of conserving the environment for future generations,[1] the Trump administration policy was for the US to attain energy independence based on fossil fuel use and to rescind many environmental regulations.[2] By the end of Trump's term, his administration had rolled back 98 environmental rules and regulations, leaving an additional 14 rollbacks still in progress.[3] As of early 2021, the Biden administration was making a public accounting of regulatory decisions under the Trump administration that had been influenced by politics rather than science.[4]
The Trump administration supported energy development on federal land, including gas and oil drilling in national forests and near national monuments and parks.[5][6] Soon after taking office, Trump began to implement his "America First Energy Plan" and signed executive orders to approve two controversial oil pipelines.[7] In 2018, the Department of the Interior announced plans to allow drilling in nearly all U.S. waters, the largest expansion of offshore oil and gas leasing ever proposed.[8] In 2019, the Administration completed plans for opening the entire coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.[9]
Trump and his cabinet appointees did not believe the consensus of most scientists that climate change will have catastrophic impacts[10] nor that carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to climate change.[11] Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris climate accord, leaving the U.S. the only nation that was not part of the agreement. He avoided environmental discussions at both the 44th G7 summit held in Canada and the 45th G7 summit held in France by departing early from these conferences.[12] In September 2019, the Trump administration replaced the Obama-era Clean Power Plan with the Affordable Clean Energy rule, which did not cap emissions.[13] In April 2020, he issued his new vehicle emissions standards, which were projected to result in an additional billion tons of carbon dioxide, increasing annual U.S. emissions by about one-fifth.[14] In 2020, environmentalists feared that a successful reelection of Trump could have resulted in severe and irreversible changes in the climate.[15]
The administration repealed the Clean Water Rule and rewrote the EPA's pollution-control policies—including policies on chemicals known to be serious health risks—particularly benefiting the chemicals industry,[16][17] A 2018 analysis reported that the Trump administration's rollbacks and proposed reversals of environmental rules would likely "cost the lives of over 80,000 US residents per decade and lead to respiratory problems for many more than 1 million people."[18]
- ^ "Promises about Environment on The Obameter". Politifact. Archived from the original on December 8, 2017. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
- ^ Popovich, Nadja; Albeck-Ripka, Livia (October 5, 2017). "52 Environmental Rules on the Way Out Under Trump". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 7, 2017. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
- ^ Popovich, Nadja; Albeck-Ripka, Livia; Pierre-Louis, Kendra (June 2, 2019). "The Trump Administration Rolled Back More Than 100 Environmental Rules. Here's the Full List". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on June 2, 2020. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
- ^ Friedman, Lisa (March 24, 2021). "E.P.A. to Review Attacks on Science Under Trump". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
- ^ Carswell, Cally (June 2, 2019). "Trump's First 100 Days: Environmental Policy and Public Lands". Scientific American. Archived from the original on March 22, 2017. Retrieved March 17, 2017.
- ^ Osborne, James (September 2020). "Trump moves to open up drilling in national forests". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
- ^ Eilperin, Juliet (April 16, 2017). "EPA emerges as major target after Trump solicits policy advice from industry". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 21, 2017. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
- ^ "Areas in the Pacific Ocean, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Arctic Ocean, and much of the Eastern Seaboard are included in the new plan". Scientific American. Archived from the original on February 16, 2018. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
- ^ "Trump administration opens huge reserve in Alaska to drilling". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 21, 2019. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
- ^ Cillizza, Chris (November 26, 2018). "Donald Trump buried a climate change report because 'I don't believe it'". CNN. Archived from the original on December 30, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
- ^ "Trump to sign new order rolling back Obama energy regs". Fox News. March 28, 2017. Archived from the original on April 16, 2017. Retrieved April 15, 2017.
- ^ Hansler, Jennifer (October 24, 2017). "US, Syria are now only ones not in climate deal". CNN. Archived from the original on June 16, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
- ^ Beitsch, Rebecca (April 17, 2020). "Green groups, coal companies push to have EPA power plant rollback scrapped". The Hill. Archived from the original on April 23, 2020. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
- ^ Holden, Emily (March 31, 2020). "Trump to roll back Obama-era clean car rules in huge blow to climate fight". The Guardian. Archived from the original on May 26, 2020. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
- ^ Roberts, David (August 27, 2020). "A second Trump term would mean severe and irreversible changes in the climate. (Updated 3 November 2020)". Vox. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
- ^ Lipton, Eric (October 21, 2017). "Chemical industry insider now a top EPA hazards watchdog". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on February 17, 2018. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
- ^ Friedman, Lisa; Davenport, Coral (September 12, 2019). "Trump Administration Rolls Back Clean Water Protections". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 13, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
- ^ Cutler, David; Dominici, Francesca (June 12, 2018). "A Breath of Bad Air: Cost of the Trump Environmental Agenda May Lead to 80 000 Extra Deaths per Decade". JAMA. 319 (22): 2261–2262. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.7351. ISSN 0098-7484. PMID 29896617.