{"id":71338,"date":"2016-11-30T02:43:40","date_gmt":"2016-11-30T09:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/what-can-trump-do-with-water-coal-and-climate-change\/"},"modified":"2016-11-30T09:43:40","modified_gmt":"2016-11-30T09:43:40","slug":"what-can-trump-do-with-water-coal-and-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/what-can-trump-do-with-water-coal-and-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"What can Trump do with water, coal and climate change?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

One week after the presidential election, on a summery November day, I phoned Denver-based climate activist Jeremy Nichols.<\/p>\n

Nichols has pressured the government to keep its fossil fuel reserves in the ground, with some success: In January, President Barack Obama\u2019s administration put a moratorium on federal coal leasing, something unimaginable during the drilling years of George W. Bush. I called to ask what Nichols expected from the next president?<\/p>\n

He remarked on the unseasonably warm weather, then lamented, \u201cI\u2019m going to yearn for the George W. Bush days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Environmentalists like Nichols are worried about President-elect Donald J. Trump. In 2012, Trump tweeted that climate change was a \u201cconcept\u201d ginned up by the Chinese. He\u2019s appointed a prominent critic of climate science and policy to oversee the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s transition. On his new website, Trump promises to grease the skids for fossil fuel production, end the \u201cwar on coal,\u201d support renewable energy and scrap the Clean Power Plan. He also he pledges a commitment to \u201cour wonderful natural resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

The energy industry is delighted. \u201cI think what we\u2019re looking for right off the bat is simply having an administration that is not openly hostile to us,\u201d says Kathleen Sgamma, of the Western Energy Alliance. Meanwhile, conservationists expect to spend the next four years defending their Obama-era gains. But Obama\u2019s achievements are weighty, and Trump can\u2019t undo them with a snap of his fingers. Many power plants have taken steps to rein in toxic mercury emissions and pollutants that cloud parks and wilderness with brown haze. Obama\u2019s clean car rules have stood up in court. Obama has designated 27 national monuments \u2013 more than any other administration \u2013 and the new president has no clear legal authority to erase those protections.<\/p>\n

Still, the carbon-cutting Clean Power Plan, a hallmark Obama project, is in peril. And the rarely used Congressional Review Act allows Congress to weigh in on any rule finalized after May 30 of this year, according to a Congressional Research Service estimate, by giving it 60 days in session to pass something called a \u201cjoint resolution of disapproval.\u201d If the president signs the resolution, the rule is nullified, and agencies are forbidden to issue similar rules.<\/p>\n

Following are some of the Obama administration\u2019s policies and Trump\u2019s position on them, if known, and explain how Trump could attempt to undo them.<\/p>\n

Federal Coal Leasing Moratorium<\/div>\n

What Obama Did: In January, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell issued a \u201csecretarial order\u201d directing the department to stop leasing federal coal reserves, pending a review of the program. Environmentalists had pushed for this, arguing that leasing federal coal was inconsistent with Obama\u2019s climate goals, and that the program didn\u2019t deliver fair returns to taxpayers.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Take: One of the few specific promises Trump has made is to lift the moratorium.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Options: Trump\u2019s administration can scrap the moratorium with the stroke of a pen \u2014 the same way the Obama administration created it.<\/em><\/p>\n

BLM and EPA Methane Rules<\/div>\n

What Obama Did: In January, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell issued a \u201csecretarial order\u201d directing the department to stop leasing federal coal reserves, pending a review of the program. Environmentalists had pushed for this, arguing that leasing federal coal was inconsistent with Obama\u2019s climate goals, and that the program didn\u2019t deliver fair returns to taxpayers.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Take: One of the few specific promises Trump has made is to lift the moratorium.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Options: Trump\u2019s administration can scrap the moratorium with the stroke of a pen \u2014 the same way the Obama administration created it.<\/em>What Obama Did: Both the EPA and Bureau of Land Management finalized rules this year to limit the amount of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, vented or flared by oil and gas drilling. The rules would limit those emissions at both new and existing facilities and funnel additional royalties to taxpayers, who don\u2019t currently earn revenue on methane that\u2019s burned as waste.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Take: It\u2019s uncertain. However, Trump has positioned himself as an ally of the industry, which vigorously opposes the rules. The BLM\u2019s rule, finalized on Nov. 15, was met immediately with an industry lawsuit. Oklahoma Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe, who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, released a statement saying he looks forward to helping the new administration rescind the rules.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Options: Congress could use the Congressional Review Act to ask Trump to nix the rules, or include language in appropriations bills temporarily prohibiting the agencies from using funds for implementation or enforcement. Whatever happens, Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, of the Western Environmental Law Center, notes that waste prevention is a core principle of federal oil and gas law, and says his group will continue to ensure that BLM fulfills its legal obligations.<\/em><\/p>\n

Oil and Gas Leasing Reforms<\/div>\n

What Obama Did: In January, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell issued a \u201csecretarial order\u201d directing the department to stop leasing federal coal reserves, pending a review of the program. Environmentalists had pushed for this, arguing that leasing federal coal was inconsistent with Obama\u2019s climate goals, and that the program didn\u2019t deliver fair returns to taxpayers.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Take: One of the few specific promises Trump has made is to lift the moratorium.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Options: Trump\u2019s administration can scrap the moratorium with the stroke of a pen \u2014 the same way the Obama administration created it.<\/em>What Obama Did: Both the EPA and Bureau of Land Management finalized rules this year to limit the amount of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, vented or flared by oil and gas drilling. The rules would limit those emissions at both new and existing facilities and funnel additional royalties to taxpayers, who don\u2019t currently earn revenue on methane that\u2019s burned as waste.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Take: It\u2019s uncertain. However, Trump has positioned himself as an ally of the industry, which vigorously opposes the rules. The BLM\u2019s rule, finalized on Nov. 15, was met immediately with an industry lawsuit. Oklahoma Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe, who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, released a statement saying he looks forward to helping the new administration rescind the rules.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Options: Congress could use the Congressional Review Act to ask Trump to nix the rules, or include language in appropriations bills temporarily prohibiting the agencies from using funds for implementation or enforcement. Whatever happens, Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, of the Western Environmental Law Center, notes that waste prevention is a core principle of federal oil and gas law, and says his group will continue to ensure that BLM fulfills its legal obligations.<\/em>What Obama Did: In the early days of George W. Bush\u2019s administration, The Wilderness Society\u2019s Nada Culver says, you had to visit BLM field offices in person to keep tabs on oil and gas lease sales. Coordinates for parcels up for auction were posted, but you had to map them yourself and protest within a short window. As public-land drilling intensified, encroaching on places like Dinosaur National Monument, environmentalists protested more and filed more lawsuits. The result, says Culver, frustrated everyone: Environmentalists felt that the BLM put too little thought into leasing, and some offices became burdened with multiyear backlogs, a burden for industry.<\/em>Interior Secretary Ken Salazar sought to break the gridlock by increasing public participation and including more upfront planning. Public comment periods now precede lease sales, and the BLM is starting to give citizens more insight into its thinking before it drafts management plans. Master leasing plans, which try to resolve conflicts between industry and others ahead of leasing, are another product of Salazar\u2019s reforms.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Take: It\u2019s uncertain. Trump has promised to \u201clift restrictions\u201d on energy development on public lands, but the Western Energy Alliance says it\u2019s hard to know exactly what that means. Litigation still bogs down leasing, and protests continue, Sgamma says, pointing to a WildEarth Guardians lawsuit challenging all leases sold in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming since the start of 2015. She hopes for changes that speed up leasing and permitting.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Options: The reforms were created through memoranda issued by Salazar, and they could be changed in the same fashion. But whether the new administration will do so is anyone\u2019s guess. Culver notes that the reforms have been incorporated into BLM\u2019s management handbooks, and that reducing public involvement could be politically tricky. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be hard to say, \u2018Never mind, don\u2019t pay attention to that man behind the curtain making all of the oil and gas decisions.\u2019\u201d Culver contends that there aren\u2019t that many restrictions on development anyway; the market is the primary limiting factor.<\/em>Nichols expects some change: \u201cI think we will see Interior move to limit BLM\u2019s discretion to reject leases,\u201d he says.<\/em><\/p>\n

Waters of the U.S. Rule<\/div>\n

What Obama Did: In January, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell issued a \u201csecretarial order\u201d directing the department to stop leasing federal coal reserves, pending a review of the program. Environmentalists had pushed for this, arguing that leasing federal coal was inconsistent with Obama\u2019s climate goals, and that the program didn\u2019t deliver fair returns to taxpayers.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Take: One of the few specific promises Trump has made is to lift the moratorium.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Options: Trump\u2019s administration can scrap the moratorium with the stroke of a pen \u2014 the same way the Obama administration created it.<\/em>What Obama Did: Both the EPA and Bureau of Land Management finalized rules this year to limit the amount of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, vented or flared by oil and gas drilling. The rules would limit those emissions at both new and existing facilities and funnel additional royalties to taxpayers, who don\u2019t currently earn revenue on methane that\u2019s burned as waste.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Take: It\u2019s uncertain. However, Trump has positioned himself as an ally of the industry, which vigorously opposes the rules. The BLM\u2019s rule, finalized on Nov. 15, was met immediately with an industry lawsuit. Oklahoma Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe, who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, released a statement saying he looks forward to helping the new administration rescind the rules.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Options: Congress could use the Congressional Review Act to ask Trump to nix the rules, or include language in appropriations bills temporarily prohibiting the agencies from using funds for implementation or enforcement. Whatever happens, Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, of the Western Environmental Law Center, notes that waste prevention is a core principle of federal oil and gas law, and says his group will continue to ensure that BLM fulfills its legal obligations.<\/em>What Obama Did: In the early days of George W. Bush\u2019s administration, The Wilderness Society\u2019s Nada Culver says, you had to visit BLM field offices in person to keep tabs on oil and gas lease sales. Coordinates for parcels up for auction were posted, but you had to map them yourself and protest within a short window. As public-land drilling intensified, encroaching on places like Dinosaur National Monument, environmentalists protested more and filed more lawsuits. The result, says Culver, frustrated everyone: Environmentalists felt that the BLM put too little thought into leasing, and some offices became burdened with multiyear backlogs, a burden for industry.<\/em>Interior Secretary Ken Salazar sought to break the gridlock by increasing public participation and including more upfront planning. Public comment periods now precede lease sales, and the BLM is starting to give citizens more insight into its thinking before it drafts management plans. Master leasing plans, which try to resolve conflicts between industry and others ahead of leasing, are another product of Salazar\u2019s reforms.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Take: It\u2019s uncertain. Trump has promised to \u201clift restrictions\u201d on energy development on public lands, but the Western Energy Alliance says it\u2019s hard to know exactly what that means. Litigation still bogs down leasing, and protests continue, Sgamma says, pointing to a WildEarth Guardians lawsuit challenging all leases sold in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming since the start of 2015. She hopes for changes that speed up leasing and permitting.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Options: The reforms were created through memoranda issued by Salazar, and they could be changed in the same fashion. But whether the new administration will do so is anyone\u2019s guess. Culver notes that the reforms have been incorporated into BLM\u2019s management handbooks, and that reducing public involvement could be politically tricky. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be hard to say, \u2018Never mind, don\u2019t pay attention to that man behind the curtain making all of the oil and gas decisions.\u2019\u201d Culver contends that there aren\u2019t that many restrictions on development anyway; the market is the primary limiting factor.<\/em>Nichols expects some change: \u201cI think we will see Interior move to limit BLM\u2019s discretion to reject leases,\u201d he says.<\/em>What Obama Did: This rule allows the federal regulation of pollution in small and intermittent wetlands and streams under the Clean Water Act.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Take: Trump has promised to eliminate what he calls a \u201chighly invasive\u201d rule, opposed by energy companies, agriculture groups, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and many Republicans, who say it represents an egregious expansion of federal regulatory power.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Options: Since the rule is tied up in court, Trump could let the legal system decide its fate. It\u2019s likely to end up in the Supreme Court, which may soon tilt in the GOP\u2019s favor. He could also ask the court to send the rule back to the EPA for revision. However, that process would be open to public comment and ultimately to more litigation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Offshore Oil Leasing<\/div>\n

What Obama Did: In January, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell issued a \u201csecretarial order\u201d directing the department to stop leasing federal coal reserves, pending a review of the program. Environmentalists had pushed for this, arguing that leasing federal coal was inconsistent with Obama\u2019s climate goals, and that the program didn\u2019t deliver fair returns to taxpayers.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Take: One of the few specific promises Trump has made is to lift the moratorium.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Options: Trump\u2019s administration can scrap the moratorium with the stroke of a pen \u2014 the same way the Obama administration created it.<\/em>What Obama Did: Both the EPA and Bureau of Land Management finalized rules this year to limit the amount of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, vented or flared by oil and gas drilling. The rules would limit those emissions at both new and existing facilities and funnel additional royalties to taxpayers, who don\u2019t currently earn revenue on methane that\u2019s burned as waste.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Take: It\u2019s uncertain. However, Trump has positioned himself as an ally of the industry, which vigorously opposes the rules. The BLM\u2019s rule, finalized on Nov. 15, was met immediately with an industry lawsuit. Oklahoma Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe, who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, released a statement saying he looks forward to helping the new administration rescind the rules.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Options: Congress could use the Congressional Review Act to ask Trump to nix the rules, or include language in appropriations bills temporarily prohibiting the agencies from using funds for implementation or enforcement. Whatever happens, Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, of the Western Environmental Law Center, notes that waste prevention is a core principle of federal oil and gas law, and says his group will continue to ensure that BLM fulfills its legal obligations.<\/em>What Obama Did: In the early days of George W. Bush\u2019s administration, The Wilderness Society\u2019s Nada Culver says, you had to visit BLM field offices in person to keep tabs on oil and gas lease sales. Coordinates for parcels up for auction were posted, but you had to map them yourself and protest within a short window. As public-land drilling intensified, encroaching on places like Dinosaur National Monument, environmentalists protested more and filed more lawsuits. The result, says Culver, frustrated everyone: Environmentalists felt that the BLM put too little thought into leasing, and some offices became burdened with multiyear backlogs, a burden for industry.<\/em>Interior Secretary Ken Salazar sought to break the gridlock by increasing public participation and including more upfront planning. Public comment periods now precede lease sales, and the BLM is starting to give citizens more insight into its thinking before it drafts management plans. Master leasing plans, which try to resolve conflicts between industry and others ahead of leasing, are another product of Salazar\u2019s reforms.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Take: It\u2019s uncertain. Trump has promised to \u201clift restrictions\u201d on energy development on public lands, but the Western Energy Alliance says it\u2019s hard to know exactly what that means. Litigation still bogs down leasing, and protests continue, Sgamma says, pointing to a WildEarth Guardians lawsuit challenging all leases sold in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming since the start of 2015. She hopes for changes that speed up leasing and permitting.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Options: The reforms were created through memoranda issued by Salazar, and they could be changed in the same fashion. But whether the new administration will do so is anyone\u2019s guess. Culver notes that the reforms have been incorporated into BLM\u2019s management handbooks, and that reducing public involvement could be politically tricky. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be hard to say, \u2018Never mind, don\u2019t pay attention to that man behind the curtain making all of the oil and gas decisions.\u2019\u201d Culver contends that there aren\u2019t that many restrictions on development anyway; the market is the primary limiting factor.<\/em>Nichols expects some change: \u201cI think we will see Interior move to limit BLM\u2019s discretion to reject leases,\u201d he says.<\/em>What Obama Did: This rule allows the federal regulation of pollution in small and intermittent wetlands and streams under the Clean Water Act.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Take: Trump has promised to eliminate what he calls a \u201chighly invasive\u201d rule, opposed by energy companies, agriculture groups, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and many Republicans, who say it represents an egregious expansion of federal regulatory power.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Options: Since the rule is tied up in court, Trump could let the legal system decide its fate. It\u2019s likely to end up in the Supreme Court, which may soon tilt in the GOP\u2019s favor. He could also ask the court to send the rule back to the EPA for revision. However, that process would be open to public comment and ultimately to more litigation.<\/em>What Obama Did: On Nov. 19, the Obama administration finalized its five-year plan for offshore oil leasing, which determines where leases will be offered through 2022. It canceled proposed lease sales in the Arctic Ocean and put the Atlantic and Pacific coasts off-limits to new leasing.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Take: It\u2019s uncertain, but industry groups and Alaska Republicans aren\u2019t happy, and an \u201cinfuriated\u201d Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R, has promised to fight the decision.<\/em>Trump\u2019s Options: The new administration could write a new plan, but probably not quickly. Obama\u2019s plan was developed over two years, and industry interest in Arctic drilling has cooled amid low oil prices. Shell abandoned its exploratory efforts in the Chukchi Sea in 2015, citing disappointing results.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

president-elect can do when it comes to water, coal and climate change<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-71338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71338"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=71338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}