US EPA preps to initiate Clean Power Plan withdrawal on Tue

Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is expected to sign today a proposed rule that would start the process of withdrawing from the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan.

Pruitt announced this in a speech in Hazard, Kentucky, on Monday.

Through the Clean Power Plan, former President Barack Obama sought to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from existing power plants. The plan was introduced in 2015.

The EPA now claims that Obama’s plan was illegal. According to a draft of the proposal seen by Reuters, the EPA has not yet decided whether to replace the Clean Power Plan or propose a new rule for the regulation of emissions from existing power plants.

In late March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order (EO) aimed at lifting bans and limitations for the fossil fuel and nuclear industry while voiding a number of Obama-era climate policies. That EO called for a review of the Clean Power Plan and its GHG emissions guidelines, and also canceled a number of energy and climate-related presidential and regulatory actions, such as the Climate Action Plan.

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