Trump Signs Order Sweeping away Obama-era Climate Policies
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to undo a slew of Obama-era climate change regulations that his administration says is hobbling oil drillers and coal miners, a move environmental groups have vowed to take to court. The decree's main target is former President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan that required states to…
Trump to Reverse Many Obama-era Climate Policies
U.S. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday to undo a slew of Obama-era climate change regulations, a move meant to bolster domestic energy production and create jobs, but environmentalists say the order is dangerous and vow to challenge it in court. The decree's main target is former President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan…
Senate Panel Questions Trump's EPA Pick Over Energy Ties
Democratic Senators quizzed Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, over his energy industry ties, during a contentious confirmation hearing on Wednesday that was occasionally interrupted by protests. Pruitt, 48, is a climate change skeptic who sued the agency he intends to run more than a dozen times as Oklahoma's top prosecutor.
U.S. Senate set to Grill Trump's EPA Pick
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, will face tough questions from lawmakers on Wednesday about his ties to the energy industry, in what is expected to be another highly contentious confirmation hearing for Trump's Cabinet-in-waiting. Pruitt, 48, is a climate change…
Trump Picks Rick Perry for Top US Energy Job
President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday named former Texas Governor Rick Perry to head the U.S. Department of Energy, handing the job to a climate change skeptic with close ties to the oil industry who once proposed abolishing the department. The choice adds to a list of drilling proponents who have been tapped for top jobs in Trump's administration…
Keystone XL Pipeline Prospects Dimming
Faced with dimming prospects for approval, the Canadian company behind the proposed Keystone XL pipeline chose to plead with the U.S. government for a delay on its fate, signaling that prolonged uncertainty is preferable to rejection of the $8 billion project. Monday's appeal by Calgary-based TransCanada Corp has been widely interpreted as an attempt to avert an impending "no" from President Barack Obama to the nearly 1…
Green Group Praises Bush on Climate Remarks
Billionaire activist Tom Steyer's climate change advocacy group offered unexpected praise on Friday to Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush for saying the United States should work with the world to reduce carbon emissions. NextGen Climate, which launched a "war room" earlier this month to target presidential candidates that deny the existence of climate change…
Green Groups Ponder Hillary Clinton's Oil Ties
Hillary Clinton's connections to oil and gas interests has created a dilemma for some environmental groups, troubling activists for whom she would be the natural candidate to support for president. The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate's environmental record has come under renewed scrutiny after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Bill…
Keystone Debate: Obama Rhetoric Rings Half True
President Barack Obama's sharpest criticism yet of Keystone XL this weekend included a controversial contention that the huge pipeline would be used to pump Canadian oil sands crude to global markets, not to U.S. refiners. TransCanada Corp., the pipeline giant that has been waiting six years for U.S. approval to build the $8 billion line, strongly denies it and says it is constructing the 1…
White House: Climate Change Action Now or Costs Soar
Putting off expensive measures to curb climate change will only cost the United States more in the long run, the White House said on Tuesday in a report meant to bolster a series of actions President Barack Obama has proposed to address global warming. "Each decade we delay acting results in an added cost of dealing with the problem of an extra 40 percent," said Jason Furman, chairman of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers.
Study: Keystone XL pipeline vulnerable to attacks
The Keystone XL oil pipeline project would be vulnerable to attacks that could cause heavy crude to be spilled in farm regions dependent on fresh water, according to a report by NextGen Climate, a political group led by billionaire activist Tom Steyer. Attackers could damage remote pump stations along the pipeline's route in the northern Great Plains with just 4 pounds (1.8 kg) of readily available 1960s-era explosives…
Biden To Attend Fundraiser With Keystone XL Opponent Steyer
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will attend a Democratic fundraiser at the home of activist Tom Steyer, the billionaire former hedge fund manager who is spending millions to lobby against the Keystone XL pipeline, a Democratic official said on Monday. The fundraiser will take place at Steyer's home in San Francisco on May 28, the official said. Steyer…
Few Funds Ready To Follow Stanford's Lead On Fossil Fuel Stocks
Few if any of the big U.S. pension or college endowment funds appear ready to follow in Stanford University's footsteps and pull their money out of shares of coal miners or other fossil fuel producers. Officials from the pension systems for California's public employees and schoolteachers and New York public employees, the three largest U.S. retirement funds…
