President Trump’s first federal budget spells out his intention to end President Obama’s climate-change policies, including eliminating funding for the so-called Clean Power Plan.
The budget proposal submitted to Congress Thursday would save $100 million in fiscal 2018 by discontinuing funding for climate-change research, international climate-change programs and the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which restricts carbon emissions from power plants.
Mr. Trump is expected to sign an executive order soon that would direct the EPA to roll back provisions of the Clean Power Plan, issued in 2015 as one of the cornerstones of Mr. Obama’s climate-change strategy.
“Consistent with the president’s America First Energy Plan, the budget reorients EPA’s air program to protect the air we breathe without unduly burdening the American economy,” the White House Office of Management and Budget said in the 62-page spending plan.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is considering a legal challenge that argues the EPA exceeded its legal authority by imposing carbon emission limits on operators of existing plants. The regulation aims to cut carbon emissions by about one-third by 2030, based on 2005 levels.
A study commissioned by the American Council for Capital Formation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for 21st Century Energy said Thursday that meeting Mr. Obama’s commitments as part of the Paris climate accord could cost the U.S. economy $3 trillion and 6.5 million industrial sector jobs by 2040.
The study, prepared by NERA Economic Consulting, showed that job losses by 2025 would hit especially hard in four key manufacturing states. It said pursing the Obama administration’s climate policies would cost 74,000 jobs in Michigan, 53,000 jobs in Missouri, 110,000 jobs in Ohio, and 140,000 jobs in Pennsylvania, in sectors such as steelmaking, refining and cement production.
The Sierra Club said Mr. Trump’s proposals would be disastrous for the environment.
“Money talks, and Trump’s budget proposal screams that the only thing that matters in his America is corporate polluters’ profits and Wall Street billionaires,” said executive director Michael Brune. “If Trump refuses to be serious about protecting our health and climate, or our publicly owned lands, then Congress must act, do its job, and reject this rigged budget.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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