EPA science under scrutiny by Trump political staff

[Source: Associated Press] The Trump administration is mandating that any studies or data from scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency undergo review by political appointees before they can be released to the public. The communications director for President Donald Trump’s transition team at EPA, Doug Ericksen, said Wednesday the review also extends to content on Read More…

The immediate threat to California’s climate-change fight isn’t Trump, it’s this

[Source: The Los Angeles Times] With President Trump in the Oval Office, California officials are bracing for the possibility that the new administration will undermine the state’s landmark policies on climate change. But the more immediate threat isn’t coming from Washington; it lies in a lawsuit that has been slowly winding its way through state courts. The 4-year-old Read More…

Trump’s EPA pick casts doubt on California’s power to regulate auto emissions

[Source: The Los Angeles Times] Donald Trump’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency cast doubt on whether California should continue to have power to impose its own emission rules for cars and trucks, an authority the state has enjoyed for decades that is also the cornerstone of its efforts to fight global warming. Oklahoma Atty. Gen. Scott Pruitt said Read More…

California lawmakers offer a plan to extend the state’s cap-and-trade program

[Source: The Los Angeles Times] A group of lawmakers, including some who have been skeptical of global warming regulations, introduced legislation on Thursday to ensure that California’s cap-and-trade emissions control program remains a permanent part of the state’s climate policy. The measure, AB 151, is only one paragraph long right now, but it represents an opening bid Read More…

Who is Scott Pruitt?

[Source: Cosmopolitan] He’s a climate change skeptic who is currently suing the EPA. Earlier this month, President-elect Donald Trump announced his pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt. As has been the case with many of Trump’s nominees, the choice has raised concerns, especially from Democrats. Here’s what you need Read More…

California’s climate fight could be painful – especially on job and income growth

[Source: Los Angeles Times] Californians are likely to pay more for gasoline, electricity, food and new homes — and to feel their lives jolted in myriad other ways — because their state broadly expanded its war on climate change this summer. The ambitious new goals will require complex regulations on an unprecedented scale, but were approved in Sacramento Read More…

Donald Trump picks Scott Pruitt, ally of fossil fuel industry, to lead EPA

[Source: New York Times] President-elect Donald J. Trump has selected Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general and a close ally of the fossil fuel industry, to run the Environmental Protection Agency, a transition official said, signaling Mr. Trump’s determination to dismantle President Obama’s efforts to counter climate changes. Mr. Pruitt, a Republican, has been a Read More…

California environmental leaders, lawmakers gird for fight against President Trump

[Source: The Press Democrat] Restoring salmon in the Russian River and protecting the North Coast from oil rigs — two long-standing campaigns with broad public support — are among the goals likely to be challenged if not stifled by the sharp right turn of Donald Trump’s administration, environmental advocates and Democratic lawmakers said. More broadly, Read More…

Will Trump end California’s climate rules?

[Source: The Mercury News] After eight years in which California had a partner in President Barack Obama in expanding renewable energy and electric vehicles, signing international deals and writing tougher pollution laws to the consternation of industry and Republicans, the election of Donald Trump now sets up the Golden State as a land in environmental Read More…