CLIMATE CHANGE/ENERGY/EPA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration has drafted a new proposal to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants, one that is far less stringent than the climate plan finalized in 2015 by former President Barack Obama. In writing the new rule to replace Mr. Obama’s Clean Power Plan, the Trump administration is essentially accepting, for now, that the federal government is legally obligated to take action to address the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, even as President Trump has dismissed established climate science. But the new proposal is likely to spur only small tweaks to the nation’s energy system. Details of the plan, which is being drafted by the Environmental Protection Agency and is expected to be sent to the White House for approval in coming days, were described to The New York Times by industry officials who have worked closely with the agency to shape the rule. Allison D. Wood, a partner at Hunton & Williams who represents several electric utilities, described it as ‘very significant’ that the administration was putting forward a regulation that acknowledged the obligation to regulate planet-warming emissions.”
–Lisa Friedman and Brad Plumer, “E.P.A. Drafts Rule on Coal Plants to Replace Clean Power Plan,” The New York Times online July 5, 2018