Jun 21, 2019 - Energy & Climate

Trump repealing another Obama-era climate change policy

President Donald Trump in the Oval Office — Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

The Trump administration is proposing that federal agencies shouldn't be required to consider the long-term climate impacts of projects when evaluating environmental affects, reports the Washington Post.

The big picture: This is the latest in a long line of controversial moves by this administration to repeal climate action taken by former President Obama. This type of guidance does not carry the same weight as a regulation, but still affects many fossil-fuel infrastructure projects.

Why you'll hear about this again: "Legal experts warned [the proposal] could cause further problems for the administration in court, where judges have suggested officials need to do a better job of assessing the climate impact of their decisions," per the Post.

Details: The guidance from the White House Council on Environmental Quality would cap the degree to which agencies have to calculate greenhouse gas emissions for projects unless "a sufficiently close causal relationship exists” with greater carbon emissions, the Post reports.

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Trump repealing another Obama-era climate change policy

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