(Source: Brookings, December 19, 2016)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The appointment of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reveals that President-elect Trump is dead serious about his campaign promises to rein in environmental regulations and revive the coal industry. Pruitt is a vocal critic of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP), which seeks to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, and he has threatened to dismantle CPP to end the “war on coal.” However, the war on coal is a false narrative that oversimplifies what is happening in the energy economy. In blaming environmental regulations under the Obama administration as the sole reason for the recent turmoil in the coal industry, Trump and Pruitt are ignoring fundamental market realities that are buffeting the industry.
Full story: www.brookings.edu