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#MakeAmericaKillTheEnviornmentAgain: EPA Rolls Back on Obama-Era Clean Power Plan

By: Stacy Omosa

The Environmental Protection Agency has decided to repeal an Obama era rule limiting greenhouse gas Emmi ions from power plants. The rule is a direct response to how “negatively” the law affected the coal industry. Administrator Scott Pruitt announced at an event in Hazard, Kentucky with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, that “Tomorrow, in Washington, D.C., I’ll be a signing a proposed rule to withdraw the so-called Clean Power Plan of the past administration, and thus begin the effort to withdraw that rule… The war against coal is over."

EPA head Scott Pruitt, photo via AP

The move would replace the Clean Power Plan entirely, and the environmental Protection Agency has not offered a substitute to allow the coal industry to sustain, whilst also limiting greenhouse gasses that harm the environment.

 Scott Pruitt argued  that the Obama administration overstepped their legal boundaries in the attempt to curb greenhouse emissions. Environmental groups and many states plan to challenge the proposal by saying the move rejects all scientific and public health grounds.

Many public health and environmental groups denounced the move as 'egregious'. Michael Brune, Director of the Sierra Club, states “Donald Trump and Scott Pruitt will go down in infamy for launching one of the most egregious attacks ever on public health, our climate, and the safety of every community in the United States.”