20Dec

Obama’s Last Coal Rule Likely Headed for the Chopping Block in Congress

Via Politico: The Obama administration’s years-in-the-making rule to protect streams from mountaintop removal coal mining is on track to go into effect a day before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, meaning Congress will have to step in to kill it quickly. Trump has railed against regulations on the coal industry in general, although he has […]
20Dec

President Obama Takes One Final Shot at Coal

Via West Virginia MetroNews: The Obama administration on its way out the door is delivering one last blow to the coal industry–the Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement’s (OSM) final version of the Stream Protection Rule. The rule piles on controversial new regulations to the mining industry, which is already laboring under the heavy hand […]
19Dec

Obama Adds Last Minute Anti-Coal Regs Before Trump Takes Office

Via The Daily Caller:  The Obama administration added another layer of anti-coal mining regulations to the books Monday, just before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The new regulations require coal companies which have finished mining in an area to restore the land to the same condition that existed before digging began. Obama’s Secretary of the Interior […]
19Dec

NMA Strongly Opposes Interior Department’s Duplicative Stream Rule

The National Mining Association (NMA) today expressed its strong opposition to the Interior Department’s stream rule, calling on Congress to swiftly pass a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval and the president to sign it without delay. The rule, which the Trump Administration has said it opposes and will act to rescind, provides no discernable […]
16Dec

The Trump Cabinet: Bonfire of the Agencies

Via The Washington Post: Democrats spent the first two decades of the post-Cold War era rather relaxed about Russian provocations and revanchism. President Obama famously mocked Mitt Romney in 2012 for suggesting that Russia was our principal geopolitical adversary. Yet today the Dems are in high dudgeon over the closeness of secretary of state nominee, […]
14Dec

Pruitt Comes to Town

December 14, 2016 It’s been a frightful cacophony. The mournful lamentations, the rending of robes, the wailing and keening over the nomination of Attorney General Scott Pruitt have echoed throughout the Acela corridor. “This can’t be happening!”  “This” being the election. Now Armageddon is at hand, we’re warned, if this climate change apostate, this unrepentant […]
13Dec

Clearing the Air at the EPA

Via The Roanoke Star:  President-elect Donald Trump’s appointment of Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is welcome news. As Oklahoma’s attorney general, Pruitt has strongly pushed back against many rules and regulations coming from Washington, DC. In particular, he has led states in suing to block the EPA’s overreaching policies. Many in […]
12Dec

EDITORIAL: High Hopes for New EPA Leader Pruitt

Via The Gazette: There’s a new sheriff in town, and nothing hammers it home like Thursday’s nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency. A man suing the EPA may soon control it. We have confidence this appointment will directly benefit Colorado Springs and the rest of the country. If […]
12Dec

Cleaner Coal Should be a Priority for Washington

Via The Pueblo Chieftain:  As the recent election cycle demonstrated, American politics is beset with a number of polarizing issues. Among the most obvious has been the debate over coal. Where Hillary Clinton favored renewable energy at the expense of the coal industry, Donald Trump has promised to launch a coal renaissance. This “either/or” schism […]
08Dec

Trump EPA Pick Puts Target on Job-Killing Regulations

Via PoliZette: President-Elect Donald Trump has tapped Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to serve as director of the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt’s nomination is certain to worry environmental activists focused on global warming issues. But Pruitt, who has led Oklahoma’s challenge against President Obama’s “Clean Power Plan” (CPP), could guide the EPA back to its […]