BILLINGS — The Obama administration will leave behind a host of disputed recent actions and unfinished business on the environment — from shelved energy leases and blocked mining projects to pollution restrictions and decisions on hundreds of potentially imperiled species.
Republicans and business groups emboldened by Donald Trump’s victory are gearing up to reverse many of the administration’s signature environmental moves, particularly those made since the election.
The outcome could determine whether eight years of Democratic rule in the White House leaves a lasting mark on the environment or quickly fades.
Already environmental groups and their Democratic allies are raising alarms over Trump’s choice of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Texas Gov. Rick Perry for energy secretary and Thursday’s announcement of Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke for interior secretary. All three are industry proponents who have lined up against Obama on environmental issues and expressed doubts about the science behind climate change.
“Obama may be in danger of losing his entire legacy,” said Rep. Rob Bishop, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, who pointed to “excessive” administration moves on the environment that attracted a Republican backlash.
“From the top, the president (Trump) on down, there is a commitment to making change, and the stars are aligning to see that change take place,” the Utah Republican said.
Reversing course from the Obama years could happen with the stroke of a pen for a moratorium on new coal sales and recent mining claim withdrawals in Montana, Oregon and Washington. Trump already has said he would knock down the coal moratorium.
Other administration actions will be harder to unravel, legal and industry experts said. Those include pollution restrictions for coal-burning power plants, blocked oil leases in the Arctic and limitations on methane emissions to reduce greenhouse gases from the oil and gas industry, which would require congressional action or the reopening of lengthy bureaucratic processes.
Yet with the GOP in firm control of Congress, the White House and likely the Supreme Court, “they are going to have an easier time getting their way” on environmental issues, said Mark Squillace, a professor of natural resource law at the University of Colorado.
“It is easier to break things than it is to create them. … On some level, Trump wants to come in and break things Obama has created,” he said.
The Obama administration’s scramble to finalize key environmental policies in its last days obscures the fact that many of those actions were in the works for years. Nevertheless, the industry wish list for Trump and the next Congress has grown with each recent announcement.
Senior administration officials reject allegations that they’re ignoring public sentiment in a rush to get disputed and controversial items over the finish line before their power expires.
As evidence, officials pointed to the yearslong process that resulted in the methane rule and the millions of public comments received prior to shelving future energy lease sales in the Arctic.
It would not make sense for that work to “just be put in a drawer” because of the election, Bureau of Land Management Deputy Director Linda Lance argued.
“There are good moderate proposals that have very much taken into account the concerns of the public. We would hope the work that’s done will be respected and continue,” she said.
Among the most powerful legislative instruments Republicans promise to wield to overturn recent moves by the current administration is the Congressional Review Act. The 1996 law, passed as part of then-Speaker Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America,” allows lawmakers to overturn rules recently issued by a previous president with approval from both chambers of Congress and the consent of the new president.
It would apply to rules submitted since May 30, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service has said. It’s been used successfully only once, to kill a 2000 rule on workplace ergonomics from the Clinton administration.
Prominent Republicans including Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming promised to use the law when the administration last month finalized the methane rule, which would restrict companies from burning off excess natural gas, a contributor to climate change. Barrasso chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Energy and Natural Resources.
He said the rule would drive oil and natural gas companies off public lands and showed the Obama administration was “unwilling to listen to the message that the American people sent” with Trump’s election.
Meanwhile, conservation groups that frequently prodded the Obama administration to be more aggressive on the environment now find themselves at risk of being marginalized.
In recent years those groups complained that timelines for greenhouse gas reductions were too long. They accused the administration of underfunding agencies that oversee endangered species protections. And they went to court to challenge sales of federally owned coal with no regard for future pollution.
Activists acknowledged they will soon need to shift their focus to the Republicans, who they predict will open more public lands to oil and gas drilling, mining and logging and will attempt to dismantle the Endangered Species Act.
“We have to play defense now, and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re expecting full-on trench warfare,” said Jeremy Nichols, climate program director for the nonprofit environmental group WildEarth Guardians.
A look at Recent Disputed Environmental Actions under Obama
Republicans and business groups pledge to reverse or block a string of recent and pending actions from the administration of President Barack Obama. President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on promises to reverse course on some of Obama’s environmental initiatives, including a moratorium on new federal coal sales.
November 18: Arctic drilling leases shelved
What happened? The Interior Department finalized a five-year offshore drilling plan that blocks the sale of new oil and gas leases in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas north of Alaska.
How durable is it? A Donald Trump administration could re-write the blueprint for drilling, which Alaska’s congressional delegation and industry groups have blasted as an impediment to the energy industry. For faster action, Congress would have to pass a law forcing the Department of Interior to hold lease sales.
November 15: Methane greenhouse emissions restrictions
What happened? The administration adopted a rule that would require oil and gas companies to control their releases of methane, a greenhouse gas considered many times more potent than carbon dioxide.
How lasting is it? State officials from Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota and industry groups including the Western Energy Alliance have challenged the restrictions in federal court. A Trump administration could re-open the rule-making process to undo the rule, or federal lawmakers could challenge it under the Congressional Review Act.
January 15: Moratorium on new coal lease sales on public lands
What happened? The administration halted pending sales of 1.4 billion tons of coal from publicly-owned reserves, citing in part the potential that burning the fuel would make climate change worse. The move followed decades of complaints from Democrats in Congress and government investigations that found taxpayers were not getting a fair return from companies.
How lasting is it? Trump campaigned on a promise to rescind the moratorium. Experts say he could simply direct the Interior Department to halt its three-year review of the federal coal program.
November 21: Mining claims blocked near Yellowstone National Park
What happened? The Departments of Agriculture and Interior barred for two years new mining claims on 30,000 acres outside Yellowstone National Park, where two companies plan to explore for gold. Similar actions were taken previously on mining claims in portions of Oregon and Washington state.
How lasting is it? Mining industry representatives say Trump’s pick for Interior secretary could terminate the mining lease withdrawal process without any notice or public comment.
September 1: Endangered species protections prioritized
What happened? U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service prioritized consideration of more than 300 potentially imperiled species for protection, including the Pacific walrus and North American wolverine.
How lasting is it? The incoming administration could direct wildlife officials to rewrite the plan. Congress could block funding for status reviews that are needed to put species on the protected list or write laws to remove species that currently are protected, such as gray wolves in Wyoming and the western Great Lakes.
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