"WASHINGTON — Andrew Wheeler, the acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, on Monday signed a plan to weaken regulation of coal-fired power plants, advancing a proposal that the coal industry has hailed as an end to burdensome regulation and environmentalists have criticized as a retreat in the battle to address climate change.

Mr. Wheeler’s signature officially sets in motion one of the Trump Administration’s most significant rollbacks yet of former President Barack Obama’s climate change legacy, alongside an earlier decision to let automobiles pollute more. A senior E.P.A. official confirmed the signing late Monday.

The agency is expected on Tuesday to discuss the details of its proposal, which it is calling the Affordable Clean Energy rule, to replace the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which was designed to curtail greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The long-anticipated Trump administration overhaul of those rules is likely to set the stage for years of legal clashes."

Lisa Friedman and Coral Davenport report for the New York Times August 20, 2018. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Document Details Trump's Plan To Scale Back Obama Rule" (Greenwire) [3]

"Trump Administration's Rewrite Of Clean Power Plan Will Be A Boon To The Coal Industry" (Los Angeles Times) [4]

"Clean Power Plan: Trump Draft Creates 'Huge Loophole' — Gina McCarthy" (E&E News PM) [5]

"Trump’s Reversal of Clean Power Plan Won’t Hurt Renewables, But It May Boost Coal" (Greentech Media) [6]

"Fuzzy Math Could Doom Trump’s Attack On Obama Climate Rule" (Politico) [7]

"Trump Set To Roll Back Obama-Era Regulation On Coal Emissions" (Guardian) [8]