Officials with a Wisconsin-based environmental group are disappointed with an executive order signed by the president, which rolls back several policies aimed at limiting the effects of carbon emissions on climate change.
President Donald Trump’s order signed Tuesday starts the process of undoing portions of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. Trump said the move will help put a greater focus on domestic energy production, while ending a so-called “war on coal.”
While the president described it is an effort to put the focus on U.S. energy independence, Keith Reopelle with Clean Wisconsin said he’s worried about the consequences. “What you have here is President Trump putting the financial interests of the fossil fuel industry ahead of our children’s’ future,” he said.
Reopelle warned that could put public health in peril, through higher rates of asthma, lung disorder, and premature death.
Reopelle also disputed the president’s claims about job creation, noting that renewable energy technology has plenty of room for job growth. “Last year, there were more jobs created in the solar industry than there were in the coal, natural gas, and oil industries combined, when it comes to electric energy production,” he said.
The president’s order did receive some praise in Wisconsin. In a statement issued through the Republican Governor’s Association, Governor Scott Walker praised the move as a win for states and the American people. “The Obama administration’s plan was an unnecessary and burdensome regulation that would have threatened jobs, jeopardized energy reliability, and driven up energy costs for millions of hard-working Americans,” Walker said in a joint statement with Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin.