WASHINGTON: Shortly after US President Donald Trump was sworn into office Friday, the newly updated White House website said the new administration will eliminate the Climate Action Plan, the centerpiece of former President Barack Obama’s climate legacy, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.
“For too long, we’ve been held back by burdensome regulations on our energy industry,” the website said in a page titled “An America First Energy Plan.”
“President Trump is committed to eliminating harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the US rule.”
It claimed that lifting these restrictions will “greatly help American workers, increasing wages by more than US$30 billion over the next seven years.”
The rest of the webpage did not mention climate change any more.
Trump has called climate change a “hoax” and has threatened to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement that took effect last year.
Trump’s energy plan said that the US has “vast untapped domestic energy reserves” valued at US$50 trillion in total, and that the country “must take advantage of “the revenues from energy production to rebuild our roads, schools, bridges and public infrastructure.”
The plan also vowed to revive America’s coal industry.
In addition, the Trump administration pledged to work with the country’s Gulf allies to develop “a positive energy relationship” as part of its anti-terrorism strategy, it said. Trump’s plan was criticised by environmental groups.
“It’s all a big handout to the oil, gas, and coal companies. Trump has given a front-row seat at the table of American government,” Rhea Suh, President of the US Natural Resources Defence Council, a non-profit environmental organisation, said in a statement. “We will fight this handout, tooth, nail, and hair.” --BERNAMA