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Since the start of his second term on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump has issued a series of executive orders relating to climate and announced a “national energy emergency” in support of fossil fuels. This action nixed several existing environmental regulations, such as The Advanced Clean Cars II rule.
“The Biden Administration, and before that a number of U.S. states, over the course of several decades, worked thoughtfully and diligently… to balance the sometimes competing goals of energy reliability, affordability and climate/environmental protection,” said Tulane University’s Joshua A. Basseches, assistant professor of public policy and environmental studies. “Trump’s attitude toward energy policy appears to pick winners, being fossil fueled energy sources, and upset that delicate and important balance.”
Trump’s recent climate orders have received immense backlash from liberals and climate activists, in part due to this year’s wildfires in Los Angeles. As of Tuesday, Jan. 28, these fires damaged or destroyed over 16,000 of the city’s homes and other structures.
Trump has threatened to withhold disaster aid to California if the state does not oblige to his new policies. Basseches described this threat as “unprecedented and petty.”
Tulane sophomore and Los Angeles native Stella Flores said that she has witnessed widespread destruction from wildfires firsthand, from the fires Los Angeles faced this year and from ones in years past.
“At its core, I think it’s crazy that he’s willing to withhold disaster aid from an insane amount of people who have already dealt with losing their homes in this catastrophe,” Flores said.
Trump has also signed an executive order declaring his plan to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord. If this order proceeds, this will be his second time withdrawing the United States from this plan. This agreement, made up of nearly 200 countries, aims to diminish the rate at which the earth is warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. By backing out, the U.S. risks falling behind technologically as other countries transition to clean energy.
“He is a leader who is just so incredibly ignorant and so immature,” environmental studies major Marni Arons said. “Given that I’ve dedicated my entire academic career to studying the environment, I’m just feeling extremely upset.”
It is not yet clear how many of Trump’s recently declared policies will ultimately be implemented. During his first term, he rolled back over 100 environmental rules, including several major climate policies, as well as regulations governing clean water, air and wildlife. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency carried out a majority of these rollbacks. Former President Biden later reinstated many of these regulations.
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