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Trump Dismantles Climate Goals For Federal Agencies

President Obama issued an executive order that required federal agencies to use 25 percent clean energy sources by 2025.  These solar panels power a USDA Forest Service station in Los Padres National Forest.
Courtesy USDA Forest Service
President Obama issued an executive order that required federal agencies to use 25 percent clean energy sources by 2025. These solar panels power a USDA Forest Service station in Los Padres National Forest.
President Obama issued an executive order that required federal agencies to use 25 percent clean energy sources by 2025.  These solar panels power a USDA Forest Service station in Los Padres National Forest.
Credit Courtesy USDA Forest Service
President Obama issued an executive order that required federal agencies to use 25 percent clean energy sources by 2025. These solar panels power a USDA Forest Service station in Los Padres National Forest.

President Trump just dismantled policies requiring federal agencies reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions and meet other environmental targets.

Click 'play' to hear the audio version of this story.

President Obama issued an order in 2015 that said federal agencies should reduce their emissions by 40 percent in 10 years. It also mandated a reduction in energy and water use in federal buildings. As a result, many agencies took steps toward conservation and clean energy — like installing solar panels on Forest Service buildings. Trump wants government agencies to focus on cost and efficiency instead of meeting specific environmental targets.

"They’re buzz words. I mean who is against efficiency, right?" says John Freemuth, professor of public policy at Boise State University. "I wouldn’t expect too many of these agencies to do anything regarding impacts on climate, given the policy directions we’ve seen elsewhere in this administration." 

The Trump Administration has also cut research to monitor climate change and reversed other green policies like standards to reduce vehicle emissions citing those standards as too high. 

Find reporter Amanda Peacher on Twitter  @amandapeacher .

Copyright 2018 Boise State Public Radio

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, Yellowstone Public Radio in Montana, KUER in Salt Lake City and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado .

 

Copyright 2020 Boise State Public Radio News. To see more, visit Boise State Public Radio News.

Amanda Peacher is an Arthur F. Burns fellow reporting and producing in Berlin in 2013. Amanda is from Portland, Oregon, where she works as the public insight journalist for Oregon Public Broadcasting. She produces radio and online stories, data visualizations, multimedia projects, and facilitates community engagement opportunities for OPB's newsroom.
Amanda Peacher
Amanda Peacher works for the Mountain West News Bureau out of Boise State Public Radio. She's an Idaho native who returned home after a decade of living and reporting in Oregon. She's an award-winning reporter with a background in community engagement and investigative journalism.