(Justin Lane/EPA)President Trump will take the most significant step yet in obliterating his predecessor’s environmental record Tuesday, instructing federal regulators to rewrite key rules curbing U.S. carbon emissions. The order comes after several moves by Trump to roll back Obama-era restrictions on mining, drilling and coal- and gas-burning operations. While environmental groups decried Trump’s move, mining officials welcomed it as an important course correction in federal energy policy. Another provision instructs Interior’s Bureau of Land Management to lift a freeze on federal coal leasing. Some of the sector’s biggest companies — including Arch Coal, Peabody Energy and Alpha Natural Resources — are just now emerging from bankruptcy protection.

Source: Washington Post March 28, 2017 03:00 UTC