Blog Post 3.10 "Obama & Environmentalists"

President Obama has had a rocky relationship with environmentalists over the past couple of years, as the administration seemed to be currying favor with utilities, the oil and gas industry and business leaders in preparation for a tough reelection battle this fall. When industry critics warned that a new air-quality rule forcing plants and manufactures to sharply reduce smog-producing ozone would cost millions of jobs, the president last September asked the Environmental Protection Agency to delay action and rewrite the rule. Weeks later, the EPA announced that it would miss a deadline for setting greenhouse gas emissions for coal-fired power plants and refineries, another setback for the effort to combat global warming.


In March, Obama further infuriated environmentalists with an Interior Department decision to open 7,400 acres of Wyoming’s picturesque Powder River Basin to destructive coal mining. Environmental leaders say the president’s decision to block the pipeline project demonstrated that Obama was finally listening to them. Obama unveiled his fiscal 2013 budget blue print that includes cuts in the EPA budget, especially funds for Super Fund toxic waste cleanups, and a revolving fund to maintain states’ water pipelines, purification facilities and vital waterways. The budget would encourage the construction of more energy efficient commercial buildings, and would support the Interior Department’s program of allowing new renewable energy projects on public land.

1. He has had major problems with environmentalists in the past.

2.  He announced his decision to open 7,400 acres of Wyoming’s picturesque Powder River Basin to destructive coal mining.

3. Implementing new rules that will double automobile fuel  efficiency by 2025 and Signing legislation that sets aside two million acres of  wilderness area across the country

4. Cuts in the EPA's budget,especially funds for Super Fund toxic waste cleanups, and a revolving fund to maintain states’ water pipelines, purification facilities and vital waterways.

5. Proposals to spend $6.7 billion on clean and renewable energy projects.

6.  Cap and trade programs establish a cap throughout an economy on emissions of a substance considered a pollutant.
7. The increase would encourage the construction of more energy efficient commercial buildings, and would support the Interior Department’s program of allowing new renewable energy projects on public land.