Shaheen: Trump's Executive Order on Climate Shortsighted

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire's Democratic congressional delegation criticized Republican President Donald Trump's fossil fuel executive order, with U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen calling the move to scale back many restrictions on the coal industry "shortsighted."

The Tuesday order targets more than a half-dozen regulations implemented by former President Barack Obama as part of his effort to combat global warming, including a review of the Clean Power Plan which restricts greenhouse gas emissions at coal-fired power plants. Trump has repeatedly criticized his predecessor's climate policies as an attack on American workers and the struggling coal industry. He said the executive order will help boost domestic production of fossil fuels.

But Shaheen argued the order ignores mountains of evidence on climate change and is part of a "dangerous agenda that threatens the health and well-being of New Hampshire."

"Rolling back carbon emissions rules and clean energy initiatives is a shortsighted political move that prioritizes the interests of big oil and coal companies over every day Americans," she said in a statement. "In New Hampshire, we see the effects of climate change every day and it is a direct threat to our environment, economy and way of life. We owe it to future generations to build on the Clean Power Plan and the Paris Agreement in order to avoid the worst impacts of climate change."

U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan said she's "extremely concerned by President Trump's efforts to roll back the Clean Power Plan's common-sense environmental protections." U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster also criticized the order, saying efforts to dismantle the Clean Power Plan are disappointing but not surprising.

"It's a move that not only undermines our ability to fight climate change but also puts the United States at an economic disadvantage as we cede the technologies of the future to other nations," she said in a statement. "This executive order will endanger the Paris Climate Agreement which was instrumental in getting some of the world's largest polluters to take important steps to reduce their carbon emissions."