Midnight for Paris? Senior Trump administration officials were unable to come to an agreement on whether the United States should remain in the Paris Agreement during a Thursday meeting at the White House. Some officials (e.g., Steve Bannon, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt) want Trump to keep his campaign promise and withdraw from the Agreement while other officials (e.g., Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, David Banks, Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner) want the United States to remain. A number of Congressional Republicans and businesses have also argued the United States should should remain in the Agreement. While no decision was made, there was consensus among senior officials that the United States should only stay in the Paris Agreement if they can negotiate new terms. Officials are expected to meet again in May for a final meeting ahead of the G7 Summit in Italy.

Trump on Paris. In an interview, President Trump hinted that he would remain in the Agreement as long as the United States could negotiate better terms and is "treated fairly" under the Agreement. It's highly unlikely that the United States would be able to negotiate new terms with nearly 200 countries under the Paris Agreement. Under President Obama, the United States committed to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. These commitments are not binding, and countries have free rein to determine their commitments and subsequent reductions. here is concern among administration officials that potential inaction on U.S. commitments would come up in legal challenges to roll back environmental regulations. Trump said he would make a final decision within two weeks.

Anti-Monumental Order. President Trump signed an executive order on the review of designations under the Antiquities Act of 1906. It directs the Secretary of Interior (Ryan Zinke) to review national monument designations and expansions made since 1996, which span at least 100,000 acres or were otherwise designated as monuments "without adequate public outreach." Under the Antiquities Act, the president can create national monuments to safeguard and preserve federal lands and cultural and historical sites for all Americans to enjoy. While the executive order does not rescind any national monuments at the outset, the order could prompt changes to many of these designations — the order affects 25 national monuments. Secretary Zinke said he will review whether any monumental designations had led to a "loss of jobs, reduced wages and reduced public access." The Department of Interior will issue an interim recommendations within 45 days (June 10) and issue final recommendations within 120 days (August 24).

Offshore Drilling Order. President Trump signed an executive order on expanding offshore oil and gas development, which includes five main actions aimed at "implementing an America-first offshore energy strategy." The executive order:

1. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to consider revising and expanding oil and gas lease sales for the following planning areas: Western Gulf of Mexico, Central Gulf of Mexico, Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea, Cook Inlet, Mid-Atlantic, and South Atlantic. The Obama Administration made most of the Arctic and Atlantic waters off limits to oil and gas leasing during the 2017–2022 OCS leasing program. Starting a new 5-year plan is expected to take at least two years. Moreover, there does not appear to be industry interest in offshore energy development in these regions given low prices, the current glut of oil supply, and previous difficulties with drilling in the Arctic.
2. Directs the Commerce Secretary (Wilbur Ross) to refrain from designating or expanding any new marine monuments or sanctuaries and charges him with reviewing all designations made or expanded in the last 10 years.
3. Reverses previous leasing withdrawals — which includes Arctic and Atlantic waters — going back to July 2008. However, there is a question of whether President Trump can take the unprecedented steps of reversing previous presidential designations. The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act allows the president to retire lands from leasing, but does not say anything about the president being able to reinstate lands for lands for leasing.
4. Calls for the Secretary of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to review its financial assurance policy. BOEM currently requires companies leasing oil and gas interests set money aside for well decommissioning and cleanup so that taxpayers are not saddled with these costs.
5. Calls for streamlining the permitting approach for seismic testing, and starts review of the Well Control Rule, which controls blowout preventers, industry-standard devices that are the last line of protection to stop explosions in undersea oil and gas wells. The safety standards were in response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill.

DC Court Grants Delays on the Mercury Rule and Clean Power Plan. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted a request to delay a hearing on the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS) while the Trump Administration reviews the rule. It's unclear if EPA is looking to revise or rescind the 2012 rule. MATS went into effect in 2015 and requires power plants to limit emissions of hazardous air pollutants like mercury, arsenic and other metals. At issue is EPA's cost-benefit analysis justifying the rule. In 2015, the Supreme Court found that EPA did not properly consider the cost of the standard. The Supreme Court gave EPA an opportunity fix the cost-benefit analysis without invalidating the rule. The Appeals Court was scheduled to hear arguments next month from EPA justifying its revised cost-benefit analysis. Most of the power plants covered by the rule are already in compliance or have retired. This reflects a larger trend in the power sector where new electricity generation capacity is shifting towards natural gas and renewables.

In another win for the Trump Administration, the DC Court of Appeals suspended litigation over the Clean Power Plan for 60 days while EPA works to revise the rule. The Administration filed its motion to hold the case after Trump's executive order on energy independence. The carbon dioxide rule for new power plants was projected to reduce power sector emissions 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. The Appeals Court ruling has little practical impact. In response to the MATS case where power plants took action while the rule was working through the courts, the Supreme Court issued a stay of the Clean Power Plan until they heard and ruled on the lawsuit.

Climate Webpages Gone. After twenty years of public view, EPA removed climate change pages from its website. The section includes not only policy pages (e.g., Clean Power Plan) but science pages (e.g., explaining the causes of climate change). The latter directly contradict comments Administrator Pruitt has made about climate change. In a press statement, the agency did not reference specific changes, but said, "content related to climate and regulation is also being reviewed." The changes came on the eve of the People's Climate March, which drew over 200,000 people to DC.

What You Can Do

• Submit comments to EPA, participate in EPA outreach efforts, and ask the agency to preserve important environmental regulations. RISE is happy to assist in participation.
• Call your Member of Congress and ask them to join the call for an investigation into EPA Administrator Pruitt's close ties to the fossil fuel industry.

- Energy & Environment Policy Working Group, RISE Stronger

Have comments or something to add? Contact the RISE Energy & Environment Policy Working Group at [email protected]