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WASHINGTON — If 2017 was the Trump administration’s year of grand pronouncements declaring an end to environmental regulations, 2018 will be the year of trying to finish what it started.
Despite President Trump’s proclamation in the Rose Garden that the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, the United States is still in the Paris agreement. Despite a trip by Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, to Kentucky coal country to announce an end to the Clean Power Plan rule curbing coal plant emissions, the Clean Power Plan still stands. And a host of other federal regulations, from controls on methane emissions to protections for wetlands, remain on the books despite executive orders declaring them void.
The administration opened the new year by proposing to reverse a ban on offshore oil and gas drilling in most United States coastal waters. But environmentalists and proponents of deregulation alike say they expect fewer high-profile announcements over all and more action in the courts, where both sides will fight over the future of deregulation.
“You may not see as many fireworks as there were in the past, but I think it’s going to be an even more significant year,” predicted Representative Rob Bishop, Republican of Utah and the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.
Here are some things to look for in 2018
