The Trump administration is trying to fulfill its promises to resurrect coal-fired power plants — a move that will likely do little to stem the wave of coal retirements or to prevent natural gas and renewables from advancing.
On Wednesday, it repealed the Obama administration’s carbon-cutting rule and replaced it with one to allow states to set those standards. While the states would have three years to devise their plans, the move will meet immediate resistance by opposition groups that will take their case to court. And if Trump is defeated in 2020 as the current polls suggest, this whole exercise will be have been naught.