The Trump administration, not generally noted for its environmental concerns, will revoke a major plank in the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, the White House has announced.

The Environmental Protection Agency will rescind the Obama-era declaration known as the Endangerment Finding, singling out greenhouse gases as being an endangerment to public health and welfare.

The decision underpins of most US climate measures, and its repeal will signal one of the most ambitious actions against climate change reduction, well, basically in history, and immediately lift all regulations on emissions from transportation.

However, any such action by the administration will face legal challenges from environmental groups and may be more show than action, but it cannot be doubted that Trump’s vision to enhance the use of fossil fuels rather than reduce them. At the same time the white house has given an Executive Order to ensure that the US military procures power from coal generation by approving long-term contractual agreements with coal-fired energy production facilities.

The Order states: “Given our Nation’s vast coal resources and the proven reliability of our coal-fired generation fleet in providing continuous, on-demand baseload power, it is imperative that the Department of War (DOW) prioritise the preservation and strategic utilisation of coal-based energy assets.”

All of which will help add a few more emissions.

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