Scott Pruitt's resignation overshadowed the EPA's big Clean Power Plan replacement
Scott Pruitt may have resigned as Environmental Protection Agency administrator, but his agenda hasn't left the building.
Just hours before President Trump announced Pruitt's resignation on Thursday, the EPA finished drafting its replacement for former President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan. The new plan swaps Obama's proposed overhaul of the energy system for much less ambitious emission-cutting goals, The New York Times reports.
Pruitt was always expected to deprioritize sustainable energy, and he announced the White House would repeal and replace the Clean Power Plan last October. The Obama-era proposal set nationwide limits on carbon pollution and aimed for a widespread transition to renewable energy by 2030. This new plan has those same priorities — sort of.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Industry officials tell the Times that completely repealing emissions regulations probably wouldn't have lasted in court, so the new plan still addresses greenhouse gases to some extent. But its goals are a lot more modest than Obama's major plan, only prompting coal plants to improve efficiency in order to cut some emissions. What impact these new rules have on the coal industry will likely be minor.
The not-so-Clean Power Plan will likely head to the White House for approval in the next few days, per the Times.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
Political cartoons for November 8Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include narco boats, and the new Lincoln monument
-
Why Trump pardoned crypto criminal Changpeng ZhaoIn the Spotlight Binance founder’s tactical pardon shows recklessness is rewarded by the Trump White House
-
Codeword: November 8, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
