Washington—President Trump on March 28 signed an executive order (EO) to initiate a review of the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP), which restricts greenhouse gas emissions at coal-fired power plants. The EO also lifts a three-year moratorium on new coal leases on federal lands that the Obama administration had imposed in January 2016.
In addition, the EO calls for the review of a Bureau of Land Management hydraulic fracturing rule, and also a review of efforts to reduce the emission of methane in oil and natural gas production to determine if these measures reflect the president’s policy priorities. Trump had warned on his first day in office (GM Jan. 27, p. 1) that he planned to eliminate the CPP in favor of his own “America First Energy Plan,” saying that his administration was “committed to clean coal technology, and to reviving America’s coal industry, which has been hurting for too long.”
The EO was condemned by environmental groups, some of which promised to challenge the measure in court. Several businesses offered praise, however, including Basin Electric, the North Dakota-based power cooperative that is the parent company of Dakota Gasification, which produces anhydrous ammonia and ammonium sulfate at its Great Plains Synfuels Plant in Beulah, N.D.
“President Trump’s announcement today is a positive step forward in our efforts to seek time and flexibility when it comes to developing a carbon management plan, hopefully, in the context of a national energy policy,” said Paul Sukut, Basin Electric CEO. Dakota Gasification’s plant has North America’s largest carbon capture and sequestration project, capturing more than 30 million tons of carbon dioxide. “Our most recent project to add urea production to the Synfuels Plant continues that tradition by capturing CO2 to make urea and for sale as a food grade product,” Sukut said. “It’s important to note that the CPP, as proposed, did not allow Basin Electric credit for our current investments in natural gas generation or renewables, nor our carbon sequestration efforts through Dakota Gas.”