HELENA, Mont. – The Trump administration has finalized a rule that will roll back an Obama-era regulation to cut emissions from the United States' power sector.

The Environmental Protection Agency's new plan, the Affordable Clean Energy rule, scales back greenhouse gas emission reduction limits originally laid out in the Clean Power Plan.

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler calls the Obama administration rule an example of overreach and says the replacement instead will allow states to decide emissions standards.

But Mark Fix, a Montana rancher and former chair of the Northern Plains Resource Council, says people who work on the land are noticing climate change's effects.

"It seems like they're really not coming up with a very good plan,” he states. “It seems like they're basically kind of ignoring the climate change effects that we're having as farmers and ranchers. You know, we were kind of hoping that maybe they'd do something to help us with that, but it doesn't appear they're going to."

Fix notes that his ranch near Miles City in eastern Montana has faced wildfires, ice jam flooding and a tornado in recent years, and these types of extreme weather patterns seem to be picking up.

Twenty-eight states and power companies challenged the Clean Power Plan and the Supreme Court suspended the rule in 2016 before it went into effect.

Wheeler is a former coal lobbyist and is touting this new rule as a win for the coal industry, which would have been most heavily affected by the Clean Power Plan.

However, renewable energy sources such as hydro, solar and wind are growing rapidly. Earlier this year, renewable energy output surpassed coal.

Fix says this new rule could just prop up an industry that is fading on its own.

"This isn't going to help them all that much, I don't think,” he states. “The shift is already there. We're going to other types of fuel and powers and stuff. So I think it's going to be a tough go for the guys in the coal industry for a while."

The Obama-era Clean Power Plan was set to cut carbon pollution to 32% below 2005 levels by 2030. Even that is far below the 74% reduction the International Energy Agency says is necessary to avoid a catastrophic rise in global temperature of two degrees above pre-industrial levels in the next 11 years.

State officials in Maine are preparing the next generation for climate change-related activism and careers.

A new state-run website helps young Mainers find ways to use their own talents and interests to counter any climate anxiety and work to build the state's climate resilience.

Abigail Hayne is Maine's youth climate engagement coordinator.

"Whether it's taking action just in your community or in your life, or exploring different climate jobs that are specific to Maine," said Hayne, "the youths can just kind of poke around and find something that makes sense to them."

Hayne said the website offers practical, localized ways young people can get active with their town or school as well as Maine's Climate Council, which currently includes a dozen youth representatives.

Maine faces simultaneous challenges. The state is warming faster than the global average and coping with an increase in extreme weather events.

It also has one of the oldest populations in the nation.

Hayne said towns statewide are developing plans to strengthen infrastructure, and the state has a responsibility to make sure young people are well-informed about these climate-related jobs.

"Soon enough, we're going to start seeing younger generations really on the front lines of climate change and community resilience," said Hayne, "and we need to make sure that they are fully prepared when they enter those roles."

More than 170 communities are utilizing state grants to identify the roads, buildings and energy infrastructure that is susceptible to climate change and begin needed upgrades.

Construction, engineering and electrical workers will be in high demand.

Hayne said the website can connect young Mainers with these new work opportunities as well as each other.






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School buses are getting cleaner in Washington state after this year's legislative session.

Lawmakers in Olympia passed House Bill 1368, which will fund the purchase of zero emission school buses.

Rep. Tana Senn, D-Mercer Island, said the program is getting off the ground quickly.

"As we work towards that long-term goal of all new school buses being zero emission, we're kick-starting this year with $40 million in grants to school districts in overburdened communities," Senn explained.

Going forward, Senn noted school districts will have to purchase zero-emission vehicles once the total cost of ownership is equal to or lower than the cost of diesel vehicles. The state is leveraging the state's Climate Commitment Act resources to fund the transition of its 10,000 school buses.

Devin Denney, director of transportation for Highline Public Schools in King County, which already has electric school buses in its fleet, said he has driven the electric buses and talked about some of their benefits from a driver's perspective.

"You're not competing against that engine noise, the kids aren't competing against the engine noise," Denney observed. "It's a much quieter bus all the way around. The major advantage, of course, is that there's no tailpipe emissions with an electric bus, so our kids' health is better protected."

Senn emphasized health studies have shown there are negative health effects from diesel vehicles for kids, and it is easy to understand why.

"If you think about kids waiting to get on their bus in front of an elementary school and you have this line of buses idling, letting out diesel fumes right at the height of a little child, it becomes obvious that this is probably not the most healthy thing for our children," Senn added.


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Today, in honor of Earth Day, climate advocates are asking California lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom to rally around a plan to put a $15 billion bond measure on the November ballot.

If passed, the bond measure would fund a range of climate resiliency measures.

Sam Hodder, president and CEO of the Save the Redwoods League, said March was the tenth month in a row to break monthly heat records.

"I think Earth Day is a terrific opportunity for the broader public to recognize how nature is critical for resilience, for our quality of life, for our mental and physical health, and for our communities more broadly," Hodder outlined.

Two similar bills to put a bond measure on the ballot are under consideration in Sacramento, Assembly Bill 1567 and Senate Bill 867, but they have been stalled since last summer. The bond would finance many programs, including some to restore wetlands that guard against sea-level rise, and to remove dead wood in forests to guard against mega-fires, which Hodder noted have killed 20% of the giant sequoias in recent years.

Opponents pointed out the state already faces a budget deficit and cannot afford to take on more debt. But only 5% of California's old-growth coastal redwoods remain, mostly due to aggressive logging many decades ago.

Hodder argued the giant trees can be critical ingredients in the fight against climate change because they trap so much carbon.

"Redwood forests sequester more carbon per acre than any other forest system in the world," Hodder emphasized. "We have the opportunity to transition the redwood forest from something that is vulnerable to climate change to something that is helping to solve and address the climate crisis."

Experts blame climate change for California's wild weather over the past few years, which has been marked by extreme drought, devastating fires and flooding rain.