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Report: Trump policies could add 1.8B gigatons of greenhouse gases

Environmental rule changes under the administration of President Donald Trump, shown speaking at the White House Thursday, could result in 1.8 gigatons of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere by 2035, a new report released Thursday said. Photo by Alex Edelman/UPI
Environmental rule changes under the administration of President Donald Trump, shown speaking at the White House Thursday, could result in 1.8 gigatons of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere by 2035, a new report released Thursday said. Photo by Alex Edelman/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 18 (UPI) -- The Trump administration's unraveling of Obama-era environmental rules could lead to the release of an additional 1.8 billion gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2035, according to a new examination released Thursday by the Rhodium Group.

The independent research firm said the extra release of the carbon dioxide is equivalent to one-third of all greenhouse emissions pumped into the atmosphere in 2019 and could speed up global warming.

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"While some of these moves remain mired in legal uncertainty, the Trump administration has successfully unraveled the majority of Obama-era climate policies, including the Clean Power Plan, fuel economy standards for passenger vehicles, and efforts to curb potent greenhouse gases from refrigerants and air conditioning."

The White House in August eased regulations preventing methane leakage from oil and gas facilities, the firm said.

The Trump administration had been fighting to prevent California from creating its own emissions standards, which would be stricter than once proposed by the White House.

Other possible greenhouse contributions could come from methane emissions from the oil and gas industry and coal-fired power plants that have found some new life under Trump.

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"Having promised to cut environmental regulation on the campaign trail, President Trump wasted no time once in office," the report said. "In March 2017, Trump signed an executive order directing then-Environmental Protection Agency director Scott Pruitt to repeal and replace the Clean Power Plan (CPP), former President Obama's signature climate policy."

The report said Trump doubled down on his environmental policy by taking the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord in 2017.

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