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In Win for Environmentalists, Senate Keeps an Obama-Era Climate Change Rule New York Times WASHINGTON In a surprising victory for President Barack Obama's environmental legacy, the Senate voted on Wednesday to uphold an Obama-era climate change regulation to control the release of methane from oil and gas wells on public land. Senate blocks move to overturn Obama-era rule on drillingUSA TODAY Senate unexpectedly rejects bid to repeal a key Obama-era environmental regulationWashington Post Senate rejects repeal of Obama drilling ruleThe Hill The Verge -Reuters all 118 news articles »

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In Win for Environmentalists, Senate Keeps an Obama-Era Climate Change Rule - New York Times

May 10, 2017, 9:39 a.m.

Some Republican lawmakers balked at fully embracing the Trump administrations climate skepticism Wednesday, as the Senate failed to kill an Obama-era plan for containing methane emissions that had deep support among environmental activists and many landowners in the West.

Three Republican senators joined Democrats in blocking the effort to kill the methane restrictions that the GOP congressional leadership had been confident it could scuttle. The push to scrap the methane rules faltered amid an uprising of protest in Western states,where tens of thousands of residents near drilling operations risk exposure to the toxic compounds that leak in tandem with the methane.

At issue is 41 billion cubic feet of a greenhouse gas leaking from many of the nearly 100,000 oil and gas wells on federally owned land. Methane is among the most potent accelerators of global warming, 25 times more harmful than carbon dioxide.

A House vote in March to eliminate an Obama-era Bureau of Land Management rule requiring energy firms to trap the escaping gas and convert it to electricity was followed by a swift public backlash. Several Republican senators wavered on the measure in recent weeks.

The vote, said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters, shows that President Trumps plans to unravel hard-won environmental protections are not a foregone conclusion. The Republican senators who joined Democrats in voting against the rule were Susan Collins of Maine, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

After the vote, the American Petroleum Institute warned the methane rule will prove costly to consumers and ineffective at limiting emissions. The rule could impede U.S. energy production while reducing local and federal government revenues, said a statement from Erik Milito, who directs upstream and industry operations at API.

The fight over the restrictions does not end with the Senate vote. Trump administration officials have expressed their own misgivings with the methane restrictions, and they will likely work through their agencies to try to roll them back. But such efforts involve a laborious bureaucratic process that is ultimately vulnerable to legal action from environmental groups and states supportive of the methane rule.

The Obama administration had concluded the amount of methane escaping each year from drilling operations is enough to provide electricity for nearly 740,000 homes. The Government Accountability Office alerted Congress in July that capturing it would boost royalties owed to taxpayers by $23 million.

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Senate fails to kill Obama-era methane rule - Los Angeles Times

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May 10th 2017 11:35AM

Obama's newfound casual style has been a topic of conversation since he left office in January. Everyone loved seeing him kick back on vacation in February, and when he stepped out in D.C. in March in a brown leather jacket, a grey button down shirt, belted jeans and a SCOUT bag, he was officially deemed a "cool dad."

SEE ALSO: Royal insider claims Kate Middleton and Prince William won't have any more children

However, now that the former POTUS is stepping back into the political spotlight, some are arguing his style should be reflecting that. While he accepted his "Profiles in Courage" award in a classy tuxedo on Sunday, he appeared at the Seed & Chips: The Global Food Innovation Summit in Italy on Tuesday in much less formal attire -- and GQ has a problem with it.

Take a peek at his arguably informal look:

5 PHOTOS

Obama at The Global Food Innovation Summit

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MILAN, ITALY - MAY 09: Former US President Barack Obama thanks the audience during the Seeds&Chips Global Food Innovation Summit on May 9, 2017 in Milan, Italy. The summit, which runs from May 8 until May 11, focuses on food innovation and discusses the urgent challenges faced by the food and farming industry. (Photo by Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images)

Former U.S. President Barack Obama waves after speaking at the Global Food Innovation Summit in Milan, Italy May 9, 2017. REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Former U.S. President Barack Obama waves after speaking at the Global Food Innovation Summit in Milan, Italy May 9, 2017. REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo

Former U.S. President Barack Obama gestures as he talks during the Global Food Innovation Summit in Milan, Italy May 9, 2017. REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo

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Rather than leaving two buttons of his collared shirt undone, GQ would have preferred he wore a tie -- or at the very least, only leave one button undone. As they put it, "Fabio would be proud, but us? Not so much."

Now, when Obama stepped out for a "power lunch" with Michelle and U2 frontman Bono in March, no one seemed to have a problem with his relaxed, unbuttoned look. But what we think GQ is trying to say is, there's a time and place for everything -- including leaving "a whole lot of open real estate in the chest region."

See Obama in some of his most casual ensembles:

16 PHOTOS

Obama in Casual Outfits

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BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS - FEBRUARY 1: In this undated image former President Barack Obama takes a break from learning to kitesurf at Richard Branson's Necker Island retreat on February 1, 2017 in the British Virgin Islands. Former President Obama and his wife Michelle have been on an extended vacation since leaving office on January 20. (Photo by Jack Brockway/Getty Images)

President Barack Obama throws out the ceremonial first pitch prior to Major League Baseball's All-Star game in St. Louis. (Photo by Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty Images)

US President Barack Obama reacts to his putt on the first green as he plays golf at Farm Neck Golf Club in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts on the island of Martha's Vineyard August 7, 2016. / AFP / NICHOLAS KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

US President Barack Obama rides his bicycle as he is followed by his daughter Malia in West Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, on August 27, 2010. The US First Family is vacationing on the island until August 29. AFP PHOTO/Jewel Samad (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

VINEYARD HAVEN, MA - AUGUST 25: (AFP OUT) U.S. President Barack Obama plays the ninth hole at Mink Meadows Golf Club August 25, 2010 while vacationing on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. The Obama's are heading into their last weekend on the island before returning to Washington on Sunday. Barack Obama and his family are vacationing on Martha's Vineyard August 19-29. (Photo by Darren McCollester-Pool/Getty Images)

US President Barack Obama waves as he and First Lady Michelle Obama leave a restaurant after having dinner on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, on August 24, 2010. The US First Family is vacationing on the Island till August 29. AFP PHOTO/Jewel Samad (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

US President Barack Obama waves after ordering lunch at Nancy's restaurant in Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, on August 25, 2010. The US First Family is vacationing on the Island until August 29. AFP PHOTO/Jewel Samad (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

US President Barack Obama addresses troops with First Lady Michelle Obama at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kailua on December 25, 2016. / AFP / NICHOLAS KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

US President Barack Obama doffs his cap after putting on the 18th green at the Kapolei Golf Club in Kapolei on December 21, 2016 during his annual Christmas vacation in Hawaii. / AFP / NICHOLAS KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

HONOLULU, HAWAII - DECEMBER 27: US President Barack Obama waves at the media while holding hands with his daughter, Sasha, as they walk with friends at Sea Life Park on Tuesday, December 27, 2011 in Waimanalo, Hawaii. Obama spent the afternoon at the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve before visiting the marine wildlife park. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Pool) (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Corbis via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 7: (AFP OUT) U.S. President Barack Obama waves to the media as he arrives on the South Lawn of the White House July 7, 2013 in Washington, D.C. Obama spent the holiday weekend at Camp David. (Photo by Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 04: U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama walk down the South Portico stairs to work the rope line as they host a Fourth of July barbecue for military heroes and their families on the South Lawn of the White House on July 4, 2013 in Washington, DC. The president and first lady are hosting members of the military and their families in commemoration of Independence Day. (Photo by Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty Images)

US President Barack Obama talks to reporters as he plays golf with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razzak at Marine Corps Base Hawaii on December 24, 2014. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

U.S. President Obama greets well wishers at Marine Corps Base Hawaii during his December 2014 annual vacation with the First Family in Kailua, Hawaii on the Island of Oahu

US President Barack Obama arrives to hand out treats to children trick-or-treating for Halloween on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, October 30, 2015. AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

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Originally posted here:
Barack Obama's post-presidency style called 'too casual' - AOL

The Paris Agreement was in part brokered by Obama and was seen as a major breakthrough after the previous accord, the Kyoto protocol, failed to include the US and China, the world's two biggest polluters.

US President Donald Trump vowed during his campaign to "cancel" US participation in the accord, which obliges countries to slash their greenhouse gas emissions to keep global temperatures from rising to catastrophic levels.

At a summit in Milan, Italy, focused on climate change and food availability, Obama defended the Paris Agreement and said that the US must show leadership and not "sit on the sidelines."

"We have been able to bring our emissions down even as we grow our economy. The same is true in many parts of Europe," he said.

In a question-and-answer session, Obama said his policies had helped the United States improve its wind power production and increase solar power production 10-fold, explaining that the costs for renewable energy were now comparable to oil and gas.

He did not, however, make any direct criticisms of the Trump administration's policies.

"The current administration has differences with my administration in terms of energy policy, and that's part of what happens in democracy. So there will be useful debate that takes place in America," he said.

He defended the Paris Agreement as a deal that would not reverse climate change but that had "put together the architecture" for a meaningful response.

The speech is Obama's first abroad since leaving office in January, and the former president appeared relaxed, ditching his usual tie for an unbuttoned collar.

Climate change and nutrition are issues close to the Obamas' hearts and were centerpiece policies of the eight-year Obama period.

Meanwhile, Trump aides are openly airing their differences on the issue and a final decision on the US stance is expected soon. A planned meeting on Tuesday of Trump's advisers on whether to pull out of the agreement, however, was postponed, a White House official said, citing a scheduling conflict.

Trump has maintained he is committed to taking the US out of the accord, which would severely weaken the agreement as the United States is the world's second-largest polluter.

Trump Chief Strategist Steve Bannon has pressed the President to uphold his campaign promises to withdraw from the plan, and thereby signal a commitment to American energy producers, including coal miners.

Trump, who once remarked that climate change was a Chinese hoax, has since backed off those claims.

The debate between Trump's aides has turned from whether climate change is real to discussions on how the administration plans to position itself at the international negotiating table on global warming.

Trump has resolved to announce his intentions by this month's Group of 7 meeting in Sicily, meaning a decision to withdraw could isolate him at his first gathering of world leaders.

Each country must commit to a voluntary plan to reduce emissions, with the goal of keeping the global rise in temperatures to below 2C above pre-industrial levels.

If the United States does decide to pull out of the agreement, it won't be a quick process. UN rules mandate a one-year notice period, starting three years after the accord has entered into force. That would mean November 2019, plus one year to complete the withdrawal in late 2020.

CNN's Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.

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Obama defends Paris climate accord as Trump mulls ditching it - CNN

Former President Barack Obama is starting to define his new role in the age of Donald Trump.

After dropping out of sight for a pair of glamorous island getaways, Obama is emerging for a series of paid and unpaid speeches, drawing sharp contrasts with Trump even as he avoids saying the new president's name. He's wielding his influence overseas, offering his support for some of the international political candidates who are clamoring for his endorsement. His aides are engaging in real-time political combat with Trump, including revealing Monday that Obama personally warned his successor against tapping embattled Michael Flynn as his national security adviser.

Obama's swift return to the spotlight has been cheered by some Democrats, who are still sifting through the wreckage of the party's crushing defeats in the November election. But the attention surrounding Obama has also magnified the vacuum for new Democratic leadership, a reality that aides say is not lost on the former president.

"He's acutely aware that when the former president speaks, he consumes a lot of the oxygen," said Eric Schultz, Obama's senior adviser. "He wants to make sure we make room for the next generation of leaders."

With that in mind, Obama is picking his spots carefully.

During a speech Sunday night in Boston, he urged members of Congress to have "courage" as Trump presses for the repeal of his signature health care law, recalling the Democrats who were swept into office with him in 2009, but lost their seats after casting votes in favor of the "Obamacare" measure. But he avoided a lengthy defense of the law Democrats muscled through in 2010 and did not critique the bill House Republicans passed last week.

In an unusual move for a former president particularly one who just handed the White House to the opposing party Obama taped a video endorsing Emmanuel Macron, the eventual winner of the French presidential election. He backed Macron after Trump appeared to side with nationalist candidate Marine Le Pen , calling her the strongest candidate on terrorism and borders.

Obama advisers say the former president is still navigating his role in international politics, but he is willing to consider requests for support from overseas candidates. Later this month, he'll appear alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who faces elections later this year, for a panel on democracy.

Obama's stop in Germany will coincide with Trump's first visit to Europe as president, likely setting up a stark contrast between the 44th and 45th presidents on the world stage.

The former president is said to be reluctant to get into a tit-for-tat with Trump over every tweet or critique from the White House briefing room. But he has plenty of proxies willing to jump in for him, including on Monday, when three former Obama administration officials said Obama had personally warned Trump against hiring Michael Flynn as national security adviser.

Flynn, who is at the center of the controversy surrounding Trump's campaign and Russia, was fired after less than a month. The revelation from Obama advisers appeared to be sparked by Trump's attempts to shift some of the blame for Flynn's troubles to Obama by noting that the previous administration renewed the former military intelligence director's clearance even after he was fired in 2014.

Obama and Trump haven't spoken since the inauguration, though an aide said Obama would take Trump's call if the Republican reached out. The two spoke frequently during the transition, and Trump spoke about his surprise at their good relationship.

But Trump stunned Obama advisers with his March 4 tweets accusing Obama of wiretapping his New York skyscraper during the election , an explosive allegation that has been denied by FBI Director James Comey and other national security officials.

"I wouldn't say I've been exactly great to him, either," Trump acknowledged in a recent interview with The Washington Times.

Obama's re-entry in public life hasn't been all smooth sailing. He was sharply criticized by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, his party's most prominent liberals, for his plans to receive $400,000 to speak at a September health care conference put on by the Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald.

The former president is said to have been unbothered by the criticism. Still, he and wife Michelle Obama moved swiftly to announce a $2 million donation for a summer jobs program in their home town of Chicago.

Warren and Sanders represent one flank of the Democratic Party that's trying to take control as the party tries to rebuild ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. Obama is expected to campaign and fundraise for candidates as those contests draw near, but his supporters are clear-eyed about his own role as the party tries to recalibrate.

"The onus is on the next generation to lead the party in the Trump era," said Dan Pfeiffer, a longtime Obama White House and campaign adviser.

Link:
Obama Is Back and He's Carving Out His Role in the Age of Trump - Fortune