US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has supported President Donald Trump’s executive order (EO) on energy independence. The EO instructs federal agencies to review and either revise or withdraw a number of actions taken by the Obama administration, including the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan. The EO also immediately rescinds other federal policies, such as the social cost of carbon figures developed by the Interagency Working Group on Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases.
“The PCA applauds President Trump for revisiting regulations that have a significant impact on the nation’s cement manufacturers, such as those in the EO issued today,” said PCA Executive Vice President Todd Johnston. He added that the EPA’s Clean Power Plan had ‘exceeded’ the agency’s statutory authority and that the social cost of carbon figures were developed without necessary transparency and public input.
Despite supporting measures that rollback environmental policy in the US the EPA said that it and its members were committed to manufacturing products with a ‘minimal’ environmental footprint.